My Xxxx Lager Is Very Bitter

[kilkenny1]

hello everyone am already onto my third batch of beers and have fridged my first batch of xxxx lager,i done everything to the book but my beer tastes horrible very bitter to the tounge straight away,it fremanted for 2 weeks then i bottled it ,it sat for another 2 weeks then i fridged it to make room for my second batch victoria bitter i am now making a clone of kilkenny ,i used brown suger in the bottles,does it need more time by the way its not very clear either .help please

 

[ryanator]

If you used any hops you may have overdone them a little. I don't know if priming with brown sugar would have caused the bitterness but it is possible. I usually use dextrose for priming.

I would have left the bottles out of the fridge for a bit longer than 2 weeks. That may allow the flavour to settle a little bit more and clear up the beer.

There also is the possibility that the beer may have spoiled.

 

[kilkenny1]

if the beer has spoiled is there nothing i can do,i didnt use any hops

 

[ryanator]

There is not much you can do if the beer is spoiled. On the bright side, if it tastes really bitter it might not be spoiled. It will usually taste sour if it has spoiled.

Just try leaving it for a while and tasting it again later. In my opinion it would have been the brown sugar. Dextrose would have probably been better in a lager.

 

[kilkenny1]

what causes beer to spoil ryanator

 

[Weizguy]

kilkenny1,

Have U brewed this beer before?
Is it possible that it's meant to be this bitter?
What did U add to make the brew (ingredients/ technique)?

I'm sure that brown sugar would not make the beer taste bitter, but it would add it's own odd flavour, if U used a lot of it.

Mate, when you can supply some answers, the forum may be able to assist with answers, and maybe a resolution to your malady.

Seth out

 

[ryanator]

what causes beer to spoil ryanator

[post="70179"][/post]​

It can be one of many things.

Using unclean equipment is a huge cause.
Conditioning beer in unclean bottles.
Leaving beer in sunlight.
Fermenting beer at very high temperatures.

Sometimes you can just be unlucky. Bugs in the air getting into your beer while you're making it can happen. If you do a search on this page you will find some info on it.

Don't worry too much if it was your first brew. My first brew tasted shocking!

 

[kilkenny1]

this was my first brew and no it is not soppose to taste like that (got a sample before i bought it).
castlemaine perkins lager brewing kit
dexrose 1kg
the first yeast died so had to put in another one
fremanted for nearly 2 weeks then bottled and they sat in the cupboard for 2 weeks then put them in the fridge early this week and they taste horrible

 

[ryanator]

Did you use a lager yeast?

Maybe next time use some light dry malt. This will improve the mouthfeel and hopefully kill of some of the rough bitterness.

 

[Batz]

this was my first brew and no it is not soppose to taste like that (got a sample before i bought it).
castlemaine perkins lager brewing kit
dexrose 1kg
the first yeast died so had to put in another one
fremanted for nearly 2 weeks then bottled and they sat in the cupboard for 2 weeks then put them in the fridge early this week and they taste horrible

[post="70184"][/post]​

Sorry to hear you have a bad brew kikenny , I see your in Townsville , perhaps the temperture was a bit high , and "the yeast died and I added another" worries me a little.
I think you may have "yeast bite" , this tastes terriable as you said , if you smell the beer does it smell the same as this yukky taste?

Batz

 

[kilkenny1]

i just opened another bottle there now and it smells a bit sweet malty like and tastes abit sour and malty any ideas,what temperature should i be brewing my beer at batz cause as you said its pretty warm up ere all year round 28 most days and my beer frements at around 26

 

[kilkenny1]

any help on this would be great and sorry for bumping this post but i need answers please friends

 

[deadly]

There isnt much info to go on and only stabbing around in the dark,but if you used the brown sugar to prime it wouldnt add too much flavour,it could be the yeast on yeast, or then again it could be still young (i usually kept bottles standing for at least 5 weeks before trying -start drinking at 3 months)

 

[Mr Bond]

Probably the fact that its a generic brand can coupled with the fact that you used 1 kg of dex and then fermented at 26c.Nothing would taste good with those parameters .

 

[sluggerdog]

kilkenny1 I would say it has a fair bit to do with the temps at a guess. Even if this is not the problem, it still would have not helped fermenting at this high temp.

Next time try and keep the temps down as low as possible, if it was an ale yeast (probably what the kit comes with) then I would try around 20C and if it is a lager, I would aim at around 12C (fridge needed of course)

Some ways to keep your fermentor cool, is to start by adding chilled water to your fermenter instead of tap water, wet town drapped over with ends in water buckets/containers and also frozen 2 or 3 lt bottles next to the fermentor wrapped in wet towels should also help....

 

[kilkenny1]

jesus theres more to this than meets the eye,ive already bottled a vb clone and am brewing a kilkenny at the minute,suppose these are also ruined

 

[Darren]

KK1,
Simple. In general, NO beer should not be fermeted above 20 degreeC.
You will need a fermentation fridge at those temps.
Betcha Batz has one you could look at. Second hand is the go to start with.
Maybe start a new topic on peoples fermentation fridges to get some ideas
As always there a many ways to skin a cat. There are many different and great ideas.
The wet towel over the fermenter doesn't really work well at 26+ temps

 

[Darren]

jesus theres more to this than meets the eye,ive already bottled a vb clone and am brewing a kilkenny at the minute,suppose these are also ruined

[post="70233"][/post]​

I have a policy to drink everything I make Good or Bad. Sorta helps in not making the same mistake twice.