I'm new to brewing - I've brewed 3 batches so far. The first was a Two Hearted clone that turned out perfect. The second two are awful - a pale ale and an English brown ale.
My first beer was I brewed at a friends house. He's been brewing for a while and has had a lot of success. It was an AG brew and I bottled using priming tablets. Turned out very well.
My next was also an AG brew. It tasted fine before bottling. I added 5 ounces of priming sugar (corn sugar) to the 5 gallon batch and stirred it into my bottling bucket to dissolve it all. After 3 weeks I opened one and it didn't taste like beer at all. It just had the taste of alcohol along with some sort of off caramel flavor. Almost stale tasting. It's now been almost 3 months and it tastes just as bad.
My last batch was an extract kit that was given to me as a gift. It was a brewer's best English brown ale, and I cold brewed some espresso to give it a coffee flavor. It sat in the fermenter for 2 weeks, and I added the cold brewed espresso and let it sit another week. It tasted fantastic on bottling day. Again, I added about 4 ounces of priming sugar (light brown sugar) to the bottling bucket and stirred to dissolve. It's now been 3 weeks and the beer has the exact same terrible off flavor that the pale ale did. It's just sort of an alcoholic flavor that tastes a bit stale. Luckily, the coffee flavor makes this beer almost drinkable.
What am I doing wrong with bottling that could be causing this? They were all conditioned at about the same temperature. I've heard that boiling the priming sugar in water before adding to the bottling bucket will help to evenly distribute the sugar, but is there another reason for doing this? These beers are all carbonated just fine.
My first beer was I brewed at a friends house. He's been brewing for a while and has had a lot of success. It was an AG brew and I bottled using priming tablets. Turned out very well.
My next was also an AG brew. It tasted fine before bottling. I added 5 ounces of priming sugar (corn sugar) to the 5 gallon batch and stirred it into my bottling bucket to dissolve it all. After 3 weeks I opened one and it didn't taste like beer at all. It just had the taste of alcohol along with some sort of off caramel flavor. Almost stale tasting. It's now been almost 3 months and it tastes just as bad.
My last batch was an extract kit that was given to me as a gift. It was a brewer's best English brown ale, and I cold brewed some espresso to give it a coffee flavor. It sat in the fermenter for 2 weeks, and I added the cold brewed espresso and let it sit another week. It tasted fantastic on bottling day. Again, I added about 4 ounces of priming sugar (light brown sugar) to the bottling bucket and stirred to dissolve. It's now been 3 weeks and the beer has the exact same terrible off flavor that the pale ale did. It's just sort of an alcoholic flavor that tastes a bit stale. Luckily, the coffee flavor makes this beer almost drinkable.
What am I doing wrong with bottling that could be causing this? They were all conditioned at about the same temperature. I've heard that boiling the priming sugar in water before adding to the bottling bucket will help to evenly distribute the sugar, but is there another reason for doing this? These beers are all carbonated just fine.