Anyone have guidance to address a stale, old beer taste?
Over the last year or so I took up homebrewing on a 5-gallon extract setup and put out 3 batches. The resulting product has been unpalatable -- it mostly tastes and smells like old stale beer (like a frat-party-morning-after smell), and my first two batches were poorly (and not uniformly) carbonated.
It's been a learning process, and thanks to the substantial resources online and on this forum, I think I may have addressed the carbonation issue. (I bottle condition/carbonate, so I've focused on ensuring proper temperature for the yeast and providing sufficient head space.)
What remains is the stale taste and smell. I most recently made a saison using a kit from a popular website. As directed, after two weeks in primary (big mouth bubbler) I transferred to secondary (6 gallon bucket with airlock). I left it in secondary for about 5 weeks (not by design). When I transferred to secondary, I took a taste -- It smelled and tasted like an un-carbonated saison. I also obsessively sanitized and cleaned my equipment and bottles for this third batch. But, by the time I bottled, the beer caught the same stink and taste that I found in my previous batches. I similarly left the first two batches in secondary (same bucket) for at least 4 weeks.
After some research, I see that many homebrewers forego the secondary stage entirely and, that 5 weeks in a bucket likely resulted in oxygenating the beer as the bucket is not airtight.
Any and all tips welcome! My sense is I should/could forget secondary entirely and maybe even bottle after about 2 weeks in primary. Could I primary in the bucket and secondary in the bubbler/carboy? Any other thoughts?
Over the last year or so I took up homebrewing on a 5-gallon extract setup and put out 3 batches. The resulting product has been unpalatable -- it mostly tastes and smells like old stale beer (like a frat-party-morning-after smell), and my first two batches were poorly (and not uniformly) carbonated.
It's been a learning process, and thanks to the substantial resources online and on this forum, I think I may have addressed the carbonation issue. (I bottle condition/carbonate, so I've focused on ensuring proper temperature for the yeast and providing sufficient head space.)
What remains is the stale taste and smell. I most recently made a saison using a kit from a popular website. As directed, after two weeks in primary (big mouth bubbler) I transferred to secondary (6 gallon bucket with airlock). I left it in secondary for about 5 weeks (not by design). When I transferred to secondary, I took a taste -- It smelled and tasted like an un-carbonated saison. I also obsessively sanitized and cleaned my equipment and bottles for this third batch. But, by the time I bottled, the beer caught the same stink and taste that I found in my previous batches. I similarly left the first two batches in secondary (same bucket) for at least 4 weeks.
After some research, I see that many homebrewers forego the secondary stage entirely and, that 5 weeks in a bucket likely resulted in oxygenating the beer as the bucket is not airtight.
Any and all tips welcome! My sense is I should/could forget secondary entirely and maybe even bottle after about 2 weeks in primary. Could I primary in the bucket and secondary in the bubbler/carboy? Any other thoughts?