First batch taste like tonic water?

my buddy and i just brewed out firsst batch and ill be the first to say its rather horrible even thought he never will. it tast like tonic water. or if beer were to come out of pop machines. it would tast like it was out of syrup. we boiled the correct amount of malt we just lost track of time aand guess to what we thought was right. does any one have any idea why it tast bad.

-dan

did you ferment it?

How about some more info...recipe would be a good place to start, ferment times and temps.

ferment time- 2 weeks
ferment temp 70 degrees
recipe was a basic one i got from a store in town. we added 2 malt extracts and boiled it down for about an hour. we fermented it for a week then bottled it and let it sit for another week.

the beer was a red lagar

-dan

dmagic0123 said:

ferment time- 2 weeks
ferment temp 70 degrees
recipe was a basic one i got from a store in town. we added 2 malt extracts and boiled it down for about an hour. we fermented it for a week then bottled it and let it sit for another week.

the beer was a red lagar

-dan

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I'm not trying to be difficult, but there are lots of basic kits with 2 malt extracts and I have no idea what kit used or the kind of extracts. Still, I'll try to guess at some issues. One is that if you fermented it for a week and bottled it for a week, it's about a month too early to judge the beer. It should be better in a month or so.

Usually, you boil the wort and add hops. Did you add hops or use a prehopped extract? When you boiled it down, what did you boil it down to? What's the name of the brand you used, and what were the instructions? If we know that, we may have some good advice for you.

it was a kit with the two malt extracts that already had the hops and everything it. in my opinion it tast like tonic water or way over carbenated even tho we use the correct amount. the beer was supposed to tast like a sam adams lagar.

with if i let it age for a month in the bottol will it turn out correctly possibly? or does it have to be in the fermenting bucket? as for the other question my buddy has the instructions the store gave us and the products we used. when we boiled it down it smelled and looked alot like tomato soup.

dmagic0123 said:

it was a kit with the two malt extracts that already had the hops and everything it. in my opinion it tast like tonic water or way over carbenated even tho we use the correct amount. the beer was supposed to tast like a sam adams lagar.

with if i let it age for a month in the bottol will it turn out correctly possibly? or does it have to be in the fermenting bucket? as for the other question my buddy has the instructions the store gave us and the products we used. when we boiled it down it smelled and looked alot like tomato soup.

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Well, it will be better in a month, but probably not what you were hoping for. If you boiled a no-boil kit, you may have lost much of the flavor of the malt and hops.

If it's way over carbonated, that might be from bottling too early, so keep an eye on the bottles so you don't have bottle bombs.

When you can let us know what products you used and what exactly you did, we may have better advice for next time.

ok i know this is a big diffrence and ur probably gonna hound me for this one but its an english red ale not red lagar

sorry

dmagic0123 said:

ok i know this is a big diffrence and ur probably gonna hound me for this one but its an english red ale not red lagar

sorry

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That's fine- I'm not in the hounding business! I just would have to guess at what is wrong here, and I really can't do that without knowing more about the products, instructions, etc. There are literally hundreds of ways to buy a kit and make beer and some are excellent and some are terrible, and most are in between.

Something simple like adding more water after the boil can water down the beer and give a tonic water taste. Or, boiling a no-boil kit can darken and thicken and less the flavor of the hops. There are just too many variables to be specific enough to be much help without knowing what you used and what you did.

It will taste better in a month, even if it's not what you planned initially. And the next batch will be much better!

I think the OP might want to read How to Brew - By John Palmer. It is a whole free book online and has a wealth of knowledge.

dmagic0123 - Trust me, if someone is hounding you on this forum, you will know it.
I think your tasting green beer, you bottled a little early and the yeast did not yet have enough time to clean up some of the esters and "off flavors" created during fermentation.
Second, your drinking one week after bottling, you will get nice pop when opening, but the C02 has not been absorbed back into the beer, and it will taste like green "cra.". Give it three more weeks, buy some BMC "Bud, Miller, Coors" to get you through it.
In three weeks, if it still taste bad, it may have been your process in making it. (Boiling a no-boil batch will make it darker, and boil off flavor from the hops etc).
But hey, you made beer. Now its time to make better beer.
Welcome to homebrewing and to this forum.