HELP. flavorless kit brew.

I have just finished the primary on a batch of dark ale I made from a kit (coopers) and I am ready to bottle. I took an SG reading last night and a little taste just to track color and flavor for notes and there really isn’t much going on in the flavor department. Is there anything I can do at bottling to bring out some stronger flavors. I have done some reading on dry hopping, are there any other methods to raising flavor pre bottling or is it just going to need to bottle condition for a while? There wasn’t much malt flavor was more watery and slight fruity dry taste.

you can always use dme insead of priming sugar when bottling

The bottling sugar is so small compared to the overall digested sugars, it will make a bit of a difference but it can't rescue a bland beer by itself.

You have two choices: bottle it and hope for the best, or add something (hops, fruit, old Playboy magazines...).

I'd bottle and hope for the best, but if I were a hophead I would dry-hop.

Maybe use a different kit the next time?

if you havent bottled just yet, throw some hops in there and give it another week. keep in mind, however, that dry hopping does not add a stronger flavor, only give your beer aroma.

Quite honestly, sometimes aroma can really pick a beer up even if a little bland, but you also need to give it time. And a lot more of it. Your beer, where it is right now, is nowhere near being a finishes product. When it is done, if it still is bland and stupid and spiteful and hateful to all you hold dear, then you can make a post asking what happened.

But until then, my recommendation to satisfy your desire for better flavor now would be to dry hop for a week, bottle, condition for a minimum of 3-5 weeks before even giving a thought as to what the finished product will be like. Otherwise, let it go.

Carbonation will go a long way to giving you the perception of flavor, and body, you really can't judge your beer until it's been bottled, carbed and condition. At this stage your beer is uncarbed and green. The presence of co2 alone will go a long way in improving the flavor and mouthfeel of it.

Your beer has a journey to still go on. You really don't need to do anything to fix your beer. More than likely there is nothing wrong. Just bottle it, give it a minimum 3 weeks to carb and condition at 70 degrees, and I betcha you will think you were silly for worry about this at this stage, like just about everyone else who has started a thread like this.

Just about every thread like this the person starting it comes back after 4-6 weeks and posts something like this...that just was posted today.

licquyd said:

Finally crack open a bottle of this Beer last weekend.

I have to say, it is the best home brew I have tasted. Stout but seems between a stout and a nut brown ale. I love it.

Glad I didn't throw this out.

Click to expand...

Just bottle and walk away....

+1 on the playboys.

Patience! As Revvy said, it's not done yet. Carbonation really can change the flavor!

And in the very least, you'll have beer and even session beer is worth having too.

Also, I like hops, so I'd dry hop it anyway. Can't hurt.

I would bottle and save the playboys for you. Give it time and let it carb up.

If it actually did come out bland and flavorless after conditioning, you could try making some "hop water". Basically just a short small boil with some hops tossed in and stored in a water bottle and added in a small amount to a bland beer. I saw this video on youtube by steeljan where she does this and talks about it. It seemed like a cool idea to me to at least see what some different hops taste like, but I havent done it yet myself.