Will my brew ever recover?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

johndeere

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Location
Ohio
For my initial brew made early in January I've come to learn I made a few crucial mistakes:

- The BB American Ale kit was a gift, the kit was the old style so the extract was likely old

- Didn't really do a great job of aeriation (not bad though)

- Fermented at 71 degrees ambient (so actual ferment was probably close to 80)

- Took out of fermenter after only 2 weeks (probably 10 days post fermentation)

- Missed calculated FG. Supposed to be 1.09-1.13 Actual was about 1.19

The brew has been conditioning for nearly 3 months now and has strong yeast flavor and now developing a metalic taste. I have 24 bottles still in the basement, and I pulled out 12 bottles to refridgerate. As of last weeks sample I'm still getting strong off flavors.

Will further conditioning help me much more? Or is my first brew being chalked up as experience? Either way it's not a total loss, my second brew (robust porter) is delicious... and it's only been bottle conditioning for 1 week!! I'm being patient with this one... can't wait to see how it is in another few weeks.
 
Old LME in an old can would be my bet at the taste. Sorry, but I suspect it's not going anywhere.
 
I've had off flavors that never went away from what I deduce was high fermentation temp and underpitching most likely, but also possibly the extract and yeast I used. I couldn't describe the taste... It showed up in most of the Mr. Beer kits I used when I first started out, and in one 5 gal batch since that was primarily dry malt extract as well (pretty sure that one was the high fermentation temp and low pitching rate - the Mr. Beer ones were probably a combination of high or varying fermentation temps and crappy yeast EDIT: Also just the nature of the Mr. Beer extracts).

I chalked it up to a good learning experience - now I REALLY watch the temps, and use the yeast pitching calculator at http://www.mrmalty.com/ to determine how much yeast to pitch. To keep the temp lower at least for the vigorous fermentation period when the fermentation is making it's own heat as well, I use a water bath in the tub with a shirt or towel wrapped around the carboy to keep the temp lower than the ambient air temp and more stable. EDIT: And I switched to all grain, to take the variability of extract out of the equation...

In regards to the FG, I've seen quite a few posts on here where that's been the case with malt extract. I think that stuff deteriorates a lot with age and who knows how long it's been sitting on shelves.
 
Yes I used a brand new pot, but I boiled water in it first to build an oxide layer. God knows how old my kit was. I was so excited to get started I never thought anything of it, I do know that it was probably at least a year old.

I'm basically thinking I had bad LME mixed with high ferment temps. I kinda figured I was doomed. It's drinkable beer, not good but not terrible. I give it a C- considering it was my first.
 
Back
Top