bnutting
Well-Known Member
My first batch was an extract kit; Burche's Nut Brown Ale using dried Nottingham yeast. All the gravities seemed to be in range OG - FG. I followed the 1-2-3 method, one week in primary (bubbling was done after 3 days) two weeks in secondary (everything seemed pretty calm, no extra bubbling). After one week in the bottle I tried one, not too much carbonation but there was some. Not too much flavor kind of watery, left a syrup like flavor as an aftertaste kind of like cough medicine. After two weeks in the bottle much better carbonation, still not much flavor and still leaves a cough medicine like aftertaste. Now after three weeks in the bottle the carbonation is good but still no real flavor. The cough medicine flavor is much more prominent and I could not force myself to choke it down.
My second batch was another extract kit; Honey Amber Bitter. The OG and FGs were a bit low (FG was supposed to be 14 and mine was 12). I followed the same 1-2-3 method as above. Fermentation was pretty much like above also other than there were little tiny bubbles in the secondary for a week or so then everything settled down. It has only been in the bottle one week and the carbonation was OK but no real flavor and it had that cough medicine like aftertaste.
All the bottles have been sitting in a room in the basement at around 62 - 64F. I followed good sanitation in both beers (for a newb I thought it was pretty good). Both batches were partial boils using an electric stove and the boil was not very good. I had to leave the lid on with the vent open in order to get a boil. Could this be my reason for such crappy beer? I'll put it this way; my wife can drink Corrs light then take a dring of either of these two and she says "they taste watery." The Amber tasted better prior to bottle (still watery but no real cough syrup taste).
Will they get better with age? My next couple of batches have been made using a turkey fryer so the boils have been great. I hope they turn out better.
So should I scrap the first two and reuse the bottles? The aftertaste on both is pretty bad and both seem to have quite a chill haze. I guess the better way to describe the aftertaste is like gasoline.
Help! If there is any other information that I could give that would help solve this mystery let me know and I will try to provide it.
My second batch was another extract kit; Honey Amber Bitter. The OG and FGs were a bit low (FG was supposed to be 14 and mine was 12). I followed the same 1-2-3 method as above. Fermentation was pretty much like above also other than there were little tiny bubbles in the secondary for a week or so then everything settled down. It has only been in the bottle one week and the carbonation was OK but no real flavor and it had that cough medicine like aftertaste.
All the bottles have been sitting in a room in the basement at around 62 - 64F. I followed good sanitation in both beers (for a newb I thought it was pretty good). Both batches were partial boils using an electric stove and the boil was not very good. I had to leave the lid on with the vent open in order to get a boil. Could this be my reason for such crappy beer? I'll put it this way; my wife can drink Corrs light then take a dring of either of these two and she says "they taste watery." The Amber tasted better prior to bottle (still watery but no real cough syrup taste).
Will they get better with age? My next couple of batches have been made using a turkey fryer so the boils have been great. I hope they turn out better.
So should I scrap the first two and reuse the bottles? The aftertaste on both is pretty bad and both seem to have quite a chill haze. I guess the better way to describe the aftertaste is like gasoline.
Help! If there is any other information that I could give that would help solve this mystery let me know and I will try to provide it.
