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The yeast needs warmer temps to eat the priming sugar. If you stored it that cold the yeast were either sluggish or dormant. If you'll move it to a room that is around 70 for a week, and maybe tip all the bottles upside down as you move them to get the yeast floating again I bet you'll see...

Do you happen to use a rinse aid in your dishwasher? I've read that they'll leave a film on things that kills the head retention. That is one thought.

I got a midwest kit (the Autumn Amber Ale) and the kit seemed great. Unfortunately I think I had an infection that came up in mine later, so I can't say if it tasted like anything I hoped for. Another place you might consider if you're looking to find clones is Austin Homebrewing Supply. I...

I have a Hefeweizen in the fermenter right now that I directly pitched a white labs liquid yeast on (wlp300). it took about 72 hours to take off and hasn't stopped completely yet. Tomorrow will be week 2 in the fermenter. If yours goes like mine it'll be a long slow, but steady...

Thanks for the welcome! Yeah, it has me bummed that the first batch was bad. I'm hoping the fact that the bucket was new, and I star-sanned it like crazy may be enough to help the hefeweizen I have in it from being infected. I need a win here, so I can relax a bit. I'm trying to wait...

My kit I got from Midwest had an oxygen wash powdered CLEANER. I was niave enough to think this was also my sanitizer. My first batch was infected as a result. Be sure you have a cleaner, like PBW or Oxyclean Free, and a sanitizer as well, like star san. One gets gunk off, the other kills...

I used a couple of 5 gallon buckets with a scoop of oxyclean in each and hot water to the top of the bottles. Let it soak overnight. 90% of the labels fell off or slid off without effort. Recycle the ones that don't come off easily. Just be sure you don't accidentally save twist-off style...

Apfelwein

I liked the kit from Midwest as well as Northern Brewer. I plan on trying Austin Homebrew next, I think. I am using extract kits right now, and I think most people tend to start there. Extract kits will make good beer. All-grain gives you some more control, and is cheaper (once you have the...

My Hefeweizen in the fermenter now took about 72 hours to take off (a white labs vial). It's went to work after that just fine. I will mention that since then I've read that unless you can make a yeast starter, you should probably stick to the dry yeasts. That will be my game plan going...

Sure, I'll occasionally have a Coors or Miller... Well, you have to stay hydrated somehow!

Does the beer taste sweet? I would think it would taste sweet if in never carbonated and taste like a plain flat beer if it carbonated, but your cap leaked. Would it add any off flavor to a lager to take a dry pack of Safale 05 and drop a little in each bottle just for carbonation? If...

I ran the Autumn Amber Ale kit through a carbonation calculator, and it gave me 4.5 oz. The 5 oz isn't far off in this case, unless I botched the calculator settings somehow.

Does anyone know if the Royal Crown capper dimples? I don't see dimples on my caps, and that might explain my loss of carbonation. Although, my batch had a sour cider vinegar taste even at the final hydrometer reading, so the cause of the taste happened before bottling.

Well, all the bottles I've opened since have had a cider vinager taste. Not just in the background, but that is about all you can taste, so I'm pretty sure I had something happen. I opened one at about 5-6 days after bottling and it had good carbonation, but the flavor was there. It has been...

My tapwater always tastes fine to me, but I'm certainly thinking the next batch I run through I might try bottled water. As for the oxygen cleaner, I did rinse it (making yet another potential for infection). I have a Hefeweizen in the fermenter now. I knew of one guy at work that brews...

I have the exact same results (first brew for me, so it is especially aggravating). I have a Cider vinegar flavor to all the bottles I've opened. On opening a bottle after about 5-6 days I had good carbonation, but a sour flavor. Now after nearly two weeks every one I open is very flat. I did...

The option I'm thinking of doing with the Hefeweizen I have in the fermenter is flavor extracts. I plan on bottling at least half with plain Hefeweizen and adding raspberry extract to the rest before bottling. I think you can even add it to bottles as you open them Good luck! edit: You can...

I started the exact same kit on Dec 29th. Tried one (very early I know) on the 16th and it was very sour and just as fizzy as you described. I'd take bland over sour any day. At this point I'm guessing I had some sort of infection in it, and am riding it out to see if it gets worse or better...

New member here in Alabama. I've been lurking for a little bit and wanted to say hello. I got a Midwest Brewing Starter kit from my wife for Christmas. I've bottled my Autumn Amber Ale and have a Bavarian Hefeweizen in the fermenter. I'm looking forward to starting up a stout or porter next...