No aroma, weak flavor

Hello guys

Well I sampled my second ever brew, (coopers real ALE) extract kit, 1lbs corn sugar. I was quite disapointed as there was NO aroma and not much flavor. No bitterness and weak malty taste.

My first kit (same kit) turned out great. What could have gone wrong?

I know I added a touch too much water, around 22 litres. This time I used danstar yeast which is suppose to have a clean taste profile as where the coopers yeast will produce more fruity flavors. It fermented at a sligtly higher then room temp, but not by much.

The beer was 10 days in bottle when I took this tasting. Any suggestions would be appreciated because I dont want another kit turning out like this. Also i did not boil this kit as ur not supposed to.

b33risGOOD said:

No bitterness and weak malty taste.

I know I added a touch too much water, around 22 litres.

It fermented at a sligtly higher then room temp, but not by much.

The beer was 10 days in bottle when I took this tasting.

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I think those three reasons are why. Too much water, temperature above 70 degrees (beer temperature, not room temperature), and being 10 days old.

You want to keep the temperature of the fermenting beer in the mid 60s, especially for a good quality ale yeast like that. A young beer probably hasn't had much chance for the flavors to meld, and adding too much water will water it down.

for future reference, I guess the correct amount of water would be 18.5 litre?

I don't know- I haven't used those kits. Whatever the amount that the kit makes would be right, I guess.

yea I understadn that but the kit simply states 5 gallons, and I thought there was 4 litre per gallon?

b33risGOOD said:

yea I understadn that but the kit simply states 5 gallons, and I thought there was 4 litre per gallon?

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Do you use US gallons? Or imperial gallons? There are 3.78 liters in a US gallon. The Cooper's kits I've seen in the store make 6 US gallons.

lol i dunno if its US or imperial, 3.78 sounds correct to me. Thank you for those suggestions. Will not make these mistakes again

I have 10 gallons of watery beer now to finish haha

b33risGOOD said:

lol i dunno if its US or imperial, 3.78 sounds correct to me. Thank you for those suggestions. Will not make these mistakes again

I have 10 gallons of watery beer now to finish haha

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I just googled it, since I don't recall much of those kits. But it definitely tells you to add more fermentables. A pound of sugar isn't really enough, when added to the one can. You'd probably need to add some additional fermentables to get over the thin and watery taste.

actually i really need to work on conversions lol

i used 1.4KG of corn sugar....

b33risGOOD said:

actually i really need to work on conversions lol

i used 1.4KG of corn sugar....

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Next time, use dry malt extract instead of the sugar. That will help fix the thin and watery taste. Corn sugar is cheaper, but it ferments out fully, leaving no body or flavor behind. It simply boosts the alcohol, without flavor. That's why some "lighter" beers are thin bodied and light, and it's pretty good for a summer drink. But if the beer seems watery and thin, you may like the results using extract much better.