HELP - Beer smells, tastes stale

So I have not bottled my Mr. Beer Canadian Draft I brewed two months ago because I made the mistake of starting during tax season and someone ruined my last sanitation supplies for the kit.

The beer when I just did a new taste test for the first time in a month does not have the pazzaz that it had earlier on and almost tastes like a wine gone bad or old juice (not the same flavor, but the same mouth feel).

Is this normal for a beer or did I leave it in the fermenter too long? Is the yeast still viable for carbonation or should I just chuck this up as a life lesson?

Solution: Brew more beer

Bottle it up and find out! Two months is not too long.

I've heard mr. beer isn't hte most air tight setup, so its possible it did get oxidation after fermentation, which would cause stale flavors.

Remember too that 'cold' is a preservative against staleness, so sitting an extra month at room temp does kind of 'prematurely' age the beer which may or may not be detrimental (and in fact could be beneficial depending on the specific circumstances)

Does it taste yeast like? If the Beer stays to long in the yeast it will cause off flavored and make it taste that way.

You can't judge a beer until it's been carbed and conditioned. Before that many new brewers freak out about how their beer smells/tastes...Not because anything's wrong, but because beer USUALLY tastes like crap before it's carbed and conditioned.

In other words, relax....bottle the beer, and come back in a few weeks to thank us.

Thanks. I'll try bottling the beer after this last stretch.

dhoyt714 said:

Does it taste yeast like? If the Beer stays to long in the yeast it will cause off flavored and make it taste that way.

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uuummm......not true, and proven many times. and even then it would not taste like yeast it would have a off-tast because of autolysis.
most likely it is because the yeast dropped out and some of the yeasty taste and mouth feel has gone, because yeast also has a "taste"
Young beer has more "pazzaz" with fruity caracter

So I bottled it, but I had to toss out the dregs because they had an off taste (I wonder if that it is kind of what Vegimite tastes like), but I was wondering if there was a way to get better efficiency during the bottling process so I can filter out the gunk at the bottom to get another bottle out of it.

Stop tasting so much, and I'll bet you get an extra bottle or two!

NadoHawk said:

So I bottled it, but I had to toss out the dregs because they had an off taste (I wonder if that it is kind of what Vegimite tastes like), but I was wondering if there was a way to get better efficiency during the bottling process so I can filter out the gunk at the bottom to get another bottle out of it.

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If you are sticking with MrB equipment get another fermenter.
Then get 2 bottling spigots and some tubing to fit from online or the LHBS. Carefully widen the hole on the MrB fermenter to accept the new spigot. Now toss in a brew and ferment like normal.
On bottling day boil up the proper amount of bottling sugar in 1-2 cups of water and let it cool. Add this to the empty sanitized MrB fermenter. Rack the contents of the full fermenter into the "bottling bucket", make sure to minimize splashing and get the hose output angled so it swirls as it fills. When you get to the dregs, turn off the spigot. Now you can bottle from your other bucket immediately and use the tube to fill the bottles from the bottom.

azmark said:

Stop tasting so much, and I'll bet you get an extra bottle or two!

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I only tasted three or four ounces worth.