Does everyones extract beer taste right?

I seem to be having some problems with off flavors of some sort, does you guys beer taste good? I've yet to actually have a good homebrew, would anyone be willing to let me sample thiers that taste right?

I have a thread in the begginer forum describing what is going on, basically it is some bad taste I think is due to the extract, specifically LME.

If someone has a good porter that I could taste I'd like to try and duplicate it to see if I even can. At this point I'm not sure I want to brew another.

Too bad you didn't ask a couple of weeks ago. I was in York, PA The week before last and in DC/Alexandria the week prior to that. Sorry.

tHAT SUCKS FOR ME. I just tasted my brew..

Don't get discouraged, I think it's likely based on your other post that the beer is just too young. It's barely been a month, and beers with OGs that high (1.08 is pretty big) need more time.

I'd recommend that you give it another shot, but maybe do something a little more straightforward. I don't know what kind of beer you like, but something a little smaller, something without extras like brown sugar. Maybe an APA or something like that. Try using DME instead of LME. Your other recipe didn't have any steeping grains; find a recipe that has some crystal or something.

Even better, buy a Brewer's Best kit, or something similar (not a pre-hopped extract kit). Get something in a style you like that has some grains, has LME and/or DME, has the right yeast, all of that. There are some veru good kits around, I think AustinHomeBrew is well-regarded, Northern Brewer... someone else can chime in.

EDIT: My bad, I missed the 1# of crystal. Still, that's less crystal than I've tended to use, especially in relation to how much LME you've got. I'd still try a kit before I gave up.

What brand of extract do you use? I have a growing suspicion about one particular brand of them not producing as good a brew as others. PM me if you are not comfortable about posting it.

He's posted that already, it's John Bull light.

I don't know that using LME would be to blame. Lots of brewers make excellent beers using LME, and win awards with these beers. It could be a particular brand of LME, as one person here said.

Try a lighter beer. 1.08 is a monster!

I've been very happy with my SNPA Clone...my Pale-Ass Ale. VERY tasty. Also, a quick beer to mature. Your 1.08 monster might take 2 months or more to age properly.

You may also want to re-visit your sanitation. ANYTHING that touches your wort with 15min remaining in the boil must be sanitized. Star-San is the shiz-nit.

Order from a reputable online supply store and hand-pick your ingredients. You won't be dissapointed.

I tend to agree that you just need to sit on your beer a bit longer...that it will taste better with age.

I had a similiar experience very recently. When I bottled my first batch ever, American Amber, I filled various sized bottles including a little 6oz bottle. My purpose for the 6oz bottle was to test carbonation without wasting a whole 12oz.

On Friday night I cracked open that 6oz after only 5 days in the bottle. There was a thin head but the carbonation was nice. It tasted pretty mighty fine, I might add. Then I threw two 12oz bottles in the freezer to drink later. Needless to say, I couldn't manage to choke them down...they tasted horrible.

Then I had a possible reason why they tasted so bad compared to the 6oz. There was more fluid in the 12oz and thus more priming sugar which hadn't fermented yet. I'm thinking that's why they tasted so bad. So last night I cracked open two more 12 oz bottles and gave them a taste. Ahhh, much better. Not quite all the way to tasting proper but a definite improvement.

So, I'm in agreement with the_bird that you just need to wait it out a bit. That high of a gravity brew is bound to take some time to mature.

Edit: Is there any truth to my theory on the size of the bottle? It sounded good at the time. lol

Ok guys I'll give it some more time.

This first batch was kind of a mess.

I tried to do a belhaven scotch ale clone but the hbs didn't have a lot of what I needed. I should have probably just done something else.

I really like porters, I'd say that is my favorite style. At this point I don't think I'm going to brew another till I can taste someones that is good.

Ok, so you used John Bull Light liquid malt extract? If this is a porter, I assume that you steeped grains for your additional flavor and color? I'm asking because I when I was brewing extracts, I always went for the lightest extract possible, then steeped grains for color and flavor. I found that the darker the extract, the worse the result.

Steve973 said:

Ok, so you used John Bull Light liquid malt extract? If this is a porter, I assume that you steeped grains for your additional flavor and color? I'm asking because I when I was brewing extracts, I always went for the lightest extract possible, then steeped grains for color and flavor. I found that the darker the extract, the worse the result.

Click to expand...

the beer I did was a scotch ale, I used 7 pounds of john bull light LME and 3 pounds of light DME. Plus I steeped a pound of crystal 60.

I want to do a porter next.

FWIW, a Scotch Ale is not a very good first brew, IMHO--it's big, takes a long time to taste it's best, and because the hops element is quite minimal, any little flaw is going to be obvious. (Or, put another way, higher hops leves can mask small "defects.")

I would say, get started right away on that porter, and give the big beer plenty of time.

My advice would be to purchase a kit from Morebeer.com, Austin Homebrew, or Northern Brewer--those guys do huge volume business, and the LME you get from them will be fresh and won't be in a can. Or use a recipe calling for all DME.

cweston said:

FWIW, a Scotch Ale is not a very good first brew, IMHO--it's big, takes a long time to taste it's best, and because the hops element is quite minimal, any little flaw is going to be obvious. (Or, put another way, higher hops leves can mask small "defects.")

I would say, get started right away on that porter, and give the big beer plenty of time.

My advice would be to purchase a kit from Morebeer.com, Austin Homebrew, or Northern Brewer--those guys do huge volume business, and the LME you get from them will be fresh and won't be in a can. Or use a recipe calling for all DME.

Click to expand...

Thanks that is what I'll do. Is there a porter that you would recomend?