Just poured my first homebrew. It sucks.

[dadshomebrew]

I would actually second the use of bottled water at this stage in your process. It is not too expensive for extract volumes and you will absolutely rule out the water issue, allowing you to move forward with some positive results. Consider it like setting up a control for an experiment or a baseline. Then as you gain some knowledge on your local water supply you can treat appropriately, brew, and compare results to those obtained from the bottled water.

Of course if the bottled water beer tastes like pennies then...

 

[Paradigm]

My first beer was OK, most likely because it was a porter. My second one was terrible. We've all been there

 

[erick0619]

I brewed the exact same kit for my second batch after about 5 weeks in the bottles it tastes amazing and left a decent head and decent lacing just give it time

 

[BigFloyd]

Excellent. The only problem is...................now you're hooked.

 

[tokerlund]

I brewed a "True Brew - All Malt Porter." Sanitized and followed directions to the letter as far as I know. Left it in the fermenter for 2 weeks, then bottled, let that condition for 2 weeks. Now I've just poured my first one and it tastes like pennies and alcohol swabs. Given the wort in the fermenter was 80deg for the first 12 hours that is probably the main mistake. But now I know about swamp coolers so hopefully the next batch will be good. If only I knew what to do with 40 more bad beers.:smack:

Let it sit for awhile. It might improve, if it doesn't give it to college age relatives or drunk uncles. They may b*tch if it is the first beer, but by the 4th they don't complain. Free is the favorite kind of beer for some folks I have found. Even if they do complain, at least you have one more free bottle for the next batch.

 

[notey]

@bondra76 I actually used bottled water entirely for the next batch that I did. Just bottled that one today so I'm anticipating a good turnout.

 

[bondra76]

@bondra76 I actually used bottled water entirely for the next batch that I did. Just bottled that one today so I'm anticipating a good turnout.

Cool man good luck! I have my first bottled water brew fermenting right now as well. It's just a tip I picked up from another user - can't take credit for it myself, but the philosophy is pretty sound to me at least - if you like the taste of the bottled water you use, you're most likely going to like the beer. (and vice versa if you have crummy tasting tap water like I do).

 

[jtratcliff]

Use it for cooking or as a rinse for swmbo's hair in the shower. Some one here on HBT once said that a beer shouldn't go down the drain unless it has passed over a naked woman first!

Unless you need the keg or bottles what's the harm in riding it out?

 

[adixon3]

After 2 weeks if it still taste bad just dump it, there's no reason to drink bad beer if you don't have too, chock it up as a learning mistake and try again. Failure is the best teacher.

 

[mozart4898]

Everyone is saying water, which I would totally agree is a possibility. It's pretty easy to go with RO water bought from a store and generally doesn't cost much (stores like Walmart often have a kiosk where you can refill jugs for an even lower price - I get 8 gallons of RO water for around $3 and know of a place that's kinda out of the way where I could get that much for less than $2...cheap insurance that a batch won't turn out bad because of water).

However, another possibility that I haven't really seen mentioned, other than ferment temperatures, is yeast. I've found if I use S-04 (a popular yeast and one that should work very well in a porter), temp control is desperately important. Anything above low 60s and it's just plain nasty - and I've gotten a metallic flavor from a porter fermented in the high 60s. If you used S-04 and it got too warm, it could be that as well, not just the water. At one time I vowed I'd never touch S-04 again but then I gave it one more shot, keeping it around 62 for the first 3-4 days of fermentation for an IPA, and it turned out great. So be aware if you used that yeast, IMO it HAS to be kept cool, moreso than other dry yeasts.

 

[jtratcliff]

After 2 weeks if it still taste bad just dump it, there's no reason to drink bad beer if you don't have to

I drink all my bad batches... If that don't teach you, nothing will


No, seriously... if you don't need the space, bottles, or keg, what's the harm in keeping it a few months?

You can always dump it later... No need to be hasty. It might get better. You've already paid for the ingredients. That's a sunk cost. If it costs you nothing to keep it, why not sample it every month to see how how it evolves?