Every batch I make is sour

[bruce_the_loon]

I'm bottling straight from the fermenter, with a short tube attached to the a bottling wand. Both of which I strip and sanitize thoroughly before use. Would you recommend transferring from the fermenter to a bucket?
I was just adding dry sugar straight from the packet to each individual bottle though. Next time I bottle I'll boil the sugar and add the sugar liquid to each bottle.

I did notice the sourness in the beer when tasting from the fermenter before bottling, so I don't think its the bottling that's caused it.

No need to move to a bottling bucket if you are happy with the bottling from the fermenter. It becomes another source for oxygenation and infection.

 

[Birrofilo]

Never even thought about the mineral content of the water. Is the best bet just to get bottled water?

For a pre-hopped kit the salts are usually all contained in the liquid malt extract (LME). You could, in fact, use reverse-osmosis water, which you will find for little in supermarkets and such. The labels normally says that's not for human consumption. The common experience suggests it is fine.

If you want to drink something that the label says you can drink then you can use bottled water but, again, you should go for water which is a low fixed residue, ideally an "oligomineral water", i.e. less than 200 mg/l of fixed residue. You find the datum on the label.

A further precaution against infection would be to boil for 5 minutes (everything if you can, I mean put all the water in the pot if you can) so that you sanitize everything properly. If your pot is not large enough, then boil for 5 minutes the content of the pot, and make the final dilution in the fermenter with bottled water which you opened on the moment. Bottled water is "microbiologically pure" and should present no problem if added to your wort immediately after you open the bottle (don't use a bottle which you opened yesterday). That's not the case with tap water, tap water should always be boiled during beer preparation for at least a few minutes. Also, if you dilute your wort in the fermenter with tap water you might taste the chlorine.

 

[Diechipmunk]

brewNYC - I understand what you are saying, but have you read about Hopped Malt Extract lately? I was surprised as hell to read something recently (I think from Coopers) and they specifically said, "don't boil it". I was researching for a friend who wanted to make a Canadian blonde and I knew there was one you could do 'from the can,' or as a Kit and Kilo. I think Comradesour just needs to bleach bomb everything. My humble opinion.

I just brewed my first batch in years from a DME kit. The instructions in my kit say do not add DME to the boiling kettle. The steam will clump the DME in the bag. The instruction is remove the kettle from the burner and let the boil settle down, mix in the DME then return to the burner to boil for an hour. It could be that the instructions in your kit aren't quite as clear?