I recieved a Mr Beer kit as a present which I am planning on upgrading very soon. I am brewing a Red Ale. After a week in the primary I tasted it and it tasted like a$$. I tasted a little sour and not much like beer. You can def. taste the alcohol. The color was a weird light, milky, brown color. I left it in the primary for two weeks and it has been bottled for a week now. I figured I would keep the process going and not just dump it. Any suggestions? Also in the directions I have, older kit, it doesn't say to boil the beer extract. It says boil water, take it off the heat and mix the extract then pour into primary. Did this totally screw up my brew with nasties? When I did this I was just following directions and knew close to nothing about brewing.
Mr Beer
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How old was the kit? Was the malt extract already hopped? The ingredients may have just been old and stale, or the fact the the extract was not boiled could have led to an infection. Did you add priming sugar to it before you bottled it? If so, I would let it condition in the bottle for a total of 3 weeks and then give one a try.
BTW, welcome to the forum. Use us for all we are worth!
John
BTW, welcome to the forum. Use us for all we are worth!
John
Thank you very much John. The kit was a few years old but I ordered fresh ingredients. The extract was already hopped and ready to go. I guess some refer to it as "beer in a can". I did add priming sugar before bottling so we shall see how it comes out. I am also thinking that not boiling the extract might have led to an infection. As you can see in these crappy directions it tells you to "remove from heat source" before you add the can http://www.mrbeer.com/images/pdf/PilotBarrelIns.v1 Thanks for the feed back!johnsma22 said:
simzy
Well-Known Member
strange instructions. I've read a lot of instructions that say to remove boiling water from heat to add your extract, as not to burn your malt, but then return to a boil. I too have a sour after taste with my first batch of beer, I learned it generally means there has been a bacterial infection. I still plan on bottling and drinking mine, as I was going to drink it with lemons anyway.
Monk
Well-Known Member
The Mr. Beer instructions are basically the same as the Cooper's Kits instructions, because they make about hte same product. Cooper's also says to boil the water, but not the malt extract (same with BrewFerm, John Bull, etc.). I personally would boil if I were to use those; and personally don't use Mr Beer ingredients becasue they're overpriced and so-so flavor. But if your beer tastes like ass, and you bought fresh ingredients, I think you didn't sanitize well. Mr. beer isn't the most sophisticated system around, but it does make decent beer if you just follow the directions and have fresh malt extract.
Thanks for the help! Ill let you kown how it ends up tasting. I did santize everything in the kit but I guess I didn't take it as seriously as I should have. I used a wooden spoon (which seems to be a no-no) plus I didn't sanitize the spoon or the can opener. I figured if I use the iteams for food it would be ok. I was wrong and next time I will take my time and sanitize every single thing.
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