Bad tasting beer

[Geddey]

Hi everyone,

I have recently just bottled up my first ever brew, it was a northern brewer amber ale. I followed all instructions and kept it fermenting at about 20 degrees in a darkened room, bottled it after 2 weeks and left it to bottle condition. I though I would try one last night, so I put a bottle in the fridge and tested the beer once cold, not nice at all and really sour tasted like it had gone off.

Total disaster not sure what I have done wrong I sanitised everything prior to use and followed all instructions.

Phil

 

[foxy]

Hi Phil, difficult to say without more information, what do you mean by really sour? Was it tart and Champaign like?

 

[Geddey]

Hi Phil, difficult to say without more information, what do you mean by really sour? Was it tart and Champaign like?

Hi Foxy thanks for your response, I would say it tasted stale and like it had gone off, once poured it had a small head on it and was very dark in colour. I have another in the fridge which I will test tonight and confirm the actual taste.

Thanks

 

[kelper]

Do you know the OG and FG?

 

[terrym]

You havent told us how long you left your beer conditioning. Some beers, especially strong or darker beers can take a long time weeks or even months so I suggest you leave it and try another in a month's time. Recently I opened a fairly standard beer from a recipe I had found about 10 days on after bottling and didn't get on with it at all. I tried another one month on last night and it has changed markedly but still isn't ready to drink, so I too will be leaving it another month before I try the next one.
And one final comment some beers are not best served from the fridge. Your Amber Ale might be one of them. Lots of UK ales are best served at cellar temperature, about 14*C

 

[nixhaz]

Also how long had you left it to condition?

 

[MickDundee]

Hi Foxy thanks for your response, I would say it tasted stale and like it had gone off, once poured it had a small head on it and was very dark in colour. I have another in the fridge which I will test tonight and confirm the actual taste.

Thanks

I’m not sure what colour it’s meant to be because “amber” ales have a wide colour range, but very dark and funny taste would make me think possibly oxidisation. Was the taste either cardboardy or sherry-like? They seem to be the flavours that oxidisation throws off - My 2 oxidised brews have been the latter.


How did you transfer from FV to bottle? How long was it in the bottle before sampling?


But as I said without knowing how dark the beer is intended to be it’s hard to say on the info we have.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

If you only bottled it a few days ago I wouldn't necessarily expect it to taste nice, though as others have said, without knowing the timeline of events, it's difficult to help. Someone on here recently said they tried a bottle on the Tuesday having bottled on the Sunday and was asking if they should discard the batch as it didn't taste nice. I don't really know what they intended to achieve on that occasion.
Patience is a requirement in homebrewing - I have found this even in my limited experience.

 

[Geddey]

Do you know the OG and FG?

I'm a complete newbie so I didn't take either of these :)

 

[Geddey]

You havent told us how long you left your beer conditioning. Some beers, especially strong or darker beers can take a long time weeks or even months so I suggest you leave it and try another in a month's time. Recently I opened a fairly standard beer from a recipe I had found about 10 days on after bottling and didn't get on with it at all. I tried another one month on last night and it has changed markedly but still isn't ready to drink, so I too will be leaving it another month before I try the next one.
And one final comment some beers are not best served from the fridge. Your Amber Ale might be one of them. Lots of UK ales are best served at cellar temperature, about 14*C

Thanks, I have only left it about 10 days since bottling, I think I have a bit to go :)

 

[terrym]

I'm a complete newbie so I didn't take either of these :)

It always wise to have a hydrometer at least and check your FG. That way you can be sure its finished and wont carry on fermenting in the bottles, to give you the potential for gushers or worse bottle bombs. The alternative is to leave it longer in the FV but even then you can never be completely sure its not stuck or not finished.