Noooo!

[gmflash88]

My first ever brew...tastes like crap.

Caribou Slobber. 1g extract kit. Brewed it to the letter. OG/FG spot on. No sign of infection. 3wks primary, 12 days in bottle. Cracked one open tonight to try and it's pretty bad. Can't describe it but its almost kind of metallic. With a hint of rubbing alcohol.

Now...I will let the remaining bottles sit for another week. The only saving grace, and tell me if this did it, is that the bottle I tasted was one if two that I had issues with my siphon when bottling and it really agitated the beer on the way in. The rest of the batch flowed nicely with no oxygenation.

Hoping that's the issue. Worst case is I messed up 1g. Not a big deal but I was soooo pumped for my first beer!

 

[jaynik]

"Metallic flavors are usually caused by unprotected metals dissolving into the wort but can also be caused by the hydrolysis of lipids in poorly stored malts. Iron and aluminum can cause metallic flavors leaching into the wort during the boil. The small amount could be considered to be nutritional if it weren't for the bad taste. Nicks and cracks ceramic coated steel pots are a common cause as are high iron levels in well water. Stainless steel pots will not contribute any metallic flavors. Aluminum pots usually won't cause metallic flavors unless the brewing water is alkaline with a pH level greater than 9. Shiny new aluminum pots will sometimes turn black when boiling water due to chlorine and carbonates in the water. "

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

I'd guess either your water (use a filter) or possibly the pot if it's new. I doubt it's the pot though. Throw them in the closet and come back to them after New Years at least to see if they improve any.

 

[gmflash88]

Didn't think about the water. My water is pretty good here but I may try an additional filter.

The pot I used was my everyday cooking pot. It's a nonstick one though. I'm intending on my next batch to be a 5gal using my new (I'll do the pre boil thing) aluminum pot.

I'll try the others that I know didn't get jacked up on bottling in a few weeks. I'm not worried. If anything I'm determined to make another batch.

 

[T29]

Sorry to hear. I had a few bad batches starting out and could never nail what it was, almost stopped brewing altogether. I did some research and i figured out it was my water from the tap that i was using. It gave a metalic, medicine like flavour then it tasted sour at the back of my tongue. I used bottled water and if anything campden tablets(helps takes the bad things out of the water). Now my beer tastes awesome. also keep the beer at the proper yeast temp. Buy your own yeast specific to the beer so you know its good and what temp to ferment at.

I would steer clear of the kits that you buy at the store, i never had good results. Yeast is usually bad by the time you brew and the flavour of the malts are off and have never had a nice beer.

i get mine from www.ontariobeerkegs.com and they have partial kits with fresh products. This is just me saying what i had to go threw to get a nice tasting beer. My friends have a micro brewery and i learned a bit from them. they are easy for beginners and have decent instructions.

Take a read at the following link. lots of great information for the beginner and for myself learned a lot from it. hope it helps and good luck on future batches!! dont get discouraged. BREW ON!

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-4.html

 

[gmflash88]

Thanks for the advice. Northern Brewer is based 15min from my house and their original (and busiest) store is right by my office. I would hope that they are turning kits over enough to where the freshness isn't an issue but who knows.

Just a bump on what will be a long road of awesome beer

 

[mrphillips]

"The pot I used was my everyday cooking pot. It's a nonstick one though. I'm intending on my next batch to be a 5gal using my new (I'll do the pre boil thing) aluminum pot."


I was told to avoid aluminum. Never used it, never will.

On a different note, did you use Chocolate Malt in this recipe? I recently used 8 oz. in an experimental 5 gal. batch, and it too had somewhat of a metallic taste. It might have been human error, but it was the second beer I had a negative experience with using chocolate malt...so it might have something to do with your problem.

 

[kharper6]

I plan to use Reverse Osmosis (RO) water and adjust my mineral content from there instead of trusting bottled/tap.

Best to start with a clean slate and it is extremely cheap.

For a good boiling kettle, keep an eye on craigslist. I got mine from a restaurant liquidation, used, for $30. 7.5 gallon tri clad stainless steel.

 

[boydster]

There is nothing wrong with using an aluminum pot. As long as you do as planned and boil some water in it first to oxidize the inside of it, it will be just fine. Lots of people use aluminum pots and have done so for a very long time to no detriment to their beer.

Read this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/faq-aluminum-pots-boil-kettles-49449/

 

[BansheeRider]

My first ever brew...tastes like crap.

Caribou Slobber. 1g extract kit. Brewed it to the letter. OG/FG spot on. No sign of infection. 3wks primary, 12 days in bottle. Cracked one open tonight to try and it's pretty bad. Can't describe it but its almost kind of metallic. With a hint of rubbing alcohol.

Now...I will let the remaining bottles sit for another week. The only saving grace, and tell me if this did it, is that the bottle I tasted was one if two that I had issues with my siphon when bottling and it really agitated the beer on the way in. The rest of the batch flowed nicely with no oxygenation.

Hoping that's the issue. Worst case is I messed up 1g. Not a big deal but I was soooo pumped for my first beer!

What was the temperature of wort during fermentation?

 

[podz]

I would steer clear of the kits that you buy at the store, i never had good results. Yeast is usually bad by the time you brew and the flavour of the malts are off and have never had a nice beer.

I have found the yeast that comes with the Cooper's Stout kit to be of exceptional high quality, better than US-05 in my comparisons. Also, the Cooper's kits sell so fast that they never grow old on the shelf, they're not even there long enough to collect dust - sometimes I'm worried that they will be sold out when I want to make a batch of stout. Everybody I've opened a "kit" stout for wanted another one, or two, or three, or ...

So, adding this sort of comment to your otherwise useful advice about the water is little more than parrotting bandwagon snobbery propoganda "while you're at it" - it's pretentiousness without basis and it attempts to overcomplicate the hobby for beginners. In fact, some of the most knowledgeable AG brewers on this board have posted that they use a kit now and then due to lack of time or simply just because they want to.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with prehopped malt extract, although one is more or less limited to the given hop profile.

 

[Jayhem]

No one mentioned fermentation temperature. If you ferment too warm you can get a hash (metallic like) taste in your beer, especially when it's not been in bottles long enough. Most ale yeasts will provide the cleanest, smoothest flavor when your beer temp doesn't get above 65F during active fermentation. This means the air temp where your fermenter is located needs to be no higher than 62 for the first 3-4 days of fermentation. This is because when yeast metabolize sugars they create heat and make the beer warmer than the ambient air.

The 2 most common new brewer issues to beer quality: 1. not understanding the importance of temperature control 2. impatience.

I also tend to get a harsh flavor from Chocolate malt use until the beer has aged in bottles for about 2 months.

 

[solbes]

Agree on ferment temps, they are hugely important. Try to chill your wort down to the low/mid 60's before pitching an ale yeast. And then either try to control the temp to mid 60's or put it in an environment in the very upper 50's or low 60's.

Should be no issue using an oxidized aluminum pot. I have made 50 batches with the same aluminum pot and no issues at all. Someday I will move to a large stainless kettle when I go 10 gallon batches, but it may be another few years.

 

[Hello]

Is there any reason to think a non-stick pot will cause off flavors given the boil time?

 

[gmflash88]

I don't have a regular method of temp control. I'm all set from a knowledge and ability standpoint to convert a freezer into a ferm chamber but I'm waiting for my wallet to catch up

I had it set in my laundry room which over the last few weeks (which were nasty cold) stays in the 62-65 ambient temp range. I think this was probably a bit high as I am aware of the exothermic reaction of initial fermentation. When I do my next batch a swamp cooler will be used.

Ah patience...yes. That is a bit of an issue. The beer I popped last night is not at all ready which I think has a lot to do with it. I imagine that a few more weeks will turn bad into below avg to average.

I would like to know more about the boil kettle though. I don't recall anywhere seeing non stick being an issue but hadn't ever checked. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Yooper]

What kind of non-stick aluminum kettle do you have? I assume it's fine (and aluminum is fine to use) but I'm trying to picture what's non-stick about it as I don't see non-stick big kettles. I used an aluminum turkey fryer pot for many years for brewing, with great results.

It does sound like the tap water is an issue to me. I'd try a batch with distilled water or reverse osmosis water to see if the next batch is better and if it is, then you know the cause.

 

[insanim8er]

What kind of non-stick aluminum kettle do you have?

Looks like he did a 1 gallon extract kit in a non stick pot. His next batch will be in his new aluminum pot.

 

[ss4ivan]

I brewed the caribou slobber 5 gal. extract kit. Tastes awesome if you like brown ales. I have probably brewed close to 10 extract kits from northern brewer with no bad results. They always ship me good product. I seriously doubt it would be the kit.

 

[gmflash88]

Looks like he did a 1 gallon extract kit in a non stick pot. His next batch will be in his new aluminum pot.

Correct. I did this current 1g in my regular non stick cooking pot. I also have a turkey fryer for when I do 5g that's aluminum. I will make sure to 'season' the aluminum before I brew with it. I'm going to try bottled water next and use a swamp cooler as well. I'll likely do another 1g batch and see how the change in water and temp control goes. I'm not worried about the pot. I can't imagine that's the culprit. If the pot were an issue the 800 other things I've cooked in the pot (including making soups and stocks) would taste off.

No temp control + questionable water + crappy bottling procedure = problems lol

 

[Clonefan94]

Water and fermentation temps would be my first two thoughts on your issue. My first beer was barely drinkable (I don't like waste, so most probably would have tossed it) That's when I found out about Chlorine in the water and because a room is 70 degrees, doesn't mean your beer is fermenting at that temperature.

Since then, I figured out that the chlorine probably wasn't the big issue, because there wasn't enough to not boil off, but the fermentation was probably really in the mid to high 70s, which just threw a bunch of bad flavor into the beer. There was a distinct twinge of metal in it, along with hot alcohol and banana. Not good at all for an American Amber.

 

[HerrHepcat]

Is there any reason to think a non-stick pot will cause off flavors given the boil time?

Yes.

While boiling is nowhere near the maximum temp for non-stick cookware, there is just no guarantee metals in the pot (which may not be aluminum or stainless steel) aren't leeching into the wort, just as cast iron pots beneficially leech metals into soups.

While it's always great to recognize all the ways your methods can improve, my guess is your off flavors are just as likely from your pot selection as anything else.