is my homebrew ok????

[bengee]

Hi,
I'm new to homebrewing. With my first brew I chose to make American Style IPA. I followed the directions on the Young's homebrew pack.

My first issue began with the airlock - I wasn't getting any bubbles. After a week or so I had to open the fermenter to see if there was any activity, and I was pleased as the yeast was doing its job. So I'm guessing that this may be an issue with the airlock.....i don't know.

The instructions said to wait till the specific gravity dropped, and stabilised at 1.09. After 2 weeks, I was getting a reading of 1.12 and a few days later it was the same reading. I thought it had stabilised so I transferred to the air-tight barrel and added the priming sugar.

2 weeks later and I couldn't resist it any longer - I had a small sample. It was still very cloudy and the taste was a long way off.

It has now been almost 3 weeks and the beer has cleared a little, the taste is a little better (I think), but it still doesn't taste right - the taste is slightly acidic (I'm sure there's a proper term for it!)

Will the taste improve further, do you think? The guidelines say that the homebrew will be drinkable after 2 weeks, but for optimum taste, wait 4 weeks.

Could this be down to an error in my brewing technique?

 

[Nottsbeer]

Hi, from experience, I used to find that beer made from kits always took 4-6 weeks after bottling to get to a good point. Timings on their instructions can sometimes be a bit optimistic! Sounds like you had reached FG so time will be your friend. If you have a barrel with the tap towards the bottom there is always the chance that some of the cloudiness could be from stuff settling and then getting pulled through with the beer. That will pass after a pint or two.

Not sure about the slightly acidic taste. Someone may pop along to offer an insight into that. Always best to keep trying the beer to see if that changes over time.

Well done on your first brew

 

[bengee]

Thanks for the response. Really was hoping for the beer to be ready for this weekend, oh well

Guess couple more weeks won't hurt

 

[Agentgonzo]

My first issue began with the airlock - I wasn't getting any bubbles. After a week or so I had to open the fermenter to see if there was any activity, and I was pleased as the yeast was doing its job. So I'm guessing that this may be an issue with the airlock.....i don't know.

Yes, that sounds like it. Often there is a small leak in the lid/seals when something isn't quite closed/snug/sealed that won't affect your beer, but does stop bubbles coming out of the airlock.

 

[The Baron]

The acidic taste may be to do with your tap water if that is what you used. If so try bottled water on your next brew to see if it improves.
Or it could be a Lactobacillus infection which is what they introduce to sour beers and gives a acidic/sour taste to the beer, if it is that it is down to cleaning and sanitising thoroughly and that's what I would do with my kit just in case it is that anyway

 

[bengee]

The acidic taste may be to do with your tap water if that is what you used. If so try bottled water on your next brew to see if it improves.
Or it could be a Lactobacillus infection which is what they introduce to sour beers and gives a acidic/sour taste to the beer, if it is that it is down to cleaning and sanitising thoroughly and that's what I would do with my kit just in case it is that anyway

if it is Lactobacillus, is it incurable?

 

[bengee]

Yes, that sounds like it. Often there is a small leak in the lid/seals when something isn't quite closed/snug/sealed that won't affect your beer, but does stop bubbles coming out of the airlock.

I thought there may have been a leak, but when i removed the airlock, i was blasted by a stream of CO2, so I'm guessing the seal was pretty good.

 

[Agentgonzo]

I thought there may have been a leak, but when i removed the airlock, i was blasted by a stream of CO2, so I'm guessing the seal was pretty good.

Sounds like the airlock was blocked then. It should bubble any excess gas out through it, not hold it in until you remove the airlock.

 

[Deadhead]

It's very hard for a brand new homebrewer to actually have a bacterial infection. You'd almost have to intentionally do something like dunk dirty fingers or open ferment next to your sourdough starter to do this, though I suppose it happens.

I bet what you're tasting is actually just a really young beer. Taste it over time. I bet in a few weeks it will have gone away and be much better! The kits do so much better with a bit of aging.

 

[bengee]

Further news on this story, after 5 or 6 weeks of sitting in the barrel I am happy to report that the beer is starting to clear. I've had some the last couple of nights, and the taste has vastly improved - although I think (well, I hope) there is still room for improvement.

Which brings me to another question. Is there a point where the beer will start to go off?

 

[Agentgonzo]

Which brings me to another question. Is there a point where the beer will start to go off?

Absolutely. But it's commonly considered a sin to leave it that long without drinking it .

It depends on a lot of things, but generally you can keep it for a year or two, sometimes more.
Pale beers (especially hoppy beers) don't last too long. The hop character will begin to fade after a few months and continue to fade the longer it gets.
Darker beers age better as the malt flavours fade/change slower than the hop flavours.
High alcohol beers (rich Belgians and Imperial varieties etc) last longer, presumably the alcohol stabilises it for longer, or there is more flavour to begin with so you don't notice the fade as much. In fact, Imperial stouts, strong Belgians etc require aging (6-18 months?) to get to their best (I bottled my BLAM entry yesterday, which I don't intent to touch until at least September, probably December).
Commercial beers can (but don't necessarily do) last longer than homebrew because their bottling/canning methods are better than the average homebrewer, and expose the beer to less oxygen.

Things that will help your beer keep for longer:
* Keep it cool/cold. (something like every 10 degrees temperature raise makes it spoil twice as fast, but I may be wrong on the details)
* Reduce exposure to oxygen as much as you can during the packaging process
* keep it dark
* better sanitisation (up to a point, the alcohol does a pretty good job of killing things)
* probably more things I can't think of right now

Personally, the only time I have to worry about how long to keep my beers is when I do hoppy pale ales (not super-crazy NEIPAs though - the max hops I have put in a 23L batch is 150-200g, and I brew these rarely). I have kept these pale ales at least 9 months and whilst there is a little bit of hop fade, they're still great. All other styles get drunk way before I need to worry about how long they will last. The longest I've had them stored is 18months (in the garage, so cold in winter, but up to 20degrees (or 30 in a heatwave) during summer and they've all been fine over this timescale.

 

[LeeH]

2 top tips for noobs.

1. Don’t tinker and keep taking gravity readings. Just leave it alone in the FV for 2-3 weeks. DONT TINKER!

2. Buy some Chem San as an insurance policy.

 

[bengee]

Thank you for the responses, it is building on my homebrew knowledge!

 

[Ginger_NutZ]

Alcohol is a preservative the higher the abv the longer you can store it for. Fortified wines and spirits can last decades, beers maybe a year or two as long as they are not exposed to bacteria or oxygen.