1st Beer Blues

First beer, a porter, has been in the bottle for just over a week now and my older brother came over to give it a try. We poured a glass and a glass of Summit Porter for comparison and there was no comparison. 1 beer of what I did was plenty and we then finished off the Summit.

This was one of those kit cans and I'm sure I did everything wrong. The beer had maybe a yeasty? smell and a slight medicine taste.

The brewing procedure was to dump everything in the fermentor, including the packet of dry yeast it came with, and call it a day. 5 days in the fermentor, 12 in the secondary, and 8 so far in the bottle.

The fermentation was totally over in 48 hours. Pretty much no airlock activity since then. Did it just not complete fermentation for some reason? Infected?

I'm loving brewing, but what I'd really like to make is beer and not what I drank last night.

Also, I'm worried about my second brew, brown ale currently in secondary, as I don't remember aerating the wort and I pitched again with the packet of dry yeast that came with the kit from Midwest. Again fermentation over in 48 hours.

Third batch, an IPA in the primary, was pitched last sunday and bubbled all week just yesterday slowing down to a bubble every 20-30 seconds. On this one I mixed the cool wort a ton, and rehydrated a packet of US-56 instead of the packet of muntons that came with it.

I'm definitely hopeful for this third batch, but if this one doesn't work out.....

Try your porter in another 3-4 weeks. Green beer tastes like green beer.

Gotta agree with david 42, 8 days is still pretty early to give up hope!

Also, do you not think that beers like porters/stouts etc may be a little more difficult? Alot of people like Guiness but not many like Murphies or Beamish if you get what I am saying? Pale ales/lagers etc may be easier to get the basics right for brewing, I have started with these types (I have my first stout conditioning right now) and apart from my first batch that came out uncarbonated I have enjoyed everything so far.

As for my stout I tried 1 bottle after 10 days and am not that impressed, but am hoping it will improve and mellow with a little more time.

I think darker beers tend to be a bit more of a love/hate thing, so you may have done nothing wrong but you simply dont like what the kit has produced.

Yeah, after a few weeks, you'll have a good beer. If I understand you right, it won't be Summit clone, though. You've got to have a real specific recipe to clone a beer. You'll have a porter, just not Summit porter.

I love Summit's pale ale and stock up every time I'm in Minnesota because we can't get it down here. Unfortunately, I'm only there once a year.

Yeah, what everyone else said.

For a Porter you'll have to wait weeks, if not months, to get the brew tasting good.

I don't like to rush my beers. That's why I make so much of it.

I've only brewed two batches so far but I can say this. Even though three weeks is recommended for bottle conditioning, and my LHBS as well as a few books and articles/recipes say 10 days, I've seen a dramatic difference after 4 weeks and even better at 5.

My first beer was poured out after 2 sips tasting it at 7 days.

Tommy

also, you might want to consider modifying the canned kits a little bit, especially the yeast. The yeast that's in them isn't always fresh and likely hasn't been handled with the proper care. Switching with a different yeast from your LHBS can make a bit difference.

Stupid questions. was it hopped extract? Did you boil it or litterally just dump everything in the fermentor?

I think porters and stouts are the hardest beers to make. It's so easy to use too much or too little of the dark malts. You end up with either a harsh tasting dark beer or a weak tasting dark beer. A good stout is a work of art.

But, when brewing from a kit you should be fine.

Like others have said, just let it set for a few more weeks and it will probably be the best beer you've ever had.

Thanks for the words of advice and encouragement everyone. Looks like I'll just have to buy more beer to tide me over.

It was definitely my first and last "canned" kit. I literally just dumper everything in the fermentor. How much fun is that?

And the way my 3rd batch looks to be going, I'll definitely be upgrading my yeast going forward as well.

greenandgold said:

Thanks for the words of advice and encouragement everyone. Looks like I'll just have to buy more beer to tide me over.

It was definitely my first and last "canned" kit. I literally just dumper everything in the fermentor. How much fun is that?

And the way my 3rd batch looks to be going, I'll definitely be upgrading my yeast going forward as well.

Click to expand...

Is that what the instructions said to do? Man that's more like winemaking than brewing beer. Try again with a better kit I'm sure you can get better results.

The canned hopped extract kits are almost all thats available in the UK and are what almost everyone over here starts on.

While I have no doubt that boiling/unhopped extract and other ingrediants will produce much better beer I have produced some pretty good stuff from the canned kits, and there was almost no equipment costs to get started.

Of course I am now progressing to boiling ingrediants (birthday next month want a boiler!) and hope to make better beer as a result but canned kits are an easy way to get into this hobby.

Greenandgold, it's time to study up on what you are trying to do. Go to howtobrew.com where you will find a whole book on line. Or buy the book in paper. Buy some more books too. The fact that you are asking indicates you want to learn more.

The one step systems are over-simplifyed as a way to get you hooked. It's time you find some plastic buckets...

Tried beer number 1 again tonight after 3 weeks in the bottle (porter). Still wasn't any good, but I'll continue to wait it out.

Also took a sneak peak of beer number 2 (brown ale) only 2 days in the bottle and much preferred that. My first attempt at steeping grains, adding hops, etc.

I still did a lot wrong with number 2 and can't wait for beer number 3. That one (an IPA) tasted better still when I transferred from the primary to the secondary. Managed to leave that one in the primary 11 days!

Check out simple brew sites especially www.howtobrew.com. From experience, the "hopped" can kits are complete bull shizah. To make a decent beer all you need is liquid malt extract/dry malt extract, hops, specialty steeping grains, and yeast. If you already have a fermenter then just buy the other ingredients online and have them shipped to your home. Boil everything accordingly (after reading the howtobrew website or any other brewing literature) and ferment. Guaranteed better results...

Like someone else said....Porters and Stouts are not going to please everyone. Even if you like certain porters and stouts you will not like 50% of the rest of them. I guess it is the deep flavor that can go so many ways that causes it.

My favorite porter has Black Patent, Chocolate Malt, and roasted Barley. If you alter the ratio in the favor of either one, you get something that I just do not care for.

I love stouts, but I like sweet stouts. Too much roasted bitterness just turns me off.

So it may just be that you hate that Porter and did nothing wrong brewing it.

To be another echo in the chorus, I have a porter that's spent 2-3 weeks in the bottle and won't be ready until December. Most of the porter/stout recipes have long maturation times. Something that struck me as odd, you said that the first batch stopped fermenting after 48 hours? That seems awfully short to me. Do you know what the temperature of the wort in you fermenter was when you pitched the yeast packet? Also, did you rehydrate the yeast in some water before pitching in the fermenter? If the temp was too high the yeast may have gone hog wild reproducing, finishing up quickly, but producing a lot of off flavors.