My First Brew Tastes Wierd

[Lufc92]

Hi All,

Being an avid beer lover I thought I'd take the plunge and have a go at home brewing my own but the problem is my first brew doesn't taste all that.
I've just done a Young's Definitive Bitter which I followed the instructions to the letter. I used normal granulated sugar like it says on the tin. The 1st stage fermentation looked to have gone well with the FG reaching 1006. I bottled it into 1 litre PET bottles using normal sugar again for priming then stored them at around 24c for a week then moved the bottles to a cooler place for another 3 weeks.

I opened a bottle last night, it looks and smells like beer but when I took a drink it was like the all the moisture in my mouth had been completely removed.
Is it just the fact that it's a cheap kit and having read a few posts on here that normal sugar is a no no? Or have I done something wrong?

My next brew in my bin is a Cooper lager which I used brewing sugar as suggested. I'm really hoping this comes out a lot better?

[escapizm]

I found the twang too in my first few kits. It could be chlorine or the sugar but would say it's likely the chlorine if you've been sterile and it's not an infection. You could try using asda still water on offer at mo for 13p for two litres. I use on my allgrain till I get my head round water treatment.

[EoinMag]

Personally I'm annoyed by kit instructions which advise sugar, it's the road to crappy beer.
Use spraymalt and put the sugar episode behind you and you'll never look back.

[EoinMag]

I've just dug the first lager I made last December out from under the stairs, it was a brewbuddy kit made on table sugar. It's bottled since Middle of January. The only reason it's still there is because it was undrinkable, it's actually drinkable now, but still not great and that's 8 1/2 months later. I couldn't choke it down up until two months ago, it's actually not all that bad now. If using all malt the beers are better than this in 2 months.

[mickhew]

Could be a few things. Hopefully you tranferred into the bottles smoothly, with minimal splashing? Try a Coopers kit next time, use spraymalt/sugar 50-50. Don't give up, you can make nice beer at home. Don't set your expectations TOO high, it will never taste the same as pub beer (in my opinion), but I've made perfectly drinkable stuff. Fermentation/conditioning temperatures, cleanliness, technique, will all have an effect on your final brew.

[EoinMag]

Could be a few things. Hopefully you tranferred into the bottles smoothly, with minimal splashing? Try a Coopers kit next time, use spraymalt/sugar 50-50. Don't give up, you can make nice beer at home. Don't set your expectations TOO high, it will never taste the same as pub beer (in my opinion), but I've made perfectly drinkable stuff. Fermentation/conditioning temperatures, cleanliness, technique, will all have an effect on your final brew.

Try some woodfordes kits with proper conditioning, they're just as good as pub beers, sometimes better.

[Jack Hackett]

2 very simple things you can do to improve kits

1. Decholrinate your water using a campden tablet.
2. Use brewers sugar or Beer Enhancer or all spray malt instead of normal household granulated sugar.

plus the beer should improve with age, if you can resist drinking it too soon that is

[Lufc92]

Thanks for the replies everyone. All your advice is much appreciated and I will be definately taking it onboard for future brewing. Just bottled my Coopers lager and I'm planning a Cooper's pale ale to which I'm going to use a Munton's beer kit enhancer. Hope that will be ok? But from now on the sugar is out. I've also read that leaving your water to stand overnight at room temperature gets rid of the chlorine, is that true?

Just for the record I'm going to drink the bitter anyway as it does get you p*ssed and you get used to the taste after the 3rd bottle lol. I need the empties too.

[mankysteve]

Most water supplers dont use chorine anymor ethey use a simular chemical that i cant remeber the name of right now. But it will also evaporate off, but I would be worrid about it getting germs and stuff in it while standing. I would use the tablet that have been mentioned or spring water.

[EoinMag]

Most water supplers dont use chorine anymor ethey use a simular chemical that i cant remeber the name of right now. But it will also evaporate off, but I would be worrid about it getting germs and stuff in it while standing. I would use the tablet that have been mentioned or spring water.

Chloramines, and they won't evaporate off, they need to have a campden added.

[Weejock]

Most water supplers dont use chorine anymor ethey use a simular chemical that i cant remeber the name of right now. But it will also evaporate off, but I would be worrid about it getting germs and stuff in it while standing. I would use the tablet that have been mentioned or spring water.

Chloramines, and they won't evaporate off, they need to have a campden added.

I'm a beginner, so I'm quite prepared to be corrected... I am aware chloramines can't be eliminated the same way as chlorine. From my fish-keeping experience, chloramines do the same as campden, i.e. kill bacteria/stop fermentation. How do campden tablets counteract chloramines? I've avoided using my tap water for brews so far, if the chloramines can be neutralised by campden it would save me the cost of bottled water.

[EoinMag]

I'm a beginner, so I'm quite prepared to be corrected... I am aware chloramines can't be eliminated the same way as chlorine. From my fish-keeping experience, chloramines do the same as campden, i.e. kill bacteria/stop fermentation. How do campden tablets counteract chloramines? I've avoided using my tap water for brews so far, if the chloramines can be neutralised by campden it would save me the cost of bottled water.

Have a read through some of this stuff:

http://www.google.ie/search?source=ig&h ... den+tablet

I add a half a tablet to the 5 gallons of water shortly before brewing.

[Weejock]

Fantastic stuff, thank you. I'm going to try the campden in my next brew and fish tank change.

Every day, live and learn...

[EoinMag]

Fantastic stuff, thank you. I'm going to try the campden in my next brew and fish tank change.

Every day, live and learn...

Leave it to stand a while if you're going to use it on fish.