Beers not tasting right? Fermenting temp a problem?

[maddawg4]

My first batch of beer was not very good. I have a mr. beer kit and i made Bills Brew. I waited the about 3 to 4 weeks after bottling it and it just never tasted right. In the winter i had a problem with my house being too cold. I am going to guess it was around 55 degrees in my house. How does this effect my brew and do i need to ferment longer due to the low temps? I also opened a Wheat beer about 3 weeks in just to test and it was the same problem.

Any help or ideas? I know i should figure out how to keep it warmer but my question is can it wait longer or does the temp have to be right?

 

[nickharbour]

Yes 55 degrees is far to low for most ale strains. You are using a Mr. Beer kit though so there are many things that could have gone wrong even following kit instructions but this temperature is a big red flag unless you were using hybrid or lager yeast. If the low temperatures were only during the later weeks its less of a problem than if they were at the beginning.

If the temp was too low then the yeast were not active and some other critters probably were, resulting in off flavors. if the temps were cold the whole time then the yeast might never have gotten going and the beer would end up undrinkably sweet, plus lots of off flavors.

 

[KevinW]

My first batch of beer was not very good. I have a mr. beer kit and i made Bills Brew. I waited the about 3 to 4 weeks after bottling it and it just never tasted right. In the winter i had a problem with my house being too cold. I am going to guess it was around 55 degrees in my house. How does this effect my brew and do i need to ferment longer due to the low temps? I also opened a Wheat beer about 3 weeks in just to test and it was the same problem.

Any help or ideas? I know i should figure out how to keep it warmer but my question is can it wait longer or does the temp have to be right?

Can you describe the taste? Many problems can be identified through very specific tastes or "off flavors" in beer for example, phenolic or band-aid like flavor can be cause by chlorine residue or chlorophenols in the water!

 

[Homercidal]

I agree. Its entirely possible that the beer did not turn out exactly right if it was kept at 55 for a length of time, but it's also as likely that there is some other cause. You may just need to give it time at around 70 to finish.

 

[AJStank]

I think I have the opposite problem. I pitched my yeast at 68 but the temp was pushing 72-75 in my house. I can't be sure because my beer has only been in the bottle for a little less than two weeks,but I get a cidery aftertaste. I've been sampling bottles at different points in the carbonation process and the most recent one I tasted had less of the cidery taste. Hopefully it works out