First extract results...what happened?

[Sordfish]

So after 6 long weeks of anticipating the results of my first beer creation (Brewer's Best Witbier extract), I popped open a bottle this weekend and was greatly disappointed.
When I opened the bottle it sounded like beer. It had good head, color, and smelled like beer, but I found the taste to be very similar to seltzer water, a lot of fizz and not much flavor. I knew that my brew day process wasn't perfect, but I expected better results than this. Below I have listed some of the issues that I ran into...any thoughts on what could have happened to cause this would be appreciated it.

Four weeks in fermenter, 2 weeks in bottle.

First potential issue: took about 75 minutes to cool down my wort
Second potential issue: added about 1/4 gallon to much water when topping off.
Third potential issue: when bottling, I had some air pockets that got in the line every so often.

 

[Jayhem]

It is hard to say what could have caused this but I will say that 2 weeks in the bottle is not long enough.

I've had 2 different brews (both Brewer's Best Kits in fact) that tasted bland and bitter after 2 weeks in the bottle but after 4-6 weeks in the bottle they greatly improved and went from something that was bad to OK to something good!

With new brewers the biggest issue with flavor problems is usually fermentation temperature.

Ales need stable temperature (no more than +/- 2 degrees) and the beer temp should stay between 62 and 68F. Most new brewers assume that the beer is the same temp as the air around it when fermenting...this is not the case, the beer can be as high as 8 degrees warmer than ambient air! So if you ferment at 70 degrees air temp the beer would get way too hot during the first few days of fermentation and cause all sorts of flavor problems.

 

[Bradinator]

Do you have gravity readings to go with it? Could be topping it off lowered the OG giving you a lighter beer. An OG and FG could answer this question very quickly.

As for taking time to chill, not an issue. Some of us use no-chill, including myself, where you allow your beer to chill overnight (or longer for some... I am not that brave) before pitching the yeast.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

my guess is you're tasting green beer, which can come across bitter and thin sometimes. give it another couple weeks in the bottle at room temp, then around a week in the fridge, they should start coming around by then.

 

[TopherM]

added about 1/4 gallon to much water when topping off

+1 to gravity readings.

The air bubbles in the bottling line are not a big deal, so problems there.
The 75 minutes to cool down the wort isn't optimal, but would cause only very very slight consequences to the final product. Some brewers even take 24 hours to cool and report no negative consequences.

The extra water, and no apparent gravity readings, however, are an issue. If you didn't take an original gravity reading after cool down, you don't know how much extra water you added. It could have been much more than the 1/4 gallon you think you added. Water top off should be done to meet the recipe's intended OG, NOT to a arbitrary volume level.

If you missed your gravity on the low side, then additionally added the extra 1/4 gallon of water you know about, then it would water down your beer. A Witbeer is a lighter bodied style to begin with, so watering it down would created the exact characteristic you are describing - carbonated beer with no body that tastes more like carbonated water, because that is almost what it is, lots of water with a much smaller relative volume of grain and hops flavor and alcohol.

 

[BradleyBrew]

Not to strike fear into your heart but everyone once in a while a not so sanitized bottle will slip through. It sounds like a infection of some kind to me. I entered a competition a few weeks ago. I entered a oatmeal stout. The judges comments were very good on 1 bottle and another bottle they said it was overcarbed, fizzy, astringent. A young beer does not go from fizzy tasteless, to amazing in 2 weeks. It could just be a few random bottles.

 

[Sordfish]

sorry, I should have included the gravity readings.

OG: 1.040
FG: 1.010

Also, the temperature stayed at a pretty consistent 64* according to the sticky thermometer on the bucket.

 

[JonM]

It took a long time for me to learn patience in this hobby, but I've found that my beers are lousy after a week or two in the bottles, drinkable at three, good at 5 or 6 weeks, and awesome at 8 weeks. Just give it some more time.

 

[asterix404]

What the recipe? I get good beer within 5 weeks but it does become amazing after 8. Also, Ale yeast doesn't need these sort of exact temperatures. The thing to remember is not to get it too much above 75 and not below 63.

I have done so much ale in the summer and my basement doesn't swing wildly but it does swing and the beer comes out find. Lager is a totally different story.

 

[TopherM]

The recipe calls for a 1.049 OG, so you did water it down by almost 25%. It's like if you took a 12oz beer and added 3oz of carbonated water to it. That's what you did, and the result is well carbonated, but watered down beer.

Next time, make sure you add top off water to hit the target OG, NOT to a particular water volume. This is a very common newbie mistake (I've written this same kinda post about 50 times this year). Hitting the proper relative density (the definition of specific gravity) is much more important than having the full 5 gallons or whatever, and there's lots of ways to lose the need for water volume throughout the brewing process.

I don't think everyone's suggestions about the beer being young, carb time, etc. (while true) are relevant to your issue. You watered down a beer by almost 25% that is already a light style, so you have a 25% lack of body, which leads to your watered-down taste, and your real mistake was adding top off water to a target volume, and not to your target OG. Next time, worry about the OG, not the volume.

 

[Jayhem]

^ I agree with TopherM, but with extract "Kits" the OG should come out very close to target unless you lost some of your extract somewhere or your measurement of water is off by a good bit. I've done 3 Brewer's Best kits and they are always right on the Target OG, +/- 0.002