what can i do to improve my beer

[daithi55]

hi all ive mad e few brews now and alls going well on the technique side of things well so i think anyway

sterilise everything
boil 2 litres of water in pot add brewing sugar and dissolve
add contents of tin bag etc and stir well
then pour into fermenter add water to required level check temp and ad yeast
put on lid add airlock and fill with water
leave for 10 days check reading with hydrometer once readings are constant for 3 days bottle
normally 10-14 days
then i bottle using one tea spoon of table sugar per 500ml bottle
i then leave bottles in hot press for a week then move to the shed

now i will admit i was drinking the beer soon after bottling but even now im leaving it longer with no difference
is there any way of tweaking my technique to try improve the beers

but what i notice is im not getting that oh my god its the best beer in the world effect like some members here
now the beer im making is drinkable but theres always a slight after taste or something along those lines

so far ive done
edme superbrew german style lager
beer in a bag make your own beer czech pilsner
brewmaker cider deluxe
muntons connoisseurs export pilsner

maybe its just been a bad choice of beer ive been choosing

 

[PD]

If you want to remain with kit beers and lagers for a while longer. I would suggest you try one of the many 2 can beer kits that are around. They are slightly more expensive, although they do not need any extra sugar adding, but they are far superior to one can kits.
Lagers in my humble and limited experience always failed to excite my taste buds... try some good English beers /ipa's or even Milds, and get those taste buds a tingling.

 

[puravida]

I've never brewed kits so can't help on that front.
But a few quick ones..

1 - leave your beer 2 weeks in the primary without even opening the lid
2 - once bottled, leave it at least 4 weeks to condition. The first week at fermentation temp (18-21 degrees generally) and then store upright for 3 weeks somewhere nice, cool and dark.
3 - buy a pack of good yeast rather than the ones that come with kits (variety depends on the beer you are brewing)
4 - add some vac-packed hops in your brew (again variety depends on the beer you are brewing)
5 - Buy some Star-San and once your kit is properly clean, make sure everything that touches your beer gets a good slosh or spritz with it
6- Try Brew in a bag :) http://chompchomp.co.uk/?p=141508066

Enjoy!!!!! :thumb:

 

[Dave1970]

pre-treating your water with half a crushed campden tablet to remove chlorine taste from tapwater is a simple thing to do that might make a difference

 

[fbsf]

Or alternatively, use bottled water. At £1 for 5 litres from most supermarkets it won't kill the budget.

Also, you mention using brewing sugar - consider replacing the sugar with Spraymalt aka DME or Dry Malt Extract - normally around £8 for 1kg - for the best results or a Beer Kit Enhancer at a slightly decreased cost - £5-6 for a kilo. Either will give your beer a fuller flavour and mouthfeel than brewing sugar.

The best kits I've done have been the Coopers Original Stout and Australian Pale Ale - both have gone down very well, and neither seem to have that homebrew twang that sometimes gets mentioned.

Oh, and the APA needed a good 6 weeks in the bottle before giving it's best, and 4 months down the line the biggest challenge is keeping people's mitts off it when they visit.

 

[jonnymorris]

1. Fermentation temp. Try and keep it correct and stable, esp in the early days.
2. Patience. As mentioned above, leave it alone for 2 weeks and consider a third week to allow it to clear.
3. Freshness. The main source of twang is freshness (or not) of the wort in the can. Two can kits are better but extract brewing (and ultimately AG) is the only real way to ensure the freshness of your malt extract.

 

[calumscott]

+1 for not using sugar for one can kits. Use extra light spraymalt (Dried Malt Extract, DME) instead for lagers.
+1 for trying dry hopping, I believe a little Saaz or Hallertauer are good for lager styles.
+1 for temperature control, keep it to 18C for lager kits
Be exceptionally careful when racking and bottling - oxidation in lagers is really noticable. Aim for zero splashing. Get a little bottler if you don't have one already.
+1 for proper ageing. AT LEAST a month in the cold. Simply brew more than you can drink then you'll build a back-stock which will have time to mature properly.

Don't change the yeast... Some kit makers are now selecting very clean fermenting, room temperature happy yeasts for their lagers. If you use a real lager yeast you need to get your temp down and constant at around 13C. Not easy.

Also, don't confuse commercial lagers for what you will produce yourself. You will not produce anything like what you'll get from the supermarket. If you want something to compare with, try to get hold of things like the Cotswold Brewing Company's 3.8. That's a commercially produced "real" lager, brewed carefully, lagered properly and generally loved right to the bottle. Some other more "craft" brewers are doing real lagers now, Williams Bros I think are doing one...

 

[daithi55]

thanks a million lads for the advise
il try some of these two can kits thats mentioned and the extract brewing
after bottling and letting it condition i had the beer in a cool shed but not in darkness il get boxes and cover them from now on

also my water hasnt any chlorine in it as its coming from my own well
but its ran through a water softener might affect it maybe
il get water from elsewhere next time and see if theres a difference