don't taste like beer.

At the end of second fermentation and beer tastes bitter and nasty. Should I even bother botteling?

Bitter may not be entirely unexpected, depending on your recipe and procedure. Nasty, well that needs more explanation. What type of beer, when did you brew, what was the starting gravity and where is it now? It may very well be nasty and unrecoverable, but you'll want to know why. Particularly if you want to avoid such a fate in the future.

yes you should bother bottling. Often times immature, uncarbonated beer tastes bitter to me too (especially IPAs) but then after conditioning, carbonating, and cooling down to serving temps, they come out wonderful.

You'll read on here to never dump a batch. This I disagree with - for example, if you pick up fusel alcohols by fermenting too hot, toss it. But time heals a lot of bad beer. As Mike M said, if it doesn't improve with time in the bottle (at least 3 weeks) tell us more about what the "nasty" flavor is so we can help identify where you went wrong, how to salvage this batch, and how to fix the problem so you don't repeat it. Again, I bet this one works out for you with nothing but another few weeks of waiting

"At the end of second fermentation and beer tastes bitter and nasty. Should I even bother botteling?"

No, you shouldn't be bottling. That doesn't mean toss it.... just wait longer. If it was a minor process issue causing off flavors, the beer may get dramatically better with time.

How long has it been in primary/secondary?

Please note that green, flat beer in a fermenter often doesn't taste anything like good, carbed beer... especially if you are new to brewing.

Bitter, bland, boring, watery are all VERY common complaints when tasting beer in a fermenter.

Carbonation and age can do wonders for a beer.

Even fusel alcohols can be fixed,don't toss it. And don't secondary it. Leave it the bloody hell alone & let the yeast convert it like other by products of fermentation. I've done it. As long as the off flavors aren't wicked strong the yeast can convert it. I've even had them finish cleaning it up in the bottles over a couple weeks time.

O.k., this beer is brewers best weizenbier. Started with 1.044 og.
48 hours later and no movement in airlock. So I put another packet of yeast in. When I opened the lid to add it there was some ferm around the edges of bucket. 48 hours later still not one bubble out of airlock. My local store said it sounded like it was done fermentating and I should move on to secondary.
At this point fg was 1.010 so I transfered to glass carboy and it had visible airlock action for the last two weeks.
Yesterday fg was 1.010 and it tasted like a lemon on the back of my tongue. I thought I should be botteling this weekend but HELP.
I will not take up knitting, that was not the type of stupid response I'm looking for. I'm serious about this and want serious replys.

You pulled it off the yeast way too fast. It probably would be done by now if you just left it alone, but racking to the secondary slowed it down considerably. Just let it sit there for another week or 2 and taste it again. Absolutely do NOT bottle it yet.

As to the lack of bubbles....Your bucket lid may not have completely sealed allowing the CO2 to vent through leaks rather then through the airlock. In your glass carboy with the bung firmly in place excess gas can vent only through the the airlock.

Holy crap...what's up with slamming this guy? He's new, running into issues and posted a legit question. Great job making him think this forum is full of a-holes.

OP - ignore the terse remarks. 99.9% of the people on here are very helpful and understanding. Keep the questions coming and they'll get you pointed in the right direction.

Thanks rednblack, that's exactly what I was thinking. That's why this site exists and was created, to share success and failure with homebrewers and help each other.
So, for the serious and proud craftsman on this site :
I'm fermenting around 65°-70°
Tomorrow is 14 days in 2nd fermentation. I'll take another reading again to see if it's done. Until then I'lllook forward to your helpful replies.

Sorry to hear you've gotten some lame responses. I'm fairly new to the hobby, have asked a lot of dumb questions on here and done everything bad I could possibly do to fermenting beer in the short time I've been brewing , except maybe trying to hide a dead body in it... and so far my results have been mixed. But I've never had anyone be rude to me on here, so I'm very surprised at some of the responses.

I agree with the comments that the beer needs more time. Take a gravity reading 3 days in a row and if they remain unchanged then you can go ahead and bottle it. Then let it sit at room temp for 3 weeks while it conditions in the bottles. Chances are it will be markedly improved from what you're tasting now.

That doesn't mean the beer is necessarily going to turn out brilliant. I've done 7 batches thus far... only one of which turned out awesome, 2 turned out 'ok', 2 were dumped, and another 2 I have yet to taste.

Like most hobbies, I think this one takes practice and a lot of fine tuning - at least for me anyways.

Sounds good. I will take readings and hope for the best. Good to hear there's a learning curve.

What did I miss? I didn't see any "lame responses".

bja said:

What did I miss? I didn't see any "lame responses".

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That's what I was wondering. Mods must have removed some stuff as all the current posts look pretty supportive and offering advice. OP, welcome and give us a report back in a month or so when it's conditioned a bit and is fully carbonated!

Mods removed some nasty comments thankfully.

To the op, if its still at 1010, bottle it. Give it 3 weeks in bottles to carb and condition and give it another try. As I and others have iterated, flat, immature, uncarbed beer tastes different than what you're used to. Time heals a lot in terms of off flavors. Bottle it and give us an update in 3 weeks or so. If its still funky tasting then, tell us what the off flavor is and we can help further.

Thanks. Im learning alot.
I'll keep ya posted.

One of the best things I've ever done for my beer (besides closely controlling the fermentation temps, which it already sounds like you're doing) is leave it in the primary for at least 3 weeks. It allows the yeast to clean up all the byproducts of fermentation that can lead to off flavors. Personally, I don't even open the bucket for 3 weeks. If I've done my job and taken care of the yeast properly, they know what to do. Let 'em do it.

Even if your beer doesn't come out tasting any way that you expected, give it time. Leaving it on the yeast longer can help clean up a bunch of strange flavors and also helps with clarity. When you are ready to bottle, do it! Even if the gravity sample still doesn't taste all that good. Let the beer condition in the bottle for a while and you might be pleasantly surprised.
I brewed an Austin Homebrew kit (Six-Malt Amber) and didn't like it at all from the gravity samples and even after weeks in the bottle. I just put the bottles in my beer fridge and forgot about them for a while. Lo and behold, I cracked one about two months later and a miracle had happened - the beer had "come together" and was really delicious. I share with friends and they loved it too. The remaining bottles flew out of my beer fridge in the next few weeks and I learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your beer is to give it time to come together. Your patience will more times than not be rewarded.
Best of luck, brother brewer!
Brew on!

Like most people here says, just give it some time. The yeasties are good friends of yours, just let them do their job.

When I sampled my first beer from gravity readings (and then some more) it did taste like **** (not ****, but it wasn't anywhere what I would expect it to taste since I was comparing to final commercial products). But then I read the same thing as people are telling you to do, wait. So I waited and it tasted pretty damn good when it was finished

After bottling how long until I refrigerate my beer?

briguy13 said:

After bottling how long until I refrigerate my beer?

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It varies. 3 weeks. 2 months. You won't know till you taste them. You can refridgerate them at any time they become drinkable but you want them to continue aging until they reach peak flavor. Which could take weeks and weeks.

Then a week in the fridge for good carbonation & head. some beers are better at two weeks fridge time. Even thicker head,& longer lasting carbonation.

Listen to the people saying give it time.


As a fellow n00b my big mistake is never leaving my brews for long enough. The last great tasting bottle of each batch is slowly teaching me patience

I hope it turns out well for you!

Giving them the few weeks (3 is a good average) for carbing and at least few days(even weeks) in the fridge is ideal.If you test them inbetween and are disapointted, well then thats probably likely you just didnt wait long enough.Sometimes though if you still dont like it,then just wait even longer and you should see changes. About almost 2 months from brewdate is usually my window for a beer that is done.Alot of times sooner depending on style/gravity/temps.

I had a stout that I brewed fall of last year. 5 months after bottling, I stumbled across 12 unopened bottles in my basement. Temp down there during winter/spring was around 60 degrees F. After allowing a few to chill in the fridge for a few days, I cracked one. I truly believe that those 12 were better than the first 40 or so that I drank within the first 2 months. Aging beer works. Maybe not on all types of beer but it can. Let them prime for 3 weeks and put one in the fridge for a few days. Pour it into a glass (pics always appreciated) and taste. Go from there. If you still think you taste some odd flavors, allow the others to sit for another 2-4 weeks before placing in the fridge. Good luck. Brew on.

Thanks, I'll take pics.
Second Brewing this weekend ,
an American cream ale. Should be fun.

Well, I decided on botteling the weizenbier instead of dumping it two weeks ago. I want to wait 3-4 weeks until taste day but decided to try just one...not bad! It definitely needs a little more prime time but not bad. Just a wee flat. I'll fill you all in after taste day.





I've learned alot from some of you guys, but most definitely the fact that you must be patient, patient., patient. Thanks

Let it sit in the bottle for three weeks. If it foams or tastes bad, then make a decision. I would never throw a beer until I let it set for at least 3 weeks.