Liquid flavor

[TwistedGray]

Ok I’ll stick one in the fridge tonight and give you guys the answer tomorrow night.

My assumption is you'll find them carbonated normally (assuming no mistakes there), but a bit too alcohol-y at this stage. I think you were brewing a darker beer which takes a bit longer to age in the bottle than say a lighter beer...let us know though

 

[Neil humphreys]

Yeah I let it ferment for a week longer than the can said and I wasn’t sure how long to bottle it for. I’ll see tomorrow how it is. I’ve hyped it up with my guys at work that I hope it’s a good one.

 

[TwistedGray]

Yeah I let it ferment for a week longer than the can said and I wasn’t sure how long to bottle it for. I’ll see tomorrow how it is. I’ve hyped it up with my guys at work that I hope it’s a good one.

That's the drawback of a first brew being a stout/porter, time. BUT now that you have those in bottles get going with an IPA or a PA or something similar. Those will have a much faster turn around.

 

[Neil humphreys]

I’m not really looking for fast beer. I really want to find something I like and play with it by adding hops and other flavors to get what I am looking for. This is about my 3rd or 4th brew but the others I did from an information sheet I got from the home brew store. I no longer live there as I am in the army and I am working on a different style of beer than the instructions called for so I really needed this page and you guys to help me through this. I am still very much a beginner though as the other brews were straight from malt mix with nothing added.

 

[TwistedGray]

I’m not really looking for fast beer. I really want to find something I like and play with it by adding hops and other flavors to get what I am looking for. This is about my 3rd or 4th brew but the others I did from an information sheet I got from the home brew store. I no longer live there as I am in the army and I am working on a different style of beer than the instructions called for so I really needed this page and you guys to help me through this. I am still very much a beginner though as the other brews were straight from malt mix with nothing added.

While I understand that I think my point was lost. Dark brews take a long time (re: months) to age; therefore, finding something to play with will require a fast beer unless you really don't mind waiting months.

Take a simple recipe (see my sig. or elsewhere) and alter those to your taste...it's easy to build your own recipe(s). Take notes, lots of notes before, during, and after

 

[Neil humphreys]

Ahhhh yes sorry did miss that point lol. I’ll check it out and see what I can do. I tried a really nice dark beer as my first brew. It had a weird chemical taste at first sip but had an amazing Smokey chocolate flavor once swallowed. I put the weird taste down to bad sterilization but after drinking 2 bottles of it and stumbling to get up the stairs I asked the brew store and found it was probably the alcohol content which tainted the initial flavor. It packed a hell of a punch and as I said after the initial taste was swallowed it was one of the best tasting beers I had ever had.

 

[TwistedGray]

Ahhhh yes sorry did miss that point lol. I’ll check it out and see what I can do. I tried a really nice dark beer as my first brew. It had a weird chemical taste at first sip but had an amazing Smokey chocolate flavor once swallowed. I put the weird taste down to bad sterilization but after drinking 2 bottles of it and stumbling to get up the stairs I asked the brew store and found it was probably the alcohol content which tainted the initial flavor. It packed a hell of a punch and as I said after the initial taste was swallowed it was one of the best tasting beers I had ever had.

Probably needed months to age

 

[Neil humphreys]

Maybe.

 

[ncbrewer]

I highly recommend reading the on-line How to Brew by John Palmer (http://www.howtobrew.com/) if you haven't already - or the paper version. It's a really good resource. You could read just the sections that you're interested in.

 

[Neil humphreys]

Ty. I’ll check it out

 

[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.