Inconsistent Taste

[DirtyJersey]

I'm in the middle of drinking my first batch now. It was an extract kit from Midwest Supplies (Irish Red Ale), which I allowed to ferment in the primary for 3 weeks and in the secondary for 1 week. I bottled after 4 weeks.

I received two cases of brand new bottles with my brew kit, but I rinsed and sanitized each bottle on my bottling day. I followed the bottling instructions that came with the kit and took much of the advice found on this website.

Now that I've gone through the first case of my first brew, I've noticed that there is an inconsistency among the beers. My very first beer was very good....looking back, I probably thought it was better than it actually was because I was just excited that I made beer. It had a slight bubblegum taste, but that was after 10 days of conditioning. I allowed the rest of the bottles to condition for 3 weeks. Now that all of the bottles have conditioned for 3-4 weeks, I've noticed that each bottle tastes slightly different. Some are very good. Some have a hint of bubblegum. Some have a hint of a metallic taste. Some are a bit more bitter than others.

I suppose inconsistency is part of homebrewing, but also due to my lack of experience. But what would cause such a drastic difference from bottle to bottle if all of the bottles were treated exactly the same?

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

No matter what you do, each bottle will age differently. There's no precise way to measure how much yeast or sugar goes into each bottle. You may have one bottle sitting on a warmer side of the closer (or wherever you keep them) so it aged a bit faster than others.

I've never had beers differ that much, but that's the thing about homebrewing...nothing is ever the same. Try letting it age for 6 months and then drink it. You'll be amazed at how well it turns out.

I would say you probably didn't get everything mixed up real well when you went to bottle. Everyone does it, but after a few times you'll get the hang of it and you'll notice your beers start tasting pretty close.

 

[sonetlumiere85]

Bubblegum is most likely a yeast ester, which probably came from fermenting a bit warm. It may diminish with time - some byproduct esters get consumed by a good dose of yeast in a bottle, and some don't because there may not be enough yeast in the bottle to eat it up.

Metallic taste is probably coming from your capping process. Are you soaking your caps? That one can be hard to avoid with bottling, sometimes it shows up and sometimes it doesn't.

Bitterness is a bit tougher to quantify - but in each of these cases, are you drinking straight from the bottle, or pouring into a glass? Are you decanting off of the sediment, or pouring everything in? Extra yeast making its way into a glass can taste bitter, especially in large amounts.

 

[Homercidal]

Many factors in tasting beer. It's hard to judge them against each other over time. The beer will change in some ways, and your ability to taste certain things changes each day as well.

Yesterday I drew the first pint of Wit from the keg and thought it tasted dry and muddy (yeah, there was some yeast, but I tossed the first half pint). and the carb was not too good.

Last night I drew a few swallows and thought that it wasn't so dry after all, and the mouthfeel was better. Since it had been on gas for 3 days, I highly doubt the couple of hours extra made much of a difference. But it's a young beer and in the evening I did not just get done eating a turkey sandwich. I might try it again at lunch today. My gas is about out though, so I should remember to have it filled tonight after work...

 

[Revvy]

Inconsistancy is NOT a part of homebrewing, usually the bottles will balance out in time.

BUT, just a tiny difference in temps between bottles in storage can affect the yeasties, speed them up or slow them down. Like if you store them in a closet against a warm wall, the beers closest to the heat source may be a tad warmer than those further way, so thy may carb/condition at slightly different rates. I usually store a batch in 2 seperate locations in my loft 1 case in my bedroom which is a little warmer, and the other in the closet in the lving room, which being in a larger space is a tad cooler, at least according to the thermostat next to that closet. It can be 5-10 degrees warmer in my bedroom. So I usually start with that case at three weeks. Giving the other half a little more time.

Each little bottle is a seperate microcosm, so they will react slightly different to each other. But usually they all will balance out given enough time.

 

[Homercidal]

Yes, over time. But for a new batch, the taste can change over the course of a few days or so. Judging by your timeline, I'd say that the bottles should have been comparable if they were stored in the same place.

But, people's perceptions of taste change constantly. This is why beer judges taste beer under very specific conditions, limiting the interruptions, distracting aromas, have flavor neutral foods to help clear their palates. Have you opened two bottles at the same time and taste them side-by-side?

If you bottled with a bottling bucket, and premixed the priming solution, they should all be the same. If you added sugar to each bottle, then that could cause a difference. Or not mixing the priming sugar well enough.

 

[rpatton]

I have had the same experience with my 1st batch - difference in taste between bottles (stored right next to each other, bottled with mixed priming solution in bucket etc.) I fermented a bit too warm I think and it is mostly just a sense that there are more off flavors in some bottles than in others. I also think it is due to how much yeast/sediment I pour out into a glass by mistake, I can trace some of the differences back to bad pours. In any case, I'm just chipping in to say you're not the only one who has this issue. My hope is that as I get better at the overall process it will sort this one out.

 

[DirtyJersey]

I did bottle with a bottling bucket, and I pre-mixed the priming solution. I had two cases that were stored on top of each other, sitting on an open floor in my spare room. The room temperature varied a bit, but considering all bottles were together, I guess I would have suspected they would have been more consistent.

I keep trying them every few days....some have been really good and some have been....well, not so good.

I will be bottling batch #2 this weekend, so we'll see what happens.

Thanks all.