Two Lager Kit Failures

[orangefalcon40]

I've now had two unsuccessful attempts at making lager. Both have ended up with a really sour after-taste. I've absolutely no idea what I'm doing wrong. The first one I fed to the plants yesterday, completely undrinkable.

I cleansed all my kit with a non fragranced washing up liquid then used a sanitiser then rinsed with boiling water. I followed the instructions and mixed three litres of boiling water with the extract and put it in the bin then filled up with cold tap water as per directions and added the yeast, then put the lid on. The bin is in the garage. Because it was a bit cold I put on a brewbelt on a timer. After seven days the fermentation has finished but the lager tastes rancid. The first attempt was a Finlandia lager where I used brewing sugar. Attempt two used a Youngs lager kit with Muntons spraymalt enhancer.

Should the beer taste okay after the first fermentation?

 

[tubby_shaw]

Beer doesn't taste it's best just after fermentation is over
It is best to leave it at least 10 days in the fermentation vessel, this will allow a lot of yeast to fall out of suspension and also allow the yeast to clear up some of the by products of fermentation.
Then bottle or keg your beer according to the kit instructions, then sample after a couple of weeks.
It will improve if kept for a couple of months before drinking :thumb:

 

[queues likely]

half a crushed campden tablet to your 23.5 Litres of water, was the tip i got from here which has been a god send.
the second tip is wait,( it will mellow) get another brew on the go.

I am drinking some Edme Lager i bottled in May this year, what an improvement 4 months makes.
Gonna try my best to wait that long for my coopers ceveza, that did taste good at bottling.

 

[abeyptfc]

yeah i was advised on the 1/2 campden tablet in the water before adding to the FV.coopers draught tastes fine (bottled 5 wks ago today), mexican cerveza tastes fine(only bottled for around 3 weeks, had a taste of the coopers lager 5 days after bottling and it wasnt great, it seemed a bit watery to me but none of them have had a bad aftertaste.

 

[Dunfie]

yeah i was advised on the 1/2 campden tablet in the water before adding to the FV.coopers draught tastes fine (bottled 5 wks ago today), mexican cerveza tastes fine(only bottled for around 3 weeks, had a taste of the coopers lager 5 days after bottling and it wasnt great, it seemed a bit watery to me but none of them have had a bad aftertaste.

abey, we don't need to use a campden tablet up here (well I've never used one). I got the water report a couple of years ago and there is approximately the square root of feck all in our water. One O and two H's and thats about it.

 

[abeyptfc]

ah right cool, that will save alot of messing about then. cheers

 

[jonewer]

Should the beer taste okay after the first fermentation?

Eh.. no!

In fact, it'll probably taste quite nasty! Best leave your next one in the keg for at least 2 weeks before sampling. Dont feed any more to the plants!