Can anything rescue a bland brew?

[crowcrow]

Just moved my latest all grain brew to the keg and on the way I stuck some in a small pet bottle and carbed that just to see how it was going.

The beer tasted like my blandest yet - on the spectrum of Budviser - with just a little chemical hint too - not sure what brought that on. I'll give it a few more weeks in the keg before tasting again, but is there any thing that I can do to improve this? I have a hop spider, is it worth sticking a bunch of hops in a few days before the party that this was brewed for? Or just brewing something else? Needs to be ready in 6 weeks!

 

[MyQul]

A hop tea can completely transform a beer. I once made a beer and didnt like the taste of the hops I used (cant remember which hop now). So I added a hop tea and turned it into something I like the taste of

 

[crowcrow]

Nice one - ill leave well alone for now and give it a go in a month and see if it needs a little extra help then - hop tea sounds like a good idea.

Luckily my first keg is nearly empty so I can make something else now for that.

 

[An Ankoù]

Nice one - ill leave well alone for now and give it a go in a month and see if it needs a little extra help then - hop tea sounds like a good idea.

Luckily my first keg is nearly empty so I can make something else now for that.

That would be my choice, too. In the meantime, the first lot will probably come good.
But just in case...

 

[spigley]

I sampled a drop of my first ever ag brew this week. I ended up with 11 litres in a corny keg. Tasted a bit bland so decided on adding more hops in a bag to the corny. I took off about half a litre first into a PET bottle, carbonated it and left in the fridge to use as a comparison. Then added 10g of the same hops I had used in the boil, First Gold, and 5g of citra into the corny in the bag. After 3 days did a comparison tasting and the extra hop addition really boosted up the taste. It's made it far more flavoursome and now after 5 days is even better. Glad I hadn't bottled it as I wouldn't be able to make the adjustment. Not sure now whether I should take out the hop bag or leave it in.

 

[MyQul]

I sampled a drop of my first ever ag brew this week. I ended up with 11 litres in a corny keg. Tasted a bit bland so decided on adding more hops in a bag to the corny. I took off about half a litre first into a PET bottle, carbonated it and left in the fridge to use as a comparison. Then added 10g of the same hops I had used in the boil, First Gold, and 5g of citra into the corny in the bag. After 3 days did a comparison tasting and the extra hop addition really boosted up the taste. It's made it far more flavoursome and now after 5 days is even better. Glad I hadn't bottled it as I wouldn't be able to make the adjustment. Not sure now whether I should take out the hop bag or leave it in.

If you watch vids about English breweries making bitters, many of them add a plug of hops into the cask

 

[Llamaman]

Fruit is always an option too, but you might want to transfer back to the FV for that.
A hop tea/dry hop would be simpler.

 

[Clint]

Bung 100g Amarillo in it...

 

[Llamaman]

If you watch vids about English breweries making bitters, many of them add a plug of hops into the cask

Yup, dry hopping FTW.
A few years ago, Everards ran an advertising campaign based on tiger being dry hopped. ‘Dry hopping mania’ IIRC.

 

[Duxuk]

Yes I'd agree with adding hops. I'd do it sooner rather than later so it has time to repressurise, especially if you want to add a bit more priming sugar to get the sparkle back.

 

[Llamaman]

Or just save it for when you’ve had a few and your tastebuds are shot anyway... :)

 

[The Baron]

yes add hops is one option also you could add a fruit juice if it is going to be kegged to give it a grapefruit or other fruit taste or try the new hop additions as sold by Malt miller I have some but not tried them as yet but they say you can add a drop or 2 to a pint to see how it tastes before adding to the whole batch or if already bottled and conditioned just add to the glass when poured. When I do get around to using it I will post the result P.s I got Cascade, EKG, Citra and one other I can not remember at the mo. Hop tea's also seem popular especially with the kit/extract brewers