How to get rid of the homebrew taste?

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fubofo

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Hey guys, so I have done about 5 kit brews now and they have been great.

I am now interested in ways to get my brews a little bit cleaner/clearer and to get rid of that distinct 'homebrew taste'. Any tips?
 
The taste is less with quality kits.
I've heard that a period of boiling the wort from kits prior to making them up will help although I have not tried that.
In normal cases time in the bottle is your best bet, the taste of the beer improves many times from a new beer to one that's 3-4 months old.
 
Hi , yes a few tips for you , first don't use sugar (unless priming) in your brews , that will be the main reason why it tastes that way , using more expensive kits are best as no sugar needed . Watch out for old kits , liquid extract is great unless it is old , fresher the better. Temperature control is very important keep it constant and between 18 to 22c , too warm will risk off flavours . But if you want to improve i would chuck kits away and go for extract brewing , dried malt extract , good yeast , hops of your choice and profile of your making will make better beer .
 
Cheers guys. The first Wherry I made was great, though a teeny but off (temps went a little high while at work).

The second last ( Coopers Irish Stout, with added treacle) and last (straight Wherry) had/have that slight homebrew taste.

The stout I just finished last night after around 6 months and there was still a slight lingering taste. The Wherry has been in bottles for about 6 weeks now (4 cold, 2 inside room) and not only has the taste but hasn't fully clear like the first Wherry
 
I use bottled water from Sainsburys.

I clean with OXY, rinse, clean with high solution Vanodine, rinse. Also a quick no rinse just before use
 
Try a st peters 2 can kit, as they are excellent, no homebrew taste. I did the coopers stout with brew enhancer and it turned out great. :thumb:
 
Just wondering, is it the remaining sugars or yeast that gives it the taste? Or something more chemical.

Would leaving in original FV for longer improve this?
 
The guys in here suggest brew in fv for atleast 10 days, and not what it says on the tin. How long have your brews been in fv ?
 
I tend to keep it in the FV until the FG had settled for 2 days then bottle. Also I use kits without sugar, only priming sugar for bottling and now have a setup that keeps a steady temperature.

Would keeping it in FV for a week after steady FG help 'clean' it?
 
Yes but a better bet is to transfer the brew to another fv when it's finished fermenting, and let it stand for a week or so in this fv (secondary fermantation) I tend to leave brews for 2-3 weeks (or more)! in secondary (wine and beer)! Transfering of the old yeast cake helps to stop a lot of the 'homebrew' flavours developing after that it's just down to time!! Oh and try to avoid using sugar, dme gives a far better flavour!
 
Cheers guys, so moving to a secondary FV for a week or so and using DME instead of homebrew priming sugar might help?

How does the secondary FV effect yeast? I presume it still contains enough yeast to properly cover sugars for carbonation? Also is there a contamination risk?
 
wezil said:
Transfering of the old yeast cake helps to stop a lot of the 'homebrew' flavours developing...
There is much discussion on the merits of racking to secondary but I don't do it and don't suffer any consequences. The risk of leaving your beer on the yeast cake is that, as the yeasts die they release undesireable favours (autolysis). However, I think you'd need industrial quantities, a particularly long time or be very unlucky to experience this with homebrew and if you did, the resulting favours would be a lot worse than a twang.

Bottom line... the only sure fire way to avoid THBT is to use fresh malt extract i.e. DME/LME or by mashing grains to extract it yourself.
 
Hmm so is it the residual sugars that give it that taste, hence using DME gives better results?
 
Consider cooking bolognaise with tinned tomatoes, frozen mince and dried garlic. Whilst it might taste alright its not going to get you very far on Masterchef.
 
Have a look at extract brewing, since switching to extract brewing and using dried malt extract I have been able to get rid of the homebrew taste but have lost a little bit of complexity in the taste of my brews.
 

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