Beer tastes like malt

[mcsewnab]

Hey everyone,
I've been reading this forum for about 2 months. This is my first post. I have a few questions that I can't seem to find answers to using the search function.

First, I started with Mr. Beer. I made the batch that came with it, waited the recommended week and then bottled. I then when out and bought a 5 gallon kit. I tried one bottle of the Mr.Beer West Coast Pale Ale after a week. It wasn't very good, it wasn't carbonated enough and tasted like malt. I waited another week and the carbonation was right but it still tasted like malt. It didn't taste right. It's been in the bottle 2 more weeks since then and I haven't tried another bottle.

My first batch with my 5 gallon kit was Weizenbier. I did a one week primary, a two week secondary and bottled yesterday. The strange thing is after I took a gravity reading I took a taste and it was very similar to the Mr. Beer, it tasted like malt. Is this just "green" beer that I'm tasting or or something wrong here?

I don't think its a sanitation issue, I'm pretty careful and clean and sanitized everything. As far as directions go I followed them appropriately.

My second question is about One-Step. Is it ok to soak the equipment in the solution then shake it off and use it in your beer or am I supposed to let it air dry before letting anything contact the beer?

Thanks for all the great information everyone contributes to this forum.

Jason

 

[Monk]

Jason:

As for the onestep, you needn't allow it to dry. It's okay to use your equipment so long as it has drip dried to some extent. The small remaining solution on the surface of a fermentor or spoon won't harm your beer.

The malty taste is kinda mysterious. Does it taste sweet? If so, you may not be acheiving a complete fermentation. I know that with the Mr. Beer kit I originally used, I bottled two batches before their time. If that is the case, I recommend leaving your brew in the primary fermenter, whether it's the mr. beer keg or your 5 gal. tub, for 1.5-2 weeks. This won't hurt it a bit, and will ensure that the brew has finished most of it's fermenting.

Because your "malty" description sounds like an incomplete fermentation, I wonder about your temperatures as well. What is the wort temperature during fermentation? If it's below 67F, it might take more than a week or so to ferment. I'm sure you've read what the really experienced guys here say regarding the correct time to rack to secondary (ie when the krausen falls). So make sure you're following that advice.

Anyway...I'm no expert, but that's my 2 cents. Good luck.

As an aside, I hope you continue to use your mr. beer keg for fermenting. I've found that it's a very convenient primary for small, experimental batches. Or sometimes for brewing that minibatch for the wife. Any brew that doesn't require a ton of time in the fermentor can be easily done in the mr. beer keg if it's left for 2.5 weeks or so. Bottle and allow to clear in the bottles. I use it for my wife's favorite pale ale:

Irene's Pale Ale
OG 1.042
IBU 25

2 oz. 10L Crystal Grain
3 lb. Alexander's pale LME (1 pound at beginning of boil, 2 pounds added with 20 minutes to go)
.5 oz. Cascade (45 minute boil)
.75 oz. Cascade (2 minute boil)
Safale US 56 dry yeast


Cheers,

Monk

 

[mcsewnab]

Thanks for the reply Monk,

To answer a few of your questions. It doesnt taste sweet. It's more of a bitter taste. When I took the final gravity reading on the Weizen it was dead on to where it should have been based on the intructions.

I'm lucky enough that my beer has stayed right between 70-72 degrees. My basement has maintained a pretty steady temperature this summer.

I don't use my Mr. Beer kit. I was a bit discouraged after tasting the Mr. Beer batch so I didn't order another kit for it. Now my 5 gallon batch tastes very similar. Go figure.

Another bit of info is I use tap water for my boil but spring water to fill the fermenter. Is there another way I should gauge whether my fermentation is complete other than a final gravity reading?

Jason

 

[Reverend JC]

If your krausen has fallen then that is a sure sign that it is or near the end of being finished. After that has happend you could rack to a secondary and give it 2 weeks and let all of the little yeasties that are still swimming around and eating fall to the bottom.

 

[david_42]

Sounds like your ale needs more time to condition, since you hit the final gravity. Try another in two more weeks. And there's always the possibility that the style just doesn't suit you. A West Coast Pale should be on the hoppy side, not malty.

 

[Blender]

What were the ingredients? It might help someone to assist you. You beer should change in the weeks in a bottle. I find a malty taste to be the opposite of bitter.

 

[mcsewnab]

I'm going to give it a few weeks in the bottles and hope it improves. The Mr. Beer kit hasn't seemed to and that's been bottled 3 weeks.

The 5 gallon kit I made was the Brewer's Best Weizenbier Kit. If I remember correctly it just had LME and 2 kinds of hops. Sorry to sound confused it's just that I've made 4 batches in the last 4 weeks. One is in the primary the other two are in secondaries and the Weiz just got bottled this weekend. I'll look at the directions if you want specifics on the ingredients.

Two of the other kits are from Midwest and one is from Austin Homebrew. Maybe the Bewer's best isn't a high quality kit. Any opinions?

I'll have to take another taste and post. It didn't seem sweet to me but I'll take a taste tonight and give it some more thought.

Jason

 

[mcsewnab]

Ok, I took another taste. Please bear with me as my knowledge of making homebrew as well as my taste buds are still at an elementary level. It seems that even after a day the malt taste has lessened. I took about 4 sips and let each sit on my palette for a few seconds. It doesn't taste sweet. The only thing I can say is it tastes like malt(minus the sweetness) and hops.

I think that maybe the Mr. Beer was a fluke and I'm starting to panic too soon. I feel a little better after sampling the beer tonight. At least the taste seems to have changed a bit. My Mr. Beer batch tasted terrible after a week and just about the same a week after that. I have six 22 oz bottles of West Coast Pale Ale I'm scared to open

I'll post an update next week when I open a bottle of the Weiz. Thanks for all the replies.

Jason

 

[dougjones31]

Are you sure it is malt you are tasting. Could it be the taste of Hops? Hops have 3 additions to beer. Bitterness, Taste, Aroma......all are different. The taste of hops is nothing like the smell of hops.

I bet the beer ages and the hop flavor and bitterness mellows and you will be happy.

 

[Walker]

i have one comment to make about Brewer's Best kits. Those are the kits I started with years ago, and I think they are (or at least *were*) excellent.

For the non Mr-Beer kits you bought... are you boiling them or just adding hot water and dissolving the extract in that.

 

[mcsewnab]

It could be hops I'm tasting. I'm still trying to figure this stuff out.

The 5 gallon kits all require a 60 minute boil adding hops at different intervals.

The Weiz only had LME the other 3 had wheat I had to steep before adding the LME. I followed the directions very closely.

 

[gruntingfrog]

This may help with describing the taste.

Maltiness can taste like bread, toast, biscuits, sweet potatoes, caramel, and other similar tastes.

Hops can taste bitter (tonic water, watermelon rind, or coffee left on the burner too long) or flowery (jasmine, chamomille, hibiscus) depending on quantity, type, and length of boil.

If your beer tastes bitter, it is likely an excess of bittering hops.
Good news... If it's a hops taste, let it sit for a month and it will mellow out. If it's still not where you want it wait another month.

 

[dougjones31]

Relax....It will taste fine after a little time. Then you will be hooked on brewing and will brew every weekend.

 

[mcsewnab]

gruntingfrog - I'm going to wait until this weekend and give it another taste. If it hasnt improved I will post my thoughts again based on your info.

dougjones31 - Boy I sure hope so. I've spent so much money on equipment and kits in the past month that this first experience is making me a little nervous. Got my fingers crossed!

 

[dougjones31]

Sanitiation is everything. If you keep everything clean then the beer will turn out atleast good enough to drink. You can brew cheap beer, but you need to buy in bulk to save money.

I brewed a 10 gallon batch of beer for $10 and it was pretty good. I am playing with the recipe to try to make it great. I keep yeast cultures so I spend no money on yeast. I grow some hops. I also live in an agricultural area so things like Barley, wheat, molasses, Corn, Rice, and other weird ingredients like Millet, Locust, Fruits, etc are almost free.

Things like Corncob Wine are almost cost free for me. They taste good too. After you learn the ins and outs of fermentation, you can see which direction your taste takes you. You can also try economical brews when you get some experience. It take experience to pull off fermenting strange recipes. Some ingredients cause problems that take experience to deal with.

Stick with it. It is amazing what sugar(of any type) and yeast can make.

 

[dougjones31]

Many newbies get burned buying equipment. I hate that.

Some of my fondest memories are of my Grandfather making Muscadine Wine in an old Butter Churn. He also made other wines, Sour Krout, Butter. When he made wine it was an open fermentation and seasonal according to the temperature. The Churn was filled with the ingredients and yeast pitched and then the standard wooden churn lid was used with a cork closing the hole where the handle went through. It was not air tight, so extra caution to sanitize things was used. Everything was boiled or bleached, and a wet towel was put over the top as a dust barrier.

I never saw him have a failed batch. Or an infected batch.

New fangled equipment is not necessary. Any type of container can be used to ferment in. A fruggle person can put together a very nice setup by looking around at yardsales, flea markets, and industrial sources for cheap equipment.

My wife loves to go to yardsales with my mother. I don't complain because I get Saturday mornings free to brew. Anyway, she has bought three 6 or 7 gallon glass carboys in the last month. She paid $7 total for them all. She also found me 2 30 gallon plastic barrels for $3.

Save your money for ingredients. Make things like your siphon, cleaning brushes, air locks(just a blowoff tube type), etc.


By far the best investment you can make would be a Chest freezer and thermostat control for it. This would allow you to brew anything anytime without worrying about temperature. Spend $60 on a Johnson Control and $50 for a used fridge. It is worth it.


I have a friend who ferments in Ballons. Those giant heavy duty ballons. He brews 2.5 gallon batches in them. He started doing it because his fridge was odd shapped and he could only get 6 gallon carboy in it. He wanted to brew 10 gallons at a time. He needed a flexible fermentor so he could squeeze them into his fridge. He rigged up some small airlocks and slips them into the ballon then uses a hose clamp to secure it. then he hangs the ballons by the airlock. I think he can squueze 6 into his fridge.

 

[Jetsers]

I have a friend who ferments in Ballons. Those giant heavy duty ballons. He brews 2.5 gallon batches in them. He started doing it because his fridge was odd shapped and he could only get 6 gallon carboy in it. He wanted to brew 10 gallons at a time. He needed a flexible fermentor so he could squeeze them into his fridge. He rigged up some small airlocks and slips them into the ballon then uses a hose clamp to secure it. then he hangs the ballons by the airlock. I think he can squueze 6 into his fridge.

You have to find pictures of this to show us!

That sounds silly!

 

[mcsewnab]

Hey everyone,
Sorry I havent posted in a while. I took a few tastes last week and it was the same. I tried one tonight and that taste I was questioning has subsided and it actually tastes pretty good. I guess with me being new to this hobby I was unfamiliar with the taste of "green" beer. Tonight is 3 weeks in the bottle. Another week and it should be good to go.

Thanks for all the replies now I have hope for my pumpkin.

Jason

 

[Pumbaa]

Time is your friend when it comes to beer. I have brewed a beer that took 6 months of aging b4 it was at a point I could drink and enjoy it. Even now at 1 year it's just getting better and better . . . infact I'm going to have to make another batch of it soon so I dont have to have too large of a gap in between this current batch running out and the next batch being ready.

 

[Monk]

Pumbaa, what was the gravity of the batch which is still getting better and better with time? I'm curious cuz most of my brews are fairly low grav (4-5% abv) and I wonder how long I should wait on them, or if they'll just start getting stale.

monk

 

[andre the giant]

Don't worry about your beer going stale for at least 6 months. Commercial beers are made to taste best within 120 days of their "born on date." Whereas, homebrew is usually best when it ages at least a month before drinking. Many medium gravity beers are better when aged for 6 months or longer, and the really big beers like barleywine really seem to come into their own after 12 months or more in the bottle.

Let your beer age for several months. It will be fine and the hop flavors will mellow out quite nicely.

Another thing. If your beer is excessively malty, but not overly sweet, you may look at your brand of dry malt extract. I used Laaglander amber DME to boost the gravity of an irish red a while back, and that was a mistake. Laaglander imparts a malty flavor to your beer because (I think) there's a higher degree of unfermentable sugars in the extract. Other brands of DME are more neutral. If you are getting consistantly malty beers, try a different brand of DME.

 

[Monk]

Thanks Andre. That puts some worry to rest. Now I just need to find a cooler spot to let 'em condition.

monk