17 days after fermentation began

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BADS197

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I have one Sour Sour Heather Ale.

I honestly don't think it's drinkable to me as I hate really sour stuff.

We cannot figure out where we went wrong with this kit. I followed the instructions and didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I've got 4 great batches before this one.

My girls Pumpkin ale is also done but tastes watered down. She wants to bottle it and see how it goes and if it's still watered down she said she might drink it herself and not give it out.

Heather Ale is a FAIL
Pumpkin Ale is not far behind that...

gonna go back to basics and do just one batch at a time and perfect my process. I HAD to have done something out of the ordinary or missed something.

:(

Unless you guys have a suggestion of how to get it to not be soo sour... I'll be tossin this one in the morning.
 
BADS197 said:
My girls Pumpkin ale is also done but tastes watered down. She wants to bottle it and see how it goes and if it's still watered down she said she might drink it herself and not give it out.
Click to expand...

I've had a batch or two that had a bit of a watered-down taste in the first sample or two I tried after 3 weeks in the bottle. This went away after waiting a few more weeks and both turned into very good beer. I'd say if the fermentation is done, bottle it. A month in the bottle could improve things a lot.
 
Where did you get the kit from Bads? Maybe give them a call and see what they might have to say about it. . .

If you had 4 good batches before with the same process, it seems strange that this one would taste that different.

Just my $.02
 
Pez said:
how long was it in the bottle?
Click to expand...


Neither one of them has been bottled yet.

I'm going to bottle my girls beer in a couple days and still debating what to do about the heather ale.
 
Bottle both, you still have no idea how either is going to turn out. Worst case, after a couple months in the bottle, if you can't drink the heather ale use it to cook with.
 
I just kegged 1/2 and bottled half of the Heather Ale.

As for Mr. Pumpkin... it will be bottled in the next couple days.

Malto-Destrine.. hmmmm I'll look into that. I don't know what it is but if it would help reduce the watered down taste even a TAD I could deal with that.

Would I add it now after boiling it in a little bit of water and then dump it in the secondary fermenter then wait a week?

thanks guys.

jake
 
you can't judge a beer unless it has been in the bottle for a minimum of 3 weeks at 70 degrees....you need the carbonation/bottle conditioning cycle....until then any diagnosis will be wrong...it's hard to distinguish, if you are inexperienced, between green beer off flavors, and infection beer off flavors.

Even your heather beer..Bottle it, let it condition and see what happens. I mean I've never tasted green heather beer before, so I couldn't distinguish between unfinished (green) heather ale and "ruined" heather ale....can you?

Heck to me, raw pumpkin taste like the description of autolysis, but that same batch in a month in the bottle will taste completely different.

Even waiting a couple months in the bottles can work miracles...read this lil story.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

I wouldn't add ANYTHING...17 days is nothing to the life of the beer, and adding something to green beer might ruin the finished product if nothing was wrong to begin with..
 
Revvy said:
you can't judge a beer unless it has been in the bottle for a minimum of 3 weeks at 70 degrees....you need the carbonation/bottle conditioning cycle....until then any diagnosis will be wrong...it's hard to distinguish, if you are inexperienced, between green beer off flavors, and infection beer off flavors.

Even your heather beer..Bottle it, let it condition and see what happens. I mean I've never tasted green heather beer before, so I couldn't distinguish between unfinished (green) heather ale and "ruined" heather ale....can you?

Heck to me, raw pumpkin taste like the description of autolysis, but that same batch in a month in the bottle will taste completely different.

Even waiting a couple months in the bottles can work miracles...read this lil story.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

I wouldn't add ANYTHING...17 days is nothing to the life of the beer, and adding something to green beer might ruin the finished product if nothing was wrong to begin with..
Click to expand...

This is absolutely dead on advice - 17 days after fermenting is WAY too young to judge any beer. Put it aside and forget about it, let it sit in bottles until November, then try it.

In the mean time, "if a horse throws you, what do you do?"
 
Well we just tasted it after a long time in the bottle and it's still nasty sour and smells really bad. I have to dump it but as a consolation prize my Scotch Ale is good too GO!
 
BADS197 said:
Neither one of them has been bottled yet.

I'm going to bottle my girls beer in a couple days and still debating what to do about the heather ale.
Click to expand...


My first brew, English Pale Ale tasted like watery wort on bottling day. I was very anxious to know if this was going to end up tasting like watered down beer, because I too feared the worst.

Fast forward a mere week and I cracked one open... It tasted like St. Peters English Pale Ale (if you've never had one, seek it out). I can't wait to see what another month in the bottle does for this beer.
 

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