Oh dear my first brew has gone wrong

[Rivvo]

Hi, I brewed a wherry kit on 25/10/13 as my first kit, being new i asked the advice of the guy in the hbs, he advised me not to use cold water for the primary as it was turning quite cold so i used tepid water from the tap. I then made it up to 23 Ltrs and pitched the yeast, the temp gauge was on the top setting (32') for quite some time and i thought i may have killed the yeast. I persevered and it did react with 2" or so of foam, i then left it and then bottled it 12 days later and used carb drops to prime. It's been out in the garage for a week or so ( having been in the warm prior to that) and tried a test tonight, head and retention was good as was carbonation, unfortunately it tastes crap almost burnt and has a watery aftertaste.
I presume it is not salvageable and will not improve with bottle conditioning, should i just bin it and start again?

 

[calumscott]

:hmm:

temp gauge was on the top setting (32') for quite some time

quite some time? how long roughly? And what temp did it settle at?

tastes crap almost burnt and has a watery aftertaste

That doesn't sound good. Wherry should be smooth and malty with a full finish...

...I have a feeling that the answer to those questions might reveal what's going on here.

On the upside, it's still very young and age tends to help everything. :thumb:

 

[Rivvo]

Cheers it was obviously above 32 and took probably over 12 hours to get down to 22' or so, then i just followed the original instructions though i had not taken the oh it was about 1010 when i bottled.

 

[calumscott]

12 hours is probably enough to create some off flavours but nothing too drastic. The only worry is that the initial temperature was that bit too high that it's created mutant yeast cells - they can produce strange flavours too.

Give it a few weeks and it should hopefully start to get better. :thumb:

You've done everything else right by the sounds of it so just hope that it just needs time.

Get another beer on in the meantime and if the worst comes to the worst then you've got the base for a lot of stew!

 

[Rivvo]

Thanks, I've got a brewferm wheat in the second vat but i am quite disapointed and annoyed with myself as i wanted a brew for Christmas. I'm not sure I'd give it to the dog (if i had one!) in the state its in now, never mind ruining stew with it
I will leave it for a few weeks and see if it improves, thanks.

 

[calumscott]

Everyone brews one that is good for stew - I've still got a few bottles of a burton bridge porter I did the best part of two years ago that's still undrinkable but makes lovely stew.

Don't sweat it, you've got another few weeks until Christmas and really that's about the sort of time they need to start getting good. :thumb:

 

[Monte Cristo]

Chin up Rivvo,
All is not lost, whiz down to wilko tomorrow, pick up a golden ale get it on the go and it should be ready by the big day! :hat:

 

[Rivvo]

Is it really that quick? Is it like an iPa?

 

[graysalchemy]

Unfortunately some LHBS haven't got a clue about what they are selling and some advice is rather weak to say the least, others are a font of knowledge. He should have really told you what sort of temp to aim for.

As C has said temp is quite important and you can get some off flavours some will dissipate others won't. But it is all part of the learning curve of brewing. I would say bottle it and leave it till christmas and try it you may be surprised if not leave it a bit longer. One of my disaster beers after a year turned out fantastic and i wished I had kept more of it, instead of suffering it for months.

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[Rivvo]

Thanks i will leave it, i do have a better brew pilsner to do but nothing i start now will be ready in time i think, oh well we live and learn cheers for the advice guys.

 

[peelman]

Rivvo
My first home brew tasted rubbish too. I did pretty much the same as you, I though warmth was a good thing... 'That's why you hear of people putting FV's in airing cupboards isn't it?' :hmm:
Anyway I still drank it all but cant say I enjoyed it.. :sick:

It's only after joining this forum and reading some of the posts from experienced home brewers, I realised where I was going wrong...

Like some of the others have said get another brew on ASAP and it should be just about good to go by Christmas :

 

[Monte Cristo]

Is it really that quick? Is it like an iPa?

It says on the box ready in 21 days, so it may be cutting it fine but it is a cracking pint. It isnt an IPA, I am guessing it is a bit lighter than the Wherry but i haven't tried the Wherry so others on here could probably tell you better. :hat:

 

[rpt]

It says on the box ready in 21 days

Unfortunately kit manufacturers are wildly optimistic about the time it takes. I would say a minimum of 2 weeks fermenting, 2 weeks in bottles in the warm and then probably at least 2 weeks in the cool. So that's a minimum of 6 weeks and it will probably take longer than that to condition well.

 

[Pjam]

Yeah, as said. You may be surprised by the change it takes. I've come close to pouring a brew down the sink only to discover (much later) it was actually very good!

I just did a Wherry and it was the cleanest, quickest ferment I've had! I managed to keep it at 18-20 degrees. That's exactly what it likes.

 

[fego]

You may find that temperature wasn't the only problem. Your water profile might be contributing to the poor result too. More so if you took it from your hot water system rather than cooled boiled water.

It might be worth adding 5 bottles of Ashbeck to your next Tesco delivery and use that instead and then compare the results. Also, you mentioned a watery taste. Is it possible that you added too much water to the extract? You need to top up so the total is 23 litres but some people make the mistake of adding 23 litres which waters the beer down. Some people add less water topping up to 20 litres which gives a fuller taste (but less beer).

 

[PD]

Unless you got one of the new type combi boilers, never use warm water from a hot water cylinder to brew with. Its been sat for a period in an open dirty tank probably up in the loft...There could be anything in that tank, from a dead pigeon to legionellas disease.
Cold mains tap water or bottled water is the stuff to use. Even if you have to boil it first
This is more appropriate to kit making as in BIAB or 3 vessel ALL Grain the water goes through a 60 or 90 min boil in the beer making process

 

[Rivvo]

Yeah I have a combi , no hot water tank, but i still won't be doing that again

 

[PD]

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[Duxuk]

I must admit,I use water from a combi. The water is from the same pipe as the cold, but gets heated. I do, however, boil all the water during the brewing process, which is a type of BIAB.

 

[Rivvo]

We'll I gave this another taste just before xmas, yeucchh!
I think I'm going to have to bin it and wait for it to go on sale again in Wilkes, had a proper pint of it yesterday ( proper wherry that is!) and mine is nothing like it, oh well my other brews are more promising.