I am very bummed out by the quality of my first two brews, and I can't pin down what exactly is wrong.
I bought the equipment kit from Austin Homebrew and I brewed my first beer in July, a hefeweizen using an AHS kit with Weinstephaner yeast. I followed John Palmer's book for the most part. I left it in the primary for 4 weeks, bottled, then tasted after 2 weeks. There was a funky taste to it that I'd describe as almost dishsoap. It was also slightly bitter, and the fruitiness I was expecting was not that big. The lack of fruitiness I can attribute to fermenting at around 65 degrees, but I'm not sure about the dishsoap taste. Overall this brew was decent I guess for my first time.
Fast forward to the end of August, I decided to brew the second kit that I had bought at the same time as the first one in July to see if I could get rid of the offending taste. This was the Texas Blonde Ale. As far as I could tell I did everything the same as the Hefe, except I only left it in the primary for 2 weeks, then transferred to secondary for an additional 2 weeks. I was fairly careful about siphoning the beer with my auto-siphon... and the only oxidization that could have resulted was from the air that gets into the auto-siphon at the very end of the siphon (like trying to get the remnants of a drink with a straw).
I bottled the blonde at the end of September and tasted it 2 weeks later. Much to my dismay it tasted like cleaning solvent, even worse than the taste I had with my Hefe. It is undrinkable as it makes the belly rumble a bit. Now, a month later, the flavor has not improved at all.
I have also recently tasted the Hefe since I saved a few, and the weird taste is still there. It's a bit worse now in fact, and not something that I'd serve to anyone except myself.
Any ideas as to where this weird taste is coming from? I should also say that I used tap water to top off both of these beers.
Thanks for any help in solving this mystery so that I can actually brew good beer!
I bought the equipment kit from Austin Homebrew and I brewed my first beer in July, a hefeweizen using an AHS kit with Weinstephaner yeast. I followed John Palmer's book for the most part. I left it in the primary for 4 weeks, bottled, then tasted after 2 weeks. There was a funky taste to it that I'd describe as almost dishsoap. It was also slightly bitter, and the fruitiness I was expecting was not that big. The lack of fruitiness I can attribute to fermenting at around 65 degrees, but I'm not sure about the dishsoap taste. Overall this brew was decent I guess for my first time.
Fast forward to the end of August, I decided to brew the second kit that I had bought at the same time as the first one in July to see if I could get rid of the offending taste. This was the Texas Blonde Ale. As far as I could tell I did everything the same as the Hefe, except I only left it in the primary for 2 weeks, then transferred to secondary for an additional 2 weeks. I was fairly careful about siphoning the beer with my auto-siphon... and the only oxidization that could have resulted was from the air that gets into the auto-siphon at the very end of the siphon (like trying to get the remnants of a drink with a straw).
I bottled the blonde at the end of September and tasted it 2 weeks later. Much to my dismay it tasted like cleaning solvent, even worse than the taste I had with my Hefe. It is undrinkable as it makes the belly rumble a bit. Now, a month later, the flavor has not improved at all.
I have also recently tasted the Hefe since I saved a few, and the weird taste is still there. It's a bit worse now in fact, and not something that I'd serve to anyone except myself.
Any ideas as to where this weird taste is coming from? I should also say that I used tap water to top off both of these beers.
Thanks for any help in solving this mystery so that I can actually brew good beer!