My beer tastes crap

[fivetide]

Ha! Oh dear! Sorry. Mind you it's great to find a reason isn't it sometimes, rather than just remain bewildered.

Shame, but at least you know the next time can be problem free.

[delboy]

Its a steep learning curve, the up side of that though is that you'll soon be on here boasting about how your homebrew is as a good as what they serve down the local or dare i say it better

[SiHoltye]

My local homebrew shop owner told me directly that campden tablets are not used in homebrewing beer. Only in homebrewing wine. Shows where his interests lie .

Drop the sugar addition, add the campden tab to your brewing water first thing, and follow Daab's instructions with a Brupaks kit (see the instructional 'kits' tab up top) and as long as your ferment temp is good, you should be happy, many have been.

[Martin the fish]

Give it another couple of weeks.
I added 2kg of extra 'fementables' into a muntons gold old english bitter kit. Took a while to become drinkable but it did in the end. Only just finished the last bottle recently. Quite strong mind

[daveyk]

PK,
Sorry to hear things have not worked out as you'd hoped. The other guys on here have far more experience than me but thought I woudl share the experience I had with my first brew.

It was a Birkby Bitter from Brupaks. I follwed the instructions to the letter but after the 4 week period stated for the beer to condition, I felt the taste was also too bitter. I stuck with it though and finished it off last week... that was almost ANOTHER 2 months... by which it tasted totally different... I was very suprised the difference in the flavour as the time passed so it might be just a matter of giving it time.

Dave

[sparky Paul]

Errr... oh yes, you're right! Do you think adding 1kg of unnecessary brewing sugar might be the cause of the sharp, bitter taste? If so I only have myself to blame One of these days I'll get this right!!

Adding the sugar would certainly account for the sharp 'spirity' taste, it'll be like rocket fuel if you've added a kilo or so.

However, you may well find that the taste will mellow after a few months, and will become perfectly drinkable - but it will always be rather strong! Don't tip it away just yet...

[MacDuck]

Interesting, I got the campden tablet information from a guy in this shop: Art of Brewing

My local HB shop (York) just doesn't have a clue. He has given me loads of incorrect advice - after some discussion turns out he has not brewed any beers for 6 years, and when he was brewing it was only with kits!!

So I take everything he says with a pinch of salt and smile politely while forgetting everything he says as soon as I walk out the door with my goods.

Cheers

[Doughboy]

Unless the kit advice for Woodfordes Wherry has changed, I can't remember having to add any sugar. I think it was a 3kg kit consisting of x2 tins, each with 1.5kg of concentrated hopped malt in them and all you had to do was add water. Is there now a different size kit? If not, the addition of sugar could be giving the "twang".

Agreed! - these are pre-"sugared" kits that are really meant to be followed to the letter - it is a "just add water kit" - or at least was the last time i used one..
I think they work out to 4.5% if done correct, so adding the extra sugar will IMO have upset it?..
I have added 1KG of light spray dried malt to a nelsons revenge before and had favourable results....
I wouldnt however be prepared to pay £20 for an upmarket kit and then feed it the cheaper alternative (sugar) given the choice...
hopefully, itll mature for you though in the coming weeks..

doughboy

[PMH0810]

I too was following Art of Brewings Campden Tablet advice and am please this has proven to be wrong (Thanks Jim/DaaB).

The slight aftertaste in my Arkell's isn't present in my Cooper's and the only difference is the Cooper's wasn't treated due to me using mineral water (Tesco 77p per 5 ltr).

Only currently having the one FV it's hard for me to treat 40 pints of water before adding to the wort; hence the mineral water (measurement becomes far easier too when you buy in set sizes!).

[The Mighty Badger]

Bad luck, these things are all part of the fun, but at least you've got your answer. I'd leave it alone for a good few weeks and see if it mellows.

A couple of years ago I was showing a mate the joy of beer kits (it was New Year and we had sunk a few before we started). We followed through the instructions, added the required 1.3kg sugar only to reach the end to find a 'late addition' to the destructions saying to ignore the erroneous step 5 and that only 300g of sugar was needed. We cracked on anyway... After 3 months it had turned into one of the best I'd made. Mind you, one bottle was enough and 2 was dribbling on the floor territory

It happens to the worst of us so don't worry...

[pickledkipper]

Update on the beer - after a couple of months sitting in the keg, this has matured into a rather nice brew And with the extra sugar it means one of these before a night out and I'm already half way there! Thanks everyone for your help and advice, I might just try making this mistake again!

[fivetide]

A happy ending, excellent. Try a Milestone kit - straightforward instructions, good ingredients, no sugar required, great results all round.

[fertilebert]

I had similar problems with a bad taste . I took a sample to my local home brew shop , and he nearly barfed on the floor!!
He did suggest however maybe doing a full scrub down of all work surfaces etc , or preparing the brew in a different location of the house (if possible)