Ever feel close to giving up?? OR Has your beer always been good??

Guys, I just wanted to share with you. I was getting really depressed with my brews and was pretty close to just giving up and going back to commercial craft brews recently.

Until yesterday, to date, I'd had 1 successful batch, my 5th. It was good beer, a beer that I'd be pretty happy with if I was served at a bar.

My 4th batch wasn't good, and my 6th batch, at 3 weeks in the bottles(when I had last tried it) was pretty gross. I was getting a little disheartened. I'd put a ton of time into making all of these beers, been really careful with sanitation, they didn't tasted contaminated/infected, the just didn't taste good! For the fruits of my labors, I had just shy of 2 cases of beer to enjoy, a bunch to choke down and one batch to dump.

I tried my 6th batch again yesterday, and its now pretty damn good. My ratio is still 2/4 : Good/Bad, so I've got some mileage to go until I reach a 'mostly successful' ratio, but I tell yah, I was getting pretty sad about the beer, and had no idea what was wrong.


How many of you had good beer right from the beginning?? Ever feel like your beers just weren't that good?

My first two were brew-in-a-bags, really bad. They were gifts. I've had three bad batches since then; two infected (I'm not certain the ginger beer was actually infected, but I wasn't taking any chances) and the other one was so far from what I was trying to do that it got dumped. Many of my batches are on the odd side, but they were designed to be outside the style sheet.

I spent years trying to perfect a porter. Made a Rogue Mocha Porter clone and tossed my recipe!

my beer's pretty much always been drinkable and most of them are damn good. where do you think you are having a problem?

are you using kits and what are your recipes? also, fermentation temperature is VERY important for having a good quality final product. have you had a cool and consistent temperature for your primary?

I don't think I had an UN-acceptable (to drink/share) brew until my second year, but I will admit that I had 2 of them just last year.

Wait one...I just checked, make that 3 out of 32 were bad enough to not share, but I am certain I did pour out some bottles.

Do you have any brewers in your neighborhood willing to assist you in your procedures/process? I know we all think we are doing everything right all the time, but maybe they can assist you and tell you where you are going off? I know I called my SIL to come over and hold my hand my first time, so to speak.

I've brewed more batches last year (32) than he's done all 14 years, but he has 2 going right now. He was over last week and I gave him some extra hops and yeast I had.

I honestly wish I had an INKLING as to where my faults were. I haven't made any kit beers, just recipes, 2 with steeped grains, the rest partial mash's. Frankly I'm starting to think that its not me. As I said, 2 of the last 3 beers have been good, so things are definately looking up, I just don't know if it has been my process (I know I scorched the crap out of some of my malt extracts) or if I'm making beers that maybe just don't taste good.

My primary has generally had a very consistent temperature, usually 68 to 71 degrees, although it is getting warmer now and I'm going to have to move any future beers downstairs to the garage to keep those temps consistent.

When I cracked batch #6 yesterday and it was good, it was a huge weight off my shoulders.

Take your brewpot off the burner to stir in your extract and stir till completely dissolved. I also went to putting a little of the extract in at first and the the most of it at the last 10 min of boil to sterilize, but make sure you take off burner first and dissolve.

I've just checked on a brew and I'm going to have to dump it. It's got an infection.
maybe the second in 30 so far.

Maybe consider moving to do some nice, simple extract kits. That way you know the recipe is at least drinkable, so you can see if the problem is with your process. Take it nice and slow, triple-check everything, and just go through the simplest brewday you can. Then it'll be easier to form good habits and see where your bad ones are.

I have had to dump one brew out of 6. Just stick with it, maybe order a kit from AHB. Do a few kits until you are comfortable with your process.

Maybe you should try making a different type of beer? Maybe you don't like the taste of the ones that you are currently making?

I didn't really like the taste of my earlier brews but that was because they were straight out of tins with sugar added.

Maybe the problem, as dibby suggests, is that you are making brews you are unfamiliar with. If I were expecting a commercial lager and got an english ale I would be really confused.

That being said, all of my beers ~12 have been drinkable. This is not to say they''ve always turned out as planned. Just drunk with an open mind..

I once really screwed up. I got mollasses happy and it tasted like...wait for it...mollasses. yuck. I managed to salvage it by turning it into a heavily gingered ale (I noticed the grossness in the secondary).

I have had one batch where a few bottles had visible signs of infection (ring around top of bottles, cloudy), but were still drinkable.

If I where you bro... I would pick up a extract kit from Homebrew Heaven! All of my batches, except two, have been kits from there. If I am able to get them to come out good... You should be fine!!!
Let's get together, and brew a batch or two one of these weekends!!!

Not from beer I've made, but I got sick of bottling once 10 years ago and quit for 9 years. I hate cleaning bottles.

I've had one dumper due to infection in 14 batches. Other than that, no other batch was undrinkable. A few batches were mediocre, but still drinkable.

I hope you enjoy the brewing process. A losing record can be tough, but if you enjoy the process the bad ones are just a learning experience. I would say to keep crankin' em out, fast and many- I can't imagine you won't get into positive territory soon. I love the process, so a bad batch is usually just a learning experience, I try to brew again as soon as possible - get back on the horse. To me, you gotta love the process. I'm addicted. Not to mock those with drug problems, but herione - schmeroin.

Heh, sorry guys, I guess I wasn't clear enough. I'm happy! The last beer I tried was good and I can explain away most of the other failures, so I'm really NOT unhappy.

I've had 2 recent succesess, 1 failure (not sure why that one didn't work), but my partial mash's have been better.

I WAS concerned because when I tried it earlier it sucked, a week changed it drastically, made me much happier.

Its all good guys, I just wanted to know if you guys had a steep 'quality' curve or if it was just me.

Rook said:

Guys, I just wanted to share with you. I was getting really depressed with my brews and was pretty close to just giving up and going back to commercial craft brews recently.

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That didn't sound happy to me. But, I guess you're just seeing if others had steep "learning curves'. I consider myself lucky, first brew was extract/steep kit done w/o reading anything but the instructions it came with, for SWMBO. I was hooked, read alot and went AG next(2nd ever) brew with a barleywine that I had to add vanilla syrup(not extract) and apple syrup to get my target gravity. It is so good I have brewed 2 more similar since to prevent myself from drinking the original(which is impossible to closely duplicate to to my inexperience - terrible sparging method and lack of notes at the time). No infections and no bad brews(not just my opinion) yet. Go with proven recipes and give the beer time to condition properly -my 2 cents.

landhoney said:

That didn't sound happy to me.

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it was more of:

Rook said:

Guys, I just wanted to share with you. I was getting really depressed with my brews and was pretty close to just giving up and going back to commercial craft brews recently.

Until yesterday, to date, I'd had 1 successful batch, my 5th. It was good beer, a beer that I'd be pretty happy with if I was served at a bar.

Click to expand...

Rook said:

Heh, sorry guys, I guess I wasn't clear enough. I'm happy! The last beer I tried was good and I can explain away most of the other failures, so I'm really NOT unhappy.

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What do you attribute the problems too?

Luckily I have only had 1 batch down the drain. We used a cheap arse ingredient in a heffe (knew better than to use it at the friggin time) and after 3 months in a keg, there was still 4.9 gallons so I pitched it.

My first brew, a basic extract w/ steeped grains and some fresh basil from our garden, was fan-freakin-tastic. I brought it to our extended family reunion party thing, and I got nothing but complements.

My 2nd brew was a steam Maibock. Really nice and malty. The 3rd was a mango-peach wit, and it turned out really good, except for the gushing.

Then I hit a streak where all my brews tasted weird...sourish, greenish, extracty. I think it was a combination of the dry yeast, not enough bitterness, and high fermentation temps.

Then I had a couple batches get infected in the bottle, and the guy who taught me how to brew got worried that I had some kind of problem in my brewhouse...but I've been making excellent stuff other than that, so I think it was a fluke.

I've made a couple REALLY harsh dark brews lately, and got pretty discouraged because I really had been craving a good stout. But I just revised my game plan WRT dark beers (I was using WAY too much dark roasted malts), and I'm back on track.

It's really a roller-coaster ride, this brewing thing, because you're always experimenting. I've made 37 batches since I started brewing 11 months ago...and it's a trial-and-error process, as it should be. As such, not every batch is gonna rock faces...especially when, like me, you craft all your own recipes (for the most part), rather than following tried-and-true recipes/kits from someone else. But the great part is that through this trial and error, I've come up with a handful of recipes that are awesome...and this process narrowing down the field is really fulfilling. What I really want to do is perfect 10 or 15 recipes for various styles, and always have some of whatever they are laying around. Doesn't mean I won't continue to experiment, though...

brewt00l said:

What do you attribute the problems too?

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Batch 1 = Didn't account for boil off and picked a bad recipe, too malty. Burned extract
Batch 2 = Better recipe, not a bad beer, still burned the extract
Batch 3 = Burned the PISS out of the extract. Had to get a power sander to get it off the bottom of my brew kettle. Last time using LME. Also tried to do a partial mash on the stove without a mashtun.
Batch 4 = Only one I can't really say. Bad recipe? Beer doesnt taste funky, just doesn't taste good!
Batch 5 = my IPA, Yummy.
Batch 6 = my wife's pale ale, not a clone of manny's, but is still good.
Batch 7 / 8, Just bottled, we'll see. Fingers crossed.

I've been refining my process with every batch, but it takes a while for batches to be 'ready' so I can't always know if my process changes are helping. My most recent 'version' of my process (now using a mash tun), which started with batch #5, has so far produced one sub-par beer. A day before I wrote the thread, it had only produced one good beer, and 2 bad ones, when I posted, I was actually posting to say that I WAS getting discouraged, but my beer turned out and my 'process' was vindicated as actually working.

Its great to hear more of your guys's stories, makes me feel better that I didn't come out of the gate making good beer

Batch 1 and 2: extract + grain kits - pretty good, not great but good
Batch 3: Partial mash Batch 4: first AG - both really good, 4 is my favorite so far
Batch 5 and 6: AG session beers - good, 6 a wit is very popular with friends and family
Batch 7: AG porter - This one the judgment is still out. It hasn't carbonated after a month in the bottle and has some harsh graininess to it. However I have hope that with time both problems will be corrected. This was an experiment where I used equal parts, Brown, Amber and Pale Malt. I think I'll stick to more traditional recipes for a while. Ofcourse I already have an Imperial Stout planned using Trappist yeast and Belgian grains

Craig

I've been lucky in that I've made mostly good beer. I have however, hit a slump before where 3 brews in a row were bad. That blew donkey, but I didn't feel like I would give up, I just went back to a recipe that I knew was good and brewed that. That gave me the confidence to experiment again. So now, I make one tried & true good brew, then one experimental... that's my pattern now... works for me!

i've only ran into my first wall recently with three wheat batches taking forever to carbonate using Briess DME...first batch is finally drinkable though so i think they'll come around. Other than that, i've thrown out only one batch because i couldn't get it to finish fermentation...stopped at like 1.040. All the other's have been pretty good and a few fantastic ones.

Jury's still out on my Gulden Draak.

I've had a couple of batches that disappointed (ESB most recently), but I've never been close to giving up. Lots of good beer, lots of good feedback, and such a supportive community as this? Nah, I ain't quitting, never thought about quitting.

I quit brewing for 2 years because I had a run of 4 bad batches. I found out the problem was due to using bleach for a sanitizer. I switched to iodophor and my beer was good again.

I have 14 batches under my belt. I can't say that all of them have been spectacular but all have at least been drinkable and some, like the honey wheat that's ready right now, have been very good. And I'm still on simple extract with steeped grain recipes, I can't wait to get into PM and AG.