Liquid flavor

[Neil humphreys]

Ok........ it’s as flat as water. It tastes like absolute ass. What do I do?

 

[TwistedGray]

Ok........ it’s as flat as water. It tastes like absolute ass. What do I do?

You like drinking ass water?

 

[Neil humphreys]

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever had and I’ve eaten army food for the past 8 years.

 

[TwistedGray]

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever had and I’ve eaten army food for the past 8 years.

Lol, show us your equipment. Maybe we can suggest the next extrac brew based on what you already have rather than you trying to do something else.

 

[Neil humphreys]

That’s everything other than a pan that I washed and boiled the malt mix in.

 

[Neil humphreys]

I was carful to sterilize everything thoroughly as I had heard horror stories about infections etc.

 

[TwistedGray]

While I don't think it has any impact on what you did, you need to check the level in your airlock.

I might suggest getting a different fermenter, getting a new extract kit from something like Northern Brewer, in trying a new batch but do a lighter beer...pills, wheat, pale ale, etc. As I mentioned before you can at least test in try it very early on.

For example the Saison in my signature, it's been about 2 weeks and I'm already drinking it and it's good. Mind you, I use a very basic setup!!

I couldn't tell you what was wrong with yours or then again maybe it just needs a few months to work itself out.

 

[Neil humphreys]

So is this a bust?

 

[TwistedGray]

So is this a bust?

Well without tasting it it is hard to say. Because they're already in bottles I would just leave them as is and brew your next batch. When you get to the point where you need more bottles or you are one willing to open those then just open those and see where you're at.

I had some extremely bad beer in bottles that I opened about a year and a half later that were actually not too bad, then again I made better since that point so I kind of just drink those and didn't tell anyone.

 

[Neil humphreys]

Yeah this stuff is just not even like anything I’ve ever tasted before. I am talking steel reserve tastes like expensive champagne compared to this.

 

[TwistedGray]

Yeah this stuff is just not even like anything I’ve ever tasted before. I am talking steel reserve tastes like expensive champagne compared to this.

If you have no extra vessels to store carb'd beer just set them aside and work on the next. Once you met that point, weeks, you can crack another to see. If it is still bad, perhaps toss.

 

[ncbrewer]

You could look thru this BJCP web page to see if any of the off flavor descriptions sound like what you have:
http://www.bjcp.org/faults.php

 

[Neil humphreys]

Ty. I checked that page out. I will have to brave it and try it again to identify the taste and smell.

 

[Neil humphreys]

Ok so one of the guys tried the beer and said it tasted like wine. Here is a pic of what the inside of the neck looks like after open.

 

[TwistedGray]

Maybe it just needs significantly longer to age. Hard see what you're trying to show in the pic ... looks like the inside of a bottle, lol.

 

[Neil humphreys]

There is a dark cream colored foam like substance lining the mouth of the bottle. Didn’t know if that was a sign of something as well.

 

[ncbrewer]

Ok so one of the guys tried the beer and said it tasted like wine. View attachment 564220

Another troubleshooting site https://www.winning-homebrew.com/off-flavors.html says "OXIDIZED or STALE flavors in beer are perceived as sherry-like, stale bread, wet cardboard and paper." So the wine flavor might indicate oxidation.

 

[Neil humphreys]

How does that happen?

 

[ncbrewer]

Just being exposed to the air can cause oxidation. Splashing is especially bad. I typically only open the fermenter twice. Once two days before bottling for a gravity sample. Again on bottling day for a follow-up sample, and then bottling - assuming the gravity is stable. I feel that any more can invite oxidation, unless you have some technique for replacing the CO2 when sampling.

I should note that bacteria and wild yeast can also cause nearly any off flavor.

 

[Neil humphreys]

Ok. I didn’t open the fermenter through the whole fermentation process. I mixed everything then put it in the cupboard for 3 weeks. Took it out to bottle and was very careful not to shake or rock the fermenter. I’m just trying to learn so I can avoid wasting this beer again in the future.

 

[ncbrewer]

Did you rack it to the bottling bucket with the siphon tube laying on the bottom, making a gentle swirl around the bottom - with priming sugar already in the bucket - and GENTLY stirring after (if at all)? And fed into the bottom of the bottles?

 

[Neil humphreys]

No. That was how the post started. I don’t have a bottling bucket. I bottled straight from the tap on the front of the fermenter.

 

[ncbrewer]

Sorry - I forgot.
Did you fill the bottles with a wand or other means to fill from the bottom without splashing?

 

[Neil humphreys]

No. I added the sugar and then filled with the tap. The beer flowed down the sides of the bottle so there was no splashing and I held the funnel at an angle so it didn’t swirl around and splash when it hit the edge of the funnel or just spray straight down to the bottom of the bottle.

 

[ncbrewer]

That might have given you some oxidation. I've read that the beer running down the side of a bottling bucket tends to pick up air - should do the same thing with a bottle. I've never experimented, so can't say for sure. The yeast will strip out some oxygen while fermenting the priming sugar, but there could be more introduced than it could handle. I suggest getting some tubing to fit over the tap so it can fill from the bottom.

 

[ncbrewer]

I suggest getting some tubing to fit over the tap so it can fill from the bottom.

You would also need a bottling wand (with a push valve on the end) so it stays full of beer between bottles.

 

[kh54s10]

When were the pictures of the beer keg taken? Was it right after the yeast was pitched? If it was days later, I see no signs that it fermented.

Look into controlling the temperature that the beer ferments. That is the temperature of the wort itself, not the room that the fermenter is in. Too warm a temperature will give you off flavors. Try to keep the fermentation temperature in the mid sixties.

Get a bottling bucket. Look at this sticky: ttps://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/bottling-tips-for-the-homebrewer.94812/

Get a quality kit from Northern Brewer, Morebeer, Midwest or other.

I suspect a combination of many small problems, the bottling being the worst, added up.

 

[ncbrewer]

When were the pictures of the beer keg taken? Was it right after the yeast was pitched? If it was days later, I see no signs that it fermented.

It's been several days since this post, but I keep thinking about this. Didn't notice when first reading the thread, but the photos really look like it didn't ferment. OP: is it possible it didn't ferment? Could the taste be just wort?

 

[Neil humphreys]

Hmmmm could be. Without a gravity reading I don’t know. I was away in the field for most of the fermentation period but I did get bubbles the morning after initially putting it in the fermenter. Would that mean it started or that it didn’t do anything.

 

[BrewInspector]

Hang on to those bottles for a while. It really is still early to make a final determination that it will remain ass. in a week or two it might move up to taint and weeks later you might actually like it.

Leave them in a warmish place to get them carbed then store them in the fridge and try to forget about them for a while.

The photo of the bottle neck does have something there. Looks like a little bubble foam from when it was carbing or as bubbles were released after opening. Doesn't look like the film from an infection.

As for if there was fermentation a lot of what was said here was about those photos of the Mr beer keg. When was the photo taken? Shortly after mixing and adding to the keg or when you were about to bottle?

 

[Neil humphreys]

Which picture were you talking about? I’ve added a lot of pics to this post over a long period of time?

 

[TwistedGray]

in a week or two it might move up to taint and weeks later you might actually like it.

Love it...

 

[TwistedGray]

Which picture were you talking about? I’ve added a lot of pics to this post over a long period of time?

They one of the bottle neck you took showing the funny stuff in there bottle.

 

[BrewInspector]

And the one of the mrbeee keg with a bottle in front

 

[Neil humphreys]

The one of the foam in the bottle neck was the second bottle I opened and had some friends try to tell me what the flavor was so I could look up the issue with it on that link back there in this post. The one of the bottle in front of the MR Beer keg was taken one bottling day. That was the first bottle to be capped.

 

[kh54s10]

I was asking about the pictures of the MrBeer kegs in post #45. There should be a ring of crud stuck to the sides above the liquid. That would be dried up foam from the krausen.

It looks from that picture, the fact that there isn't any evidence of krausen, that no fermentation happened.

So what you have now may just be bottled wort.

 

[Neil humphreys]

Yeah there was no foam or froth on the surface when I came to bottling it. But I checked the day after I put it all in the fermenter and I had bubbles in the air lock which means it’s doing something right? Very confusing to me as a beginner.

 

[kh54s10]

Bubbles in the airlock initially might just have been from the temperature changing.

Time to get a quality ingredient kit and get another batch going.

 

[Neil humphreys]

Yeah I think that is my next step. I’m going to leave the bottled “stuff” as I can’t tell what it is yet. The guys that tried it said it tasted exactly like wine. I had tried it a week before and could not even swallow it. I thought it tasted terrible. I’ll see what the bottled do. I have another batch of bottled I can use in the mean time but probably steering clear of dark ales for now. Have to see what the local store has. In a 50 mile radius of this post there is only 1 Home brew store and their selection is about as limited as it could be. They do have a selection of hops though.

So talking of hops. I’m worried about trying to add hops instead of just making beer. How easy or hard is it and how does one go about adding hops to a beer etc.

 

[flars]

This recipe may help with understanding hop additions to the boil kettle. A simple American Amber Ale from Northern Brewer. An IPA would include an addition of hops after the fermentation was finished for extra aroma coming out of the glass.
https://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/AmericanAmber.pdf