Wondering if my first batch is bad?

[Micheletti]

First off, I'm making an Irish Red Ale. I started my fermentation 11 days ago. I wanted to transfer to the secondary this Saturday. So I started the process of checking the beer with my hydrometer tonight to see if it was done fermenting. I was going to check it for the next couple of days to see if it stayed steady. I drank the beer out of the hydrometer container that I measured it in. It tasted like cider to me. A strong alcohol taste. It smelled like beer. What should it taste like after 11 days? I thought it would taste better. Please let me know if you think I have a problem. Thank You.

 

[lumpher]

a beer like an irish red can taste hot, or alcoholic, after 11 days. no problems as far as i can see. give it time. what you are tasting is green, or too young, beer. with an irish red, i'll primary it 3 weeks, then secondary another 3 weeks, then keg (or bottle in your case). some don't secondary, but with this beer, it'll make it smoother.

 

[BostonRogue]

If you provide a recipe we may be able to elaborate a bite more...

If it tastes of straight booze, you can anticipate bottle conditioning to meld the flavors a bit more.

 

[Micheletti]

I don't know exactly what the recipe was. I steeped some grains they gave me, some extract they put in a bucket and fuggles hops and Kent goldings hops. and Safale 04 yeast. This probably won't help but its all I know

 

[Smokeater233]

What do you remember about your brewing process?

 

[BostonRogue]

The most important components (and others may very well argue against this) is the amount of malt and hops (more hops cover up more malt; IPA is a good example of this). If it's underhopped it's just a lot of alcohol.

If it's your first batch on an experimental recipe, I'd say skip secondary and bottle it. It'll free up your fermenter for an extract recipe on the forums (take a look at reviews). I just made an Amarillo IPA recipe that I found here that turned out very well.

Also, SF-04 I tend to reserve for wheat beers. Not that there is anything wrong with using it in other beers, you just lose a lot to sedimentation and the taste can be a bit different than what you may be looking for in an Irish Ale. Next time you may want to try a Nottinghams or whats seems to be the favorite, an SF-05.

 

[lumpher]

Also, SF-04 I tend to reserve for wheat beers. Not that there is anything wrong with using it in other beers, you just lose a lot to sedimentation and the taste can be a bit different than what you may be looking for in an Irish Ale. Next time you may want to try a Nottinghams or whats seems to be the favorite, an SF-05.

s-04 for wheat beers? wouldn't be my choice at all, and i love wheat beers. i use wb-06 for dry, wlp300 or 3068 for liquid. nottingham is a good yeast for english ales, and s-04 is better for them.

 

[Micheletti]

This was a recipe that my LHBS sold. They didnt tell me what the grains were or malt extract. I saved these packages. Two 1 oz. U.S. Fuggles hops, 1 oz. English Kent Goldings, 1 tsp. Burton Water Salts, Bru Vigor and Safales s-04

 

[Micheletti]

Hey Smokeater223, THANKS for your input.

 

[lumpher]

wow.. strange package

 

[Micheletti]

So, I guess thats not good?

 

[Micheletti]

Should it taste good after 11 days?

 

[Micheletti]

I found the recipe on their website.

DEFALCO'S IRISH RED ALE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:
7 lbs. light malt extract
1/2 lb. cara-pils malt
1/2 lb. British Medium Crystal
1/2 lb. aromatic malt
1/2 lb. wheat malt
1/2 lb. German Melanoidin malt
1 oz. Chocolate malt
1 pkg. Burton Water Salts
1 oz. Kent Goldings hops (bittering)
1 1/2 oz. Fuggles hops (flavoring)
1/2 oz. Fuggles hops (finishing)
Yeast: Dried - 1 pkg. Safale S-04 ale yeast or Windsor Ale yeast
Liquid - White Labs Irish Ale, British, English or Wyeast #1084, #1098, #1968
1 pkg. Bru-Vigor (yeast food - for tap water)
3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)

 

[Smokeater233]

Hey Smokeater223, THANKS for your input.

Hey Micheletti - that WASN'T sarcasm - off flavors can also be on account of your brewing process. Want to try again?

 

[Micheletti]

Yes sir.

In my kettle, I brought 2 gallons of water to 140 degrees. tHEN TURNED OFF HEAT. Added the bag of grains and water salts and steeped for 30 min. Then sparged the grains with 1 gallon of water at 160 degrees. Then brought it to a boil and turned the heat off and added malt extract. Then I returned it to a boil. Let it boil for 5 minutes, then added the bittering hops and boiled for an additional 45 min. Now I added the flavoring hops and boiled for 10 min. Then, added the finishing hops and immediately turned off heat. I then put my kettle in an ice bath. I allowed it to cool to 70 degrees. while it was cooling I rehydrated my yeast (starter). I poured the cool wort into the primary(bucket).I brought the volume up to five gallons.I recorded the specific gravity at 1.058. Then I poured the yeast slurry and the packet of Bru Vigorinto the wort. then put lid on and airlock in. 11 days later (today) I checked the gravity, it is at 1.012. That were I am.

 

[Smokeater233]

Ok - all of that is sound. What did you use to top off? Tap water or boiled/distilled water or ice? What was your fermentation temp? Everything else sounds fine. The likelihood is that you fermented a little hot, or it simply is a very young - green - beer. In either case, a few weeks in bottle conditioning and a nice cold crash in the fridge thereafter should help with any off flavors. Sometimes I'll get wort that tastes great and then some real oddities after I open a young carbonated beer. Give it three plus weeks at 70 degrees in the bottle and see what happens...I'm willing to bet - with lumpher - that it's just young. If in three weeks it's still a little off - give it a few more weeks. I sympathize with your concerns...been there more times than I care to admit...but with this hobby, time virtually cures almost everything.

 

[Micheletti]

I topped it off with distilled water. Its been a pretty steady 66 degree fermenting tempature. Thanks alot smokeater, sorry we started off on a bad note. I will let time tell. Its just my first brew and have alot of concerns.

 

[Smokeater233]

No stress - nuance is often hard to figure out in text - apologies if my initial note came across as condescending, that wasn't the intent. Water and temp are good to go - give it some time (the patience game is the worst part of brewing) and let us know how it turns out. If it's awesome - as I'm betting it will be - then you might want to implement the solution many others here have gone ahead with in dealing with the long wait - buy more fermenters and get brewing!