Help!

[Narcolepsy]

Remember the recipe you guys gave me in the other forum? Well, it's been bottled for a week now. I bottled a couple in stubbies instead of tallies so I could give it a test tasting without having to waste a tallie. Here's my problem:

I don't know if the beer is infected. I tasted it when I bottled it, and it hadn't gone bad. I can't for the life of me remember what it tasted like though, so I can't compare to this glass of beer as far as taste goes.

It tastes like a cross between beer and soda water. It isn't weak by any means, but it has a taste a bit like soda water (have a mouthful of soda water straight, you'll see what I mean). It also tastes quite strongly of the fuggles hops I used, which I'm not complaining about.

It smells somewhat like red cask wine, only not as strong. I guess it has a little bit of taste that resembles cask wine too. Smells a little like stale beer too. I'd just really like to know if it's some kind of infection, or if it's just what the brew tastes like if you use a fair amount of hops, etc...

PS. I only opened the one stubbie, I don't want to waste anymore until it's sat another week or two...

 

[PMyers]

Narc - It is very difficult for someone to tell you what the cause may be just from a description. Each person differentiates tastes differently, and what you may think is a red wine taste, another person might call it an astringent taste. The best bet for you would be to take a sample of the offending beer to your local home brew store and get the owner to taste it. Most LHBS owners are more than happy to do this (No, really!), and it may help to discover any problems with either your method of brewing, or the area in which you brew.

Cheers,
Pete

:chug: