1st Batch tastes yeasty and bitter

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dbax

New Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
I brewed my first batch of beer (Brewers Best Red Ale) on February 24, racked it to secondary on March 3, and bottled it on March 17. I followed all of the steps the instructions gave me very closely, and was very careful to sanitize everything during every step. All of my gravity readings were correct, with the exception of my OG, which was a little concerning to me since the amount of water I added to the wort only brought it to 4.5 gallons versus 5 while trying to stay in the suggested range. Now, after conditioning in the bottle for two weeks and chilling for 4 days, the beer tastes yeasty and bitter. It isn't flat by any means, and can hold a good head. My questions now are what did I do wrong that could have affected flavor? Could the amount of water added initially have concentrated the flavors to being something they shouldn't be? Also, the beer coming out of the bottles is cloudier than when it went in. What's up with that?
 
I brewed my first batch of beer (Brewers Best Red Ale) on February 24, racked it to secondary on March 3, and bottled it on March 17. I followed all of the steps the instructions gave me very closely, and was very careful to sanitize everything during every step. All of my gravity readings were correct, with the exception of my OG, which was a little concerning to me since the amount of water I added to the wort only brought it to 4.5 gallons versus 5 while trying to stay in the suggested range. Now, after conditioning in the bottle for two weeks and chilling for 4 days, the beer tastes yeasty and bitter. It isn't flat by any means, and can hold a good head. My questions now are what did I do wrong that could have affected flavor? Could the amount of water added initially have concentrated the flavors to being something they shouldn't be? Also, the beer coming out of the bottles is cloudier than when it went in. What's up with that?

What was the recipe? Cloudy? Did you use a clarifier?
 
If you followed all cleaning and sanitizing procedures, then it may just be green. If you'd like to check possible reasons for off-flavors, you can visit:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

The "yeasty and bitter" is less-than-specific, but I think I know what you mean. Many factors can lead to this type of taste, and I've found that beers that have this characteristic could possibly be contamination (which you shouldn't worry about) and oxidation, if you splashed the beer around after pitching. That being said, it may just not be ready. Give it some more time (especially if you can condition it) and try it again in a couple of weeks. I know it can be difficult to be patient, but this is the best way of allowing beer to become all it can be.

The beer coming out cloudier may be due to chill haze--this is when proteins clump together after they are chilled. There are ways of clearing beer and removing this haze--the easiest of which is to cool your wort quickly after boiling, but you can also use stuff like gelatin (in conjunction with a cold-crash, or bulk-storing beer in near-freezing temperatures) after fermentation.

Anyway, your beer is probably fine. Just give it some more time and prepare to RDWHAHB - Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew!
 
Try pulling them out of the fridge, give them a couple more weeks at room temp, then back in the fridge for 3+ days before sampling another.

The bitter taste is probably due to not a long enough conditioning. Extra time in the fridge can help settle out some of the yeast in suspension. Finally, be very careful pouring into the glass so as not to disturb the trub in the bottom of the bottle.
 
At two weeks in the bottles at room temp,it's still green. Warm them up & give them another week & a half at least. 3-4 weeks at room temp (70f or a bit more) is the norm.
 
If your beer tastes yeasty, it is probably because you've got a fair amount of yeast in suspension still. That is actually a good thing because those yeast are still cleaning up some of the compounds giving that bitter taste. Just store the beer at room temp for a few more weeks and you should see a big improvement.

For future batches, you can just leave the beer in the primary a bit longer and that will speed the process along. 1 week might be a reasonable time for someone has their brewing process 100% nailed down, but it is a pretty quick turnaround for a first brew.

Also, just to confirm.... has anyone told you how to pour a bottle conditioned brew? The yeast settles to the bottom naturally, so you want to pour smoothly and leave 1/4" or so left in the bottle. If you dump the whole thing in, you stir up all that yeast.
 
Another consideration is your pour. Are you being gentle about it and leaving the yeast at the bottom of the bottle? The bottom 1/2 inch of beer in your bottle is bitter and yeasty.

EDIT: Billl beat me to it.
 
Back
Top