1st Timer Looking for Some Reassurance

[Wemet]

I made my first attempt at homebrewing with Midwest Supplies Autumn Amber Ale extract kit w/ specialty grains. I followed the instructions to the letter, made sure everything was properly sanitized, and OG and FG were right where the instruction said they should be (1.044 and 1.011, respectively). They've been conditioning in the bottle for about 6 days and I decided to try one. I put a bottle in the fridge for a couple hours and then opened it. It seemed well carbonated, didn't gush, and had a nice amount of head when I poured it in the glass. However... When I tasted it, the only way I can describe it is "light tasting and fizzy". Is it somehow possible that it's overcarbonated? From what I'm reading online, a lot of the kits often include too much priming sugar (but I haven't read that as being an issue in the reviews for the kit on the manufacturer's website). I'm hoping that I'm just being paranoid and that another week in the bottles and maybe a longer time in the fridge before drinking would help improve the taste and mouthfeel. Should I cool them down and vent the CO2 from the bottles?

 

[ncbrewer]

Six days of conditioning isn't enough - leave it for three weeks. Put in fridge for two days (general rule is a week, but two days works for me.) Don't panic.
Good luck.

 

[McKnuckle]

Your beer is still very young, "green" is the term typically used. Normally, carbonation in the bottle takes 2-4 weeks and once it's complete, a few days at cold temps really helps to smooth out the taste and mouthfeel. CO2 absorbs far more readily into liquid at lower temps. At warm temps, it's basically ready to leap out and disperse into the air around it. You only gave it 2 hours in the fridge, which is not much. Do you have any idea of how much sugar by volume or weight you put into each bottle?

 

[Psylocide]

Should improve some with another week... I know all of mine have so far. However, you are right about the kits, most include 5 oz corn sugar for priming, which is more than I use for 5 gallons.

That coupled with the fact that you usually don't get 5 gals of finished beer from a 5 gal batch and you could easily over do it on the priming sugar.

You'll likely be fine, but keep this in mind for next time... much better to use a priming sugar calculator for the volume/temp beer you are carbonating.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[unionrdr]

6 days of carbing & conditioning typically isn't enough. 3 weeks at 70F or more is normal for the average gravity beer. The beer has to condition the flavors & aromas as well as merely carbonating. Then 5-7 days in the fridge will give any chill haze a chance to form & settle out like a fog. This also gets more carbonation equilibrium between the head space & beer. While the flavors do need to mature from the green beer stage, it is possible to slightly over-carbonate. But 1oz sugar per gallon of beer is high end of normal. 3/4oz per gallon would be low end.

 

[aprichman]

If you followed the directions, you should be fine. Like others have said, 6 days is not enough time for carbonation to complete.

What's the ambient temperature that you're conditioning the bottles in? If it's 70F or above I would recommend at least 2 weeks at room temperature and then 3 days in the fridge. If you're closer to 65F I would suggest 4 weeks at room temp and 3 days in the fridge. If you're below 65F you need to find a warmer place to condition.

Cheers

 

[pegcitybrewer]

You probably over carbonated them a bit. Nothing can be done about it now, don't stress. Its also your first beer so seriously don't stress about it. I can't tell you how many times I've over primed a batch. Just get comfortable with the process.

For sure your beer is still to green also. I'm impatient like you and always drink a beer at a week. If it feels well carbonated in the bottle at a week that usually means by 3 weeks you may have some gushers

 

[Wemet]

The kit specified 3/4 cup of priming sugar for a 5 gallon batch, which, from what I've been reading is typically too much (especially for this style of beer). I'll give it some more time to condition (and more time in the fridge before drinking it) and see how it is. I'll certainly make sure to use a scale and a calculator for future batches, however. Thanks for the quick responses!

 

[pegcitybrewer]

Also what did you prime with? Priming with dme vs. Dextrose can change mouth feel and the light fizziness

 

[Wemet]

If you followed the directions, you should be fine. Like others have said, 6 days is not enough time for carbonation to complete.

What's the ambient temperature that you're conditioning the bottles in? If it's 70F or above I would recommend at least 2 weeks at room temperature and then 3 days in the fridge. If you're closer to 65F I would suggest 4 weeks at room temp and 3 days in the fridge. If you're below 65F you need to find a warmer place to condition.

Cheers

The temperature in the room stays a steady 65F.

 

[aprichman]

The temperature in the room stays a steady 65F.

I'm in the same boat - I feel your pain I'll usually crack a couple around 1 week. That gives me a good sense for flavor but the body will take many weeks and even months to really shine. Some styles may require months and even years to really be ready. The beer you're brewing is pretty sessionable, so it shouldn't take much time before it's ready.

I've been toying with the idea of lining a cardboard box with aluminum foil, sticking a 40W incandescent light bulb in there, and throwing a blanket over it. If I could raise temps to just under 80F and condition the beers for 11 days at that temp range followed by 3 days in the fridge getting beers finished in 2 weeks might be doable if I'm conditioning hop forward or sessionable beers.

Being able to push out beers in 2 weeks would be great. Waiting for those bottles is not fun!

 

[mfgann]

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 over the next few weeks.

My wife seemed to think it was okay, but then she likes the fruitier stuff. To me it tasted like a very overwhelming witbier, one that I couldn't finish.

 

[ButcherBoy]

I've been toying with the idea of lining a cardboard box with aluminum foil, sticking a 40W incandescent light bulb in there, and throwing a blanket over it. If I could raise temps to just under 80F and condition the beers for 11 days at that temp range followed by 3 days in the fridge getting beers finished in 2 weeks might be doable if I'm conditioning hop forward or sessionable beers.

/QUOTE]


If you decide to do this keep a close eye on the temp in the box, a 40W bulb will throw off enough heat to drive the temp in a enclosed space to over 100deg. I had a 20 CF refrigerator with a bad door switch, it never turned the light off, temp inside was well over 100 when I got there. One 40W bulb.

 

[jtratcliff]

The kit specified 3/4 cup of priming sugar for a 5 gallon batch

you'll be better off if you WEIGH out your priming sugar based on what a priming calculator tells you... Or if you are hard-core old school, figure it out by hand!

But go by weight, not by volume. Volume measures are pretty inexact.

Also, as others have said: 3 weeks at ~70F, plus another week in the fridge is the rule of thumb. I usually start sampling after 1 week at room temp +1 day in the fridge... For science....

 

[mfgann]

you'll be better off if you WEIGH out your priming sugar based on what a priming calculator tells you... Or if you are hard-core old school, figure it out by hand!

But go by weight, not by volume. Volume measures are pretty inexact.

Also, as others have said: 3 weeks at ~70F, plus another week in the fridge is the rule of thumb. I usually start sampling after 1 week at room temp +1 day in the fridge... For science....

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.