ThatGuyRyan
Well-Known Member
Anyone else try one of the kits from Amazon.com? I got both the Russian Imperial Stout and the American Wheat and both are funky! I brewed up the Russian first exactly per the instructions and let it sit in my basement in a cool corner about 66 for two 7 weeks. Then moved to the secondary where it has been for the past two weeks.
The American Wheat I followed the instructions but added an extra pound of wheat DME since the kit was a low alcohol kit and I just wanted it closer to a 5% than a 4%. Besides that I didn't change anything.
The thing is that I taste all of my beers when racking or taking a hydrometer reading and all of my past 12+ beers were flat yes but drinkable from the tester. These two however were both blah! A few sips and down the drain. And they both have a very similar cardboard taste with a vomit after taste! I am not kidding its like when you burp and a little extra comes up:-( thats the nasty taste!
Now this cant be an infection not on two beers that were not made at the same time not to mention I never had an infection on any other beer. So I am thinking maybe its something in the kit but these kits don't list any of the ingredients besides the yeast and they both use the same yeast. Dry Coopers Ale.
The Russian started off at 1.091 and is at 1.023 now so it seemed to ferment pretty well, I did buy a second 15g pack of dry yeast and threw that it at the beginning just to be safe. The American said the OG should have been 1.046 but I added the extra pound of DME and I got 1.070 its now 17 days in and its holding at 1.018. I thought that it may have stuck since I added the extra DME but didn't add more yeast so I pitched another pack 4 days ago and moved it to a warmer spot but its still holding at 1.018. I forgot to pick up a second pack when I started this one so it was just a 15g pack at the start.
I know the American is still young and I am going to hold it until the end of the week before deciding to bottle or second it but they both taste almost identical and not in a good way! Could this be the yeast or a after taste of unfresh ingredients? Amazon seems to sell out of these kits every other week so you would think that they would be fresh but who knows how long the maker has them sitting for. The only things in the box that's dated is the yeast packs.
As for me no more Amazon kits until I see how these turn out but as of today its not looking good.
I was also considering flavoring the Wheat to try and help it out. I got a bottle of cherry flavoring from my local Brew Shop would you guys suggest using it? And as for the Russian how long would you suggest I hold it in the secondary and how long should this one take to condition? Would you suggest bottling this one or just throw in in a keg and forget about it for a while?
The American Wheat I followed the instructions but added an extra pound of wheat DME since the kit was a low alcohol kit and I just wanted it closer to a 5% than a 4%. Besides that I didn't change anything.
The thing is that I taste all of my beers when racking or taking a hydrometer reading and all of my past 12+ beers were flat yes but drinkable from the tester. These two however were both blah! A few sips and down the drain. And they both have a very similar cardboard taste with a vomit after taste! I am not kidding its like when you burp and a little extra comes up:-( thats the nasty taste!
Now this cant be an infection not on two beers that were not made at the same time not to mention I never had an infection on any other beer. So I am thinking maybe its something in the kit but these kits don't list any of the ingredients besides the yeast and they both use the same yeast. Dry Coopers Ale.
The Russian started off at 1.091 and is at 1.023 now so it seemed to ferment pretty well, I did buy a second 15g pack of dry yeast and threw that it at the beginning just to be safe. The American said the OG should have been 1.046 but I added the extra pound of DME and I got 1.070 its now 17 days in and its holding at 1.018. I thought that it may have stuck since I added the extra DME but didn't add more yeast so I pitched another pack 4 days ago and moved it to a warmer spot but its still holding at 1.018. I forgot to pick up a second pack when I started this one so it was just a 15g pack at the start.
I know the American is still young and I am going to hold it until the end of the week before deciding to bottle or second it but they both taste almost identical and not in a good way! Could this be the yeast or a after taste of unfresh ingredients? Amazon seems to sell out of these kits every other week so you would think that they would be fresh but who knows how long the maker has them sitting for. The only things in the box that's dated is the yeast packs.
As for me no more Amazon kits until I see how these turn out but as of today its not looking good.
I was also considering flavoring the Wheat to try and help it out. I got a bottle of cherry flavoring from my local Brew Shop would you guys suggest using it? And as for the Russian how long would you suggest I hold it in the secondary and how long should this one take to condition? Would you suggest bottling this one or just throw in in a keg and forget about it for a while?