My stupid noob mistake

[treemind]

Ok about 5 weeks ago i started my first extract batch. Not trusting my city tap water i bought most of my water at the store. Not knowing any better i bought distilled water. I had about a gallon of spring water at home that i used, however the rest of it was all distilled. The process seemed to go well. It was a simple red ale kit, I pitched a dry yeast.

the OG was 1.048 and the FG was 1.016 before bottling 16 days later.
At that time the wort tasted pretty good. Kind of mellow but ok for a flat beer.

Just over two weeks in the bottles i decided to taste it. Not terrible by any account, but not that good either. Kind of green apple tasting... perhaps a little more sour then i would like. I just figured it was GREEN.

However now i am starting to wonder if maybe i totally botched this batch, because i read somewhere that distilled water is not the way to brew and that could be the reason for the off flavor.

Has anyone made this mistake before and came out ok?
Or do you think the off flavors are all about the distilled water?

thanks for your input!

 

[MrShake]

Your worrying too much. Your beer will be fine!! Let it age some more and enjoy it!

 

[treemind]

gotcha.

thanks

 

[llazy_llama]

The green apple, or cider flavor is probably the most common off flavor we hear about around here. It's called green beer, and it will mellow with age. Give it a few more weeks, and it'll be fine.

Distilled water won't contribute to off flavors, but it will taste different than tap water. Some brewers use distilled or RO water with minerals added to achieve a desired flavor profile, but just using distilled water isn't going to create off flavors.

 

[treemind]

very cool
thanks!

 

[ChshreCat]

Distilled water is more of a problem with all grain brewers than it is for us extract guys.

 

[stagstout]

My .02, water plays a much bigger role in AG (All Grain). This is due to the fact that we are converting the startches in the grain to sugar. A lot of science/ tech things are happening here and this is where you would need to worry about your water. Distilled water contains no minerals to help with the conversion. This is where you have probably read that distilled water is bad.

However, since you have done an extract batch, this work has been done for you. ie: Malt Extract.

Knowing how you are feeling, only because I've been there before, and I still worry about my beer like its my first. Consider it the curse of home brewing...

Your beer is young, it will go through stages as it ages. Like the advice given to me by many, patience is your friend.

My first batch tasted like a$$ for the first 6 weeks, and then magically on the seventh week....wow it was the best beer i've tasted. Being this was my first batch, you can only guess how many things I did wrong.

So just relax, give it time and at the end, you will have amazing beer.

 

[treemind]

You guys rock! thanks so much for all the help.

Ok, relax... no more panic.

I also have two more batches on the way...
both extract were done with spring water, and liquid yeast... should be even better then my little red ale. Lots of Beer for late spring early summer months!

 

[Memorex88]

It's no secret that the last few beers of a batch are the BEST. Why? They aged the longest. Patience is so important in home brew and we are all guilty of not having enough.

Your beer will be great after the time it takes to be great