Reindeer
Well-Known Member
I've been homebrewing for a little over a year, brewed 14 batches so far. None of them have been bad (except a chocolate coffee stout, apparently you can add too much coffee...) but none of them have been what I'd consider great. I'd say they all taste fine until I compare it to a similar "professionally brewed" beer. I'm not sure I can really characterize whats wrong with them, they're just not anything I'd ever get really excited about. Everything I've done has been extract based. I was thinking maybe its the extract thats the issue, and going to all grain would give me that little extra something I'm missing, but lately I've been thinking its something with my brewing techniques that could be introducing some off flavors and thats what I'm picking up. Specifically I'm thinking my beer is getting oxygenated during transfer to the secondary of the bottling bucket. I'm careful to not slosh it around too much, but it seems like the syphon introduces a fair amount of air, especially when first pumping it.
Sorry for the rambling, just trying to get some opinions on what I might be missing. I know this would be a lot easier if I could describe what the beer tastes like accurately.
Sorry for the rambling, just trying to get some opinions on what I might be missing. I know this would be a lot easier if I could describe what the beer tastes like accurately.