Realllllly Weak beer

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mopie992

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Hi everybody, awesome forum and so much great info.

Question for you.

I've done my first batch of brew from a kit (Brew House Premium Prairie Wheat)
and all went well.
All the milestones were hit as outlined on this site and the package.
the Alcohol is 4.6% when I bottled it.
Bottling went fine and I waited 2 weeks before opening my first bottle
So excited I opened my first bottle, it fizzed appropriately, poured in a glass and it looked ok, but when I tasted it, it was very very weak. No feet smell/taste, didnt taste bad, just really weak. not very drinkable either.

Now the beer has sat for about 2 months, I figured maybe it needed to age in its own self worth. nada.. its just as bland and really quite flavourless.

I followed the instructions and used the right amount of water and everything.

Is this common?
is there a usual suspect for this issue?

thanks in advance

Mopie
 
Some of my beers taste really watery and weak when they're first carbed. A few weeks aging does wonders.

What kit was it?
 
Its been 2 months in bottles now and it was a Brew House Premium Prairie Wheat Kit

a non boil kit
 
According to the BrewHouse site (and on the side of the kit)

Prairie Wheat
Styles and History:
Summertime is prime time for wheat beers. Brew House "Prairie Wheat" is a light, summer thirst-quencher filled with the distinctive, refreshing flavour of malted wheat. A Canadian version of the classic German wheat beers, it leans towards the "clean and crisp". Brewed with the yeast included in the kit, Prairie Wheat will produce a light bodied, clean brew, with a subtle hop character, and it is a perfect beer with pretzels, smokies and grilled meats.


I usually drink wheat or wit beers and this doesn't taste anything like the ones Ive had commercially or others friends have made (different kits).

I don't recall the ingredients that were with it, but its a non boil extract kit

Thanks
Mopie
 
I tried to look for more information on it.

this is all I could find, to help out. ? link http://www.thebrewhouse.com/technical/index.htm

Colour: Straw, golden
Bitterness: 10 IBU
O.G.: 1.045-1.047
Malts: Wheat, Pale
Hops: Perle for bittering and aroma


maybe try a kit from Windriver my last kit came out fantastic had great online support as well as phone. detailed insturctions that you could also get online incase a 3yr old tears your origonal set up. lol..
 
I have never heard of a non-boil kit before. The few extract kits that I made I had to steep the speciality grains and add extract during the boil. How much hops were there and what kind?
 
With an ABV of 4.5 you're in the realm of your average BMC beer as far as how much is in the beer ingredients wise. Figure a Blue Moon is a wheat beer and comes in at 5.4abv. It might just be that the way this beer turns out it's a pretty weak beer.

Maybe if someone else is more familiar with the company they can chime in.

This looks like the only info they offer on their website: http://www.brewerylane.com/brewhouse.html
 
yea the info onthe site is really weak (heh no pun intended)
but the BlueMoon is the style and flavour I was after...

Does anybody have suggestions on such a style of beer kit I should be using?

Mopie
 
yea the info onthe site is really weak (heh no pun intended)
but the BlueMoon is the style and flavour I was after...

Does anybody have suggestions on such a style of beer kit I should be using?

Mopie

It looks like the kit you got was prehopped and pretty limited, but I would imagine didn't require much equipment. Generally you can get a wide range of beers using extract kits, try some of these for example: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/index.php?cPath=178_452

What did you use to ferment that in? you said it was no boil, do you have a pot or any other specialized stuff for beermakin'?
 
Ive got the standard basics ... 5g carboy, some hoses, tubes, winetheif, primary fremneter (huge 8g thermos), big ole bucket with lid, cork and airlock.

I can get a big pot for boiling

I'm up here in Canada and Ill look into these other kits.

thanks for all the replies !

Mopies
 
Ive got the standard basics ... 5g carboy, some hoses, tubes, winetheif, primary fremneter (huge 8g thermos), big ole bucket with lid, cork and airlock.

I can get a big pot for boiling

I'm up here in Canada and Ill look into these other kits.

thanks for all the replies !

Mopies


i know this sounds weird .. or a place you wouldn't really expect them, sobies has a selection of kits .. all "no-boil" they turn out well .. they are all Australian style though
 
I doubt it, but by chance did you secondary the beer? If you "top off" the secondary to prevent oxidation, the two common things to use are 1) another beer or 2) water. If you use water, it dilutes the flavors somethin' wicked... which I learned to my regret when we made our first wine.

Now we "top off" with gas, not liquid. :rockin:
 
Well if that can that you used was a can and kilo kit, where you add 2 lbs of cane sugar to your extract and ferment it, then I know where you're coming from.

The first kit I bought was from a homebrew store and I didn't know any better. I went home and followed the instructions and then 4-5 weeks later I was drinking about the weakest beer that I have ever had (I've never tasted BMC, I just never had the urge to). Coincidentally, the kit I bought was also a wheat beer, but I think it was Munton's.

I think that it's the action of the cane sugar doing something to weaken the flavors there. In the future you might want to use unhopped extract for your batches, or at the very least pick up two cans. I made my 2nd batch, which should be ready to drink pretty soon, with unhopped extract and steeped grains and it came out miles better than the first brew.

Hope that my similar experience is some help. Don't give up on homebrewing because your first batch wasn't the greatest! I still drank nearly all of my bottles because it was my "baby".
 
I doubt they gave you a wheat yeast: A. it's expensive and B. "clean and crisp" doesn't hit me as a wheat profile, much less a hefeweizen. I think you have a fairly stock ale that has some wheat extract in it.

It's beer and the next batch will be better.
 
I doubt they gave you a wheat yeast: A. it's expensive and B. "clean and crisp" doesn't hit me as a wheat profile, much less a hefeweizen. I think you have a fairly stock ale that has some wheat extract in it.

It's beer and the next batch will be better.

I agree clean and crisp doesnt sound like a wheat profile. It should read "crisp and looks like water with a little yellow dirt in it" So RDWHAHB, and get back to work on your next batch.
 

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