My beer is dying! Oh, the horror!.... The agonizing horror!

I bottled my first batch (a stout with added cocoa powder and bakers chocolate) about four days ago. At that time, my beer tasted fairly decent. Nothing special, but some interesting flavor profiles brought about by the vanilla powder, and spice potion (cinnamon, ginger and clove disolved in vodka) added to the bottling bucket.

Now, four days later, I just opened my first bottle because I couldn't wait to see how things are developing. I was disconcerted to find the following:

1.) beer has no head
2.) beer now tastes like an unblended, unbalanced mess of different variants of harsh chemicals that leave a cloying aftertaste.

My hope is that these taste will mellow and blend into a more balanced brew as carbing finishes and the beer ages and matures. I'm also hoping the lack of head is because carbing has only been underway for four days.


Thanks my brothers of brew.
Cheers.

I bottled my first batch (a stout with added cocoa powder and bakers chocolate) about four days ago. At that time, my beer tasted fairly decent. Nothing special, but some interesting flavor profiles brought about by the vanilla powder, and spice potion (cinnamon, ginger and clove disolved in vodka) added to the bottling bucket.

Now, four days later, I just opened my first bottle because I couldn't wait to see how things are developing. I was disconcerted to find the following:

1.) beer has no head
2.) beer now tastes like an unblended, unbalanced mess of different variants of harsh chemicals that leave a cloying aftertaste.

My hope is that these taste will mellow and blend into a more balanced brew as carbing finishes and the beer ages and matures. I'm also hoping the lack of head is because carbing has only been underway for four days.


Thanks my brothers of brew.
Cheers.

4 days is relatively short.
Same thing happened with my last brew, an Irish Red. I popped one open after 2 weeks and it tasted like chemicals, maybe Star San?, so I let it sit for 2 more weeks. Gotta try one again tonight. :smack:

Let your stout sit for two more months and then judge the flavor.

4 days is not nearly enough time. Tell us more about this beer. OG/FG, yeast, water, temps, process?

Its your first batch. I had to navigate through a minefield of exploding bottles with my first batch. Funny enough it was a stout with cocoa powder, bakers chocolate and coffee!

Anyways, you bottled 4 days ago. It isn't carbonated yet and wont be for at least another 2 weeks. It doesn't have head because there is no carbonation at this point.

Hopefully some of the flavors will mellow out, but harsh chemical flavors don't tend to mellow very well. What was your recipe, process, etc? Did you make sure you used a source of water that had no chlorine/chloramines in it? Chlorinated water = instant chemical beer. What temperature did you pitch the yeast at? How much yeast? How about fermentation temperatures? Were they low 60's or mid 70's? higher temperatures will lead to hot alcohol flavors, and not treating the yeast right can lead to a whole bunch of off flavors.

Don't be discouraged though, ask questions, read up on how to have a healthy fermentation, and start planning that next batch. Brewing isn't a tough thing, but it would be a lie if somebody told you there wasn't a steep learning curve to brewing great beer. This site will help you a lot and a year or two from now you'll look back on this batch and smile.

I recommend tried and true, simpler recipes to start learning with, just to save a bit of money and headaches wondering if flavors that aren't quite right are recipe related. Most of your success in brewing will come from your process and until you get that down perfectly, your beers won't come out tasting like they could fly off store shelves. Check out the recipe section here (if you haven't already). There are a ton of great ones in there!

And try another bottle in 2-3 weeks. It will taste a lot different from the one you just tried and could be pretty good.

the_trout said:

4 days is not nearly enough time. Tell us more about this beer. OG/FG, yeast, water, temps, process?

Click to expand...

Extract kit that arrived with the LME leaking. Compensated by upping molasses from 1/4 to 3/4 cup. Added unsweetened cocoa powder to the boil, along with semi-sweet bakers chocolate. Used Crystal Springs water bottled by the gallon. I used dry yeast which I did mistakenly pitch at far too high of a temp. Fermented heavily for one day and then stopped. sat in primary for just under two weeks and secondary for an additional two. I didn't check OG but FG read at 1.022 approximately. I do not know what that translates into in terms of ABV. I disolved vanilla powder with priming sugar and then added to bottling bucket with spice potion.

Jwood said:

Its your first batch. I had to navigate through a minefield of exploding bottles with my first batch. Funny enough it was a stout with cocoa powder, bakers chocolate and coffee!

Anyways, you bottled 4 days ago. It isn't carbonated yet and wont be for at least another 2 weeks. It doesn't have head because there is no carbonation at this point.

Hopefully some of the flavors will mellow out, but harsh chemical flavors don't tend to mellow very well. What was your recipe, process, etc? Did you make sure you used a source of water that had no chlorine/chloramines in it? Chlorinated water = instant chemical beer. What temperature did you pitch the yeast at? How much yeast? How about fermentation temperatures? Were they low 60's or mid 70's? higher temperatures will lead to hot alcohol flavors, and not treating the yeast right can lead to a whole bunch of off flavors.

Don't be discouraged though, ask questions, read up on how to have a healthy fermentation, and start planning that next batch. Brewing isn't a tough thing, but it would be a lie if somebody told you there wasn't a steep learning curve to brewing great beer. This site will help you a lot and a year or two from now you'll look back on this batch and smile.

I recommend tried and true, simpler recipes to start learning with, just to save a bit of money and headaches wondering if flavors that aren't quite right are recipe related. Most of your success in brewing will come from your process and until you get that down perfectly, your beers won't come out tasting like they could fly off store shelves. Check out the recipe section here (if you haven't already). There are a ton of great ones in there!

And try another bottle in 2-3 weeks. It will taste a lot different from the one you just tried and could be pretty good.

Click to expand...

Extract kit that arrived with the LME leaking. Compensated by upping molasses from 1/4 to 3/4 cup. Added unsweetened cocoa powder to the boil, along with semi-sweet bakers chocolate. Used Crystal Springs water bottled by the gallon. I used dry yeast which I did mistakenly pitch at far too high of a temp. Fermented heavily for one day and then stopped. sat in primary for just under two weeks and secondary for an additional two. I didn't check OG but FG read at 1.022 approximately. I do not know what that translates into in terms of ABV. I disolved vanilla powder with priming sugar and then added to bottling bucket with spice potion. Fermented at about 70 - 72 F

I have 10 more gallons waiting to be bottled. I jumped in with two feet, so I have learned a good bit.

Only thing I can say man, and I know you know what brewing is about even know it's your first batch, but never add additional spices and such things to a kit. Adding more hops is one thing, but adding additional crazy sht on your first brew is asking for trouble. I bet it's all that crapola you added that makes it taste like dump. Brew another trying not to be creative and see what happens. Good luck broham.

Stop. Go do something else. For at least 3 more weeks and preferably longer. Don't look at your beer, don't wonder about it, don't touch it, don't google over it and imagine what it tastes like. Just leave it alone in a nice, room temperature location...for at LEAST three weeks.

If it doesn't develop over three weeks, repeat the process above.

Put it away and ignore it for a week. After that, take one bottle and put it in fridge for a couple days before you open it. It'll probably still not taste great, but I bet it's better. You can try again in a week.

I'm a relatively new brewer and I'm still impatient too. I like to let my beers age for a week, chill 1-2 days, then take a taste. Once a week. I'm learning a lot about how aging impacts the taste, appearance and overall quality of home brews this way.

"You got to crawl before you walk..."

Life Lesson: Take the advice of the guy above you. All the reading in the world isn't going to going to give you the knowledge you need to brew. It's the 70-20-10 learning model - 70 percent of what you learn you learn by doing, 20 percent by reading / instruction and 10 by mentoring.

Brew lesson: I am by no means an experienced brewer, with under 20 batches under my belt, but here's my nickel's worth of free advice.

1.022 seems pretty high for an average ABV beer. Unless you made some huge imperial stout that's going to check in at 14-15% ABV, 1.022 tells me that there's probably some fermentation still left to be done. How long did you let your beer ferment for? Did you get this reading 3 days in a row, or just once before bottling?

I will agree and say 4 days is WAY to early. Even I get excited and try my beers too early and think they're going to be bad. I've got a batch in primary that I pitched last Saturday. Took a hydrometer reading and it's down to 1.011 from 1.056, however I know it's still got 3 or so weeks left in the fermenter. Did I try it? Yes. It tasted like yeast and hops. Homebrewing is not for those without patience. If you don't have patience, but a ton of time, you can get a good pipeline going and after the first month or two you can always have some brew ready to quaff.

This batch may be a lost cause, but only time will tell. I'd also watch out for bottle bombs with that high of a FG. Take it slow - order a kit and stick to the directions. Order whatever style of beer you want, but keep in mind that bigger beers generally take more time to be ready to drink - tasting prior to that time may leave you disappointed.

If you want brew to glass in 30 days, you'd be best off brewing something in the 4-5% ABV range, but even these beers will be green at 30 days and will require some additional aging to taste their best.

Good luck!

Put that bottled stout away where it is warm (low 70's) and dark for another 2 months at least. It's a stout so it is dark, and it probably has more alcohol than typical for a stout too. Darker beers take more time to mature than lighter beers. Beers with more alcohol take more time to mature than low alcohol beers. Yours fits both categories so you have to wait for good beer. I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out really good in about....4 or 5 months.

jakenbacon said:

Only thing I can say man, and I know you know what brewing is about even know it's your first batch, but never add additional spices and such things to a kit. Adding more hops is one thing, but adding additional crazy sht on your first brew is asking for trouble. I bet it's all that crapola you added that makes it taste like dump. Brew another trying not to be creative and see what happens. Good luck broham.

Click to expand...

I brewed a pumpkin beer using a brewers best wheat beer kit. I added 3 lbs of pumpkin and some other various spices and things. It turned out great. If it's something you're comfortable with, add to it. What's the worst thing that could happen?

Give it time

Did your recipe list a target OG? I'm leaning toward bulk aging the remaining 10G. I have a big RIS that is 18 months out and still improving. You make a big, complex beer and its gonna take a lot longer to be right. There's no way around that. Put it away and forget about it. Make another recipe, simpler this time, get it bottled and then come background one.

Grain and hops are all you need to make great beer. Why would you through so much "stuff" into a beer without knowing what the original recipe tastes like? Brew it by the book the first time, then try ONE change at a TIME. Otherwise how will you ever know how your changes affect the final product?