First time brewer.

[leeno]

Hello everyone!
I just brewed my first batch of beer and it has an almost champaign like quality to it. I made a raspberry wheat and followed the recipe exactly. The beer is lacking in raspberry flavor and is fizzy (for lack of a better term). Can someone help steer me in the right direction?

 

[Greenbasterd]

how long has it been fermenting?
did you take hydrometer readings? what were they?
what kind of yeast did you use?
is it carbonated yet?

 

[leeno]

I used a Mr. Beer starter kit and I let the beer ferment for 16 days and then another 7 days after bottling the beer before I chilled it.

 

[leeno]

I did not take hydrometer readings and I used the yeast that came with the kit.

Thank you for your help!

 

[michael_mus]

Hello everyone!
I just brewed my first batch of beer and it has an almost champaign like quality to it. I made a raspberry wheat and followed the recipe exactly. The beer is lacking in raspberry flavor and is fizzy (for lack of a better term). Can someone help steer me in the right direction?

Hey welcome!

 

[leeno]

Thank you very much Michael! I appreciate that!

 

[GoCrew]

You will have better beer if you bottle condition it longer. Let your remaining bottles sit for another 2 or 3 weeks and they will be much better.

 

[Greenbasterd]

I used a Mr. Beer starter kit and I let the beer ferment for 16 days and then another 7 days after bottling the beer before I chilled it.

ahh, fruit flavors are usually very minimal unless you add a crap ton near the end of the ferment. i am guessing that things went normal for the kit and you're just not that impressed with it.. don't give up tho, there is good beer to be made. you could use you're mr beer equipment to do a small extract batch and i think you would be much more impressed. all you would need extra is a 16qt pot at least.

there is lots of good recipes around here that can easily be ratio'd down to whatever size you like.

 

[darrenbrews]

Not sure if this is your problem but the first lesson I learned in brewing is a minimum of 3 weeks for bottle conditioning. There is an amazing difference between the second and third week.

Also I started out with a MR Beer kit. Nothing wrong with it as I think it's a great way to learn the basics of brewing, but for your next brew you'll be doing yourself a favor if you purchase a hydrometer and get used to using it.

 

[leeno]

Thank you all so much for your feedback! I'm guessing that since I've already put the bottled beer in the fridge, letting it sit another week would not make a difference?