My First Beer is Crap

[talleymonster]

I brewed my first beer back in June. It was am extract Nut Brown Ale from AHS. I followed the instructions to the T. I reviewed my notes and everything seemed good. I tasted one beer at one, two and three weeks. At 3 weeks it still tasted very odd, So I figured it just needed more time.
Well I put 2 in the fridge today so I could have one tonight. The first one tasted afwful! It had a terrible aftertaste, terrrible mouthfeel, and it just tasted like unfermented wort. There was little to no carbonation. I was hoping I just had a bad bottle, so I busted out the second one. NOPE....just as bad.

I think I'm just going to pour the whole batch out. It's been in bottles for 2 1/2+ months, and It just seems that they have gotten worse over time. I need the bottles anyways for my Kolsch.

On a happier note, I also chilled a couple of my second brew, a Red Ale. They tasted soo good! Soo much better.

I'm bummed, but I'm not devastated.

I had to expect some f u c k ups along the way. But from now on, I'm going to check, double check and triple check EVERY step of the process!


On another happy note, I also tried my Cinnamon Apfelwein after two weeks in bottles tonight. It tastes awesome! SWMBO wanted a spoonful of Splenda to sweeten it up a little and I think I might agree. I think when I bottle my next batch, I'll add the splenda before I bottle it so they'll all be sweet.

 

[Ryanh1801]

dang man sorry to hear that, at least the 2nd batch was good. Live and learn I suppose.

 

[DeathBrewer]

bummer. well, at least you have an awesome avatar!!! i have that shirt on order

 

[talleymonster]

bummer. well, at least you have an awesome avatar!!! i have that shirt on order

Yeah man, I've been reading Calvin and Hobbes since I was a kid. I have every single book he's ever published....except for The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. It costs 93.24$ plus shipping on www.amazon.com

I want to get a Spaceman Spiff tattoo!


:fro:

 

[Kubed]

That sucks talleymonster! Glad your 2nd one is better, and here's to hoping that so is your 3rd... and your 4th... and your 5th ...

 

[DeathBrewer]

Yeah man, I've been reading Calvin and Hobbes since I was a kid. I have every single book he's ever published....except for The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. It costs 93.24$ plus shipping on www.amazon.com

I want to get a Spaceman Spiff tattoo!


:fro:

i think i have all of them...including the collections...which means i have all of them AT LEAST twice

 

[ScubaSteve]

Talley-

Dude, don't worry....my first and second brew were infected. I got big nuts and brewed Pliny thelder IIPA and though it was under-attenuated, it was still quite drinkable. Then I found the proverbial ***** in the homebrew armor.....

 

[Jaybird]

I brewed my first beer back in June.

but yet you joined HBT in DEC of 05 now thats some serious reserch brotha
sorry to hear about the #1 the good thing is IT ONLY GETS BETTER FROM HERE
JJ

 

[DeathBrewer]

my first brew was the black death stout from Oak Barrel in Berkeley.

Let's just say it was mighty tasty, but DAMN! it gave me the Black Death all weekend

 

[shunoshi]

I think I may have joined you in the crappy first brew club. My Honey Weizen has been in the bottle for about 3 1/2 weeks now and it tastes horrible. Total time since being brewed is 6 1/2 weeks. I don't see this stuff getting better. I'm blaming my use of bleach as a sanitizer and maybe not rinsing well enough. My beer does have quite the medicinal flavor to it.

Hopefully the next batch will be better.

 

[Cheesefood]

Did you open it a lot to look at it?

Did you fully understand sanitation?

My first was crap, but man did they get better.

 

[FlyGuy]

At 3 weeks it still tasted very odd, So I figured it just needed more time. Well I put 2 in the fridge today so I could have one tonight. The first one tasted afwful! It had a terrible aftertaste, terrrible mouthfeel, and it just tasted like unfermented wort. There was little to no carbonation. I was hoping I just had a bad bottle, so I busted out the second one. NOPE....just as bad.

I think I'm just going to pour the whole batch out. It's been in bottles for 2 1/2+ months, and It just seems that they have gotten worse over time.

If you can try to describe the off flavours you are tasting, we might be able to give you some pointers on things to watch out for in your next batch. Without further details, my gut reaction is that you have had some fermentation problems. But it could be something extract related, too. The more explicit you can be the better.

Here are a couple of good resources for describing and troubleshooting flaws/off-flavours in beers. Not only will they help you to understand what might be wrong, they will help you to describe what you are tasting in your beer that you dislike so that we can help.

http://byo.com/referenceguide/troubleshooting/
http://howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html
http://www.bjcp.org/OffFlavorFlash.pdf
http://www.bjcp.org/study.html#trouble

 

[Brewpastor]

I have dumped more batches then I can recount. It sucks every time. Sometimes I dump them because I just want the space. Just don't give up. Quiting is for quiters.

 

[mrb]

My first beer was crap too, yet I didn't really notice how bad it really was until I brewed better batches.

KEEP BREWING!!!!!

 

[Hell Brew]

That sucks bro, sorry to hear that. Good thing there is already more in the works, and FlyGuy your d#mn avatar made me just hit my moniter cause I thought I had a fruitfly on it.

 

[FlyGuy]

FlyGuy your d#mn avatar made me just hit my moniter cause I thought I had a fruitfly on it.

LOL -- sorry man!

 

[Hell Brew]

At least my cat didn' t attack it. She has a bad habit of that.

 

[ArroganceFan]

Sorry to hear about your first batch Talley, it really sucks. Just a question, where did you store your LME? How hot did it get? There is an article in this months BYO mag that talks about how to store LME, and heat is the worst thing for it. I wonder if that Vegas heat got to your extract...

 

[DrunkTrucker]

Im sorry your first batches sucked. Mine was a pale ale. I was suprised I didnt screw it up, but I thought it was awesome. I just found a box of bottles the other day and I cant remember what kind of beer it was. I opened up a bottle and it was a gusher. All of them are that way. I guess it was underfermented or something. Out of about 15 or 20 batches thats the only bad one Ive had so far.