First Beer undrinkable..

I wasn't expecting much as it was a mountons bock, some DME, sugar, and s33 fermented at a room temp of around 78 degrees for the first 24 hours ( then I got a swamp cooler going) Anyhow I thought it might be drinkable. It has some off taste from the high ferm temp but now I am thinking it has an off taste/smell from chlorine, plasticy.

I realized the water I drink comes out of my fridge (in line filter) and tastes fine, but I used the water from the tap..which has a definite chlorine taste, not to strong but there. Iv'e searched but can't find a direct answer. Will the off taste from chlorine/chloromine fade with time??

Additionally I started my second brew before this one was finished. My second one was a 60 minute boil (the first was just a boil then add extract). Will this help get rid of chlorine due to the longer boil. I actually topped this one off with filtered water at least.

And yes I have ordered a water analysis from my water company, and I will probably use campden or reverse OS water from now on.

oh yeah if any one lives on the north side of Houston (spring/woodlands) and wants to try a crappy bock to help me out....I have a couple for you. I can only drink about half of one before I have to dump it. One of my friends said he liked it but he was pretty drunk!!


thanks.

You haven't told us how long it has been in the bottles. Before you count it out convince us that you're just not drinking green beers, like 99% of the folks who start threads like this.

My first beer was a bad one too. And I did not drink them cause of the taste. Then after 3 months in the bottle I tried one and,wow, a good beer. Time heals most beers. Give it time and you may like it. Unless it was infected you should be ok.

High fermentation temperatures can create some bad flavors that don't go away but can mellow a bit with time, especially since you got a swamp cooler going right away. It might be much better, if not really good, in a few weeks.

As far as chlorine, chlorine can be boiled off but many municipalities add something called chloramine which does not boil off. It can be removed by adding 1/2 campden tablet to your brewing water before brewing, though. You can call your water company and see if they use chloramines.

That "plastic" taste might be from the temperature, but it's more likely a result of the combination of chlorine and temperature together. Chlorophenols don't usually get much better, but they might.

I agree try to give it some time. the first taste of my first beer didn't care for it. just 1 night in the fridge made it much more drinkable. hoping another week or so carbing makes it that much better

I'm definitely going to keep them and let them age. I tried the first one at 1 week and the second one at 18 days to watch the carbonation process like on that video. Tuesday will be 21 days and I'll try another one. I'm sure its green but I wouldn't expect green to be like this. But then again its my first brew.


The beer initially tastes ok, but the smell really ruins it, kind of plasticy, spicy, bananna-y. I guess if my second brew comes out with similar off flavors, I can assume its the water as I have the temps under control now.

I just scored 220 free bottles so I am in no rush to empty these.

So age it I will.
Thanks

Spicy/banana is from higher fermentation temps. Yeast will produce those types of flavors when temperature is elevated. However not to fret! I made a nice golden ale not too long ago, but it fermented way too high. First bottle I had was crazy bubblegum flavor (also a product of high fermentation) at about 3 weeks. I forgot about the batch until about 3 months later, opened it up, and the flavor had all but vanished. So I say box it up, put it somewhere cool and dark, and just forget about it for a few months.

Also your beer is pretty darn green at this point.

What tastes like a$$ today may very well taste like nectar of the gods in a few weeks. So just go start your next batch and be patient. Of course there is a small but non-zero chance it will taste like worse a$$ in a month. So even more of a reason to get another in the pipeline.

I'm no expert but I would guess the high temps gave it the bad taste. Extra time may help.

Chlorine is very easy to remove from water. It evaporates over 24-48 hours. This should easily be accomplished during fermentation without you ever doing a thing.