Newbie Questions

[chantele]

Hello everyone,

My first post here but I have a little problem that hopefully you can help me with?

Me and my boyfriend love to get pissed so we thought we would make some beer. My bf thinks that the beer is excelent but i dont relly like it that much and it seems to make him fart. We did get pissed but it wuld be better if it tasted better.

What is the best way to make our beer taste better. We used tap water and followed the kit but it tasted sorta like cider but not really.

TYIA

Chantele

 

[bignath]

Hello everyone,

My first post here but I have a little problem that hopefully you can help me with?

Me and my boyfriend love to get pissed so we thought we would make some beer. My bf thinks that the beer is excelent but i dont relly like it that much and it seems to make him fart. We did get pissed but it wuld be better if it tasted better.

What is the best way to make our beer taste better. We used tap water and followed the kit but it tasted sorta like cider but not really.

TYIA

Chantele

G'day Chantele,

welcome to the awesome world of beer production!

When you say you followed the kit instructions, what kit was it and what did you add to it? Used the kit yeast i assume?

Just a couple of things that will improve the next batch out of sight:

1. Get rid of the kit yeast and use a better quality one. The ones that come with the can are generally not too flash, and quite a small quantity to pitch aswell. This makes the yeast have to work harder to get the job done (initially) and this in turn is one of the causes of some weird beer tastes.
2. Ferment ales at around 18, and lagers around 11/12.
Following the instruction on the can - coopers for example often recommend fermenting at around 24/26 or something like that. Not a good temp to ferment beer at, unless your doing a specialty style.
For what it's worth, the label on the can very rarely indicates accurately what style of beer you'll be making. There are only a couple of cans (through all makes and models) that actually contain a lager yeast. Most coopers cans for example are ale yeast (even the lager cans). Some of the exceptions to my knowledge are: coopers international series lager (heineken knock off), Morgans blue mountain or something like that i am sure is a lager yeast too....There's not many of 'em...

If you like beers with flavour, read up about adding some hops and malt to the can.

Generally, most cans, plus a kilo of sugar will produce an awful tasting brew which contradicts the instructions from the makers. I reckon sometimes that they want new brewers to try homebrewing and fail, therefore taking them back to buying commercial beer instead...It's my theory anyway..

Best of luck with the next one, and if you try the tips above, your next batch will improve on a huge scale.

Cheers,

Nath

 

[CosmicBertie]

Hello everyone,

My first post here but I have a little problem that hopefully you can help me with?

Me and my boyfriend love to get pissed so we thought we would make some beer. My bf thinks that the beer is excelent but i dont relly like it that much and it seems to make him fart. We did get pissed but it wuld be better if it tasted better.

What is the best way to make our beer taste better. We used tap water and followed the kit but it tasted sorta like cider but not really.

TYIA

Chantele

Love it

Ok. When yuv chucked all de stuff dat da kit tells ya to in da big bucket fing, but not really, ven u need ta let it bubbel in a colda place. U bubbld it 2 warm.

U wud prolly be berra makin yer own spirits so dat u can get pissed kwiker 2. just wun day for a load ov 'ome made vodka. ripper.

 

[bignath]

Love it

Ok. When yuv chucked all de stuff dat da kit tells ya to in da big bucket fing, but not really, ven u need ta let it bubbel in a colda place. U bubbld it 2 warm.

U wud prolly be berra makin yer own spirits so dat u can get pissed kwiker 2. just wun day for a load ov 'ome made vodka. ripper.

What the ****????

dude, are you stoned?


Chantele, this is not necessarily the answer.

We need to know what the recipe was (can type and brand, any other ingredients etc..) as well as fermentation schedule - ie: how long at what temp etc....

It's often a problem associated with temp control, but not always that simple as the above quoted post is trying to point out.... and failing miserably at..

 

[CosmicBertie]

What the ****????

dude, are you stoned?


Chantele, this is not necessarily the answer.

We need to know what the recipe was (can type and brand, any other ingredients etc..) as well as fermentation schedule - ie: how long at what temp etc....

It's often a problem associated with temp control, but not always that simple as the above quoted post is trying to point out.... and failing miserably at..

Obviously it isnt Friday night at your house.

 

[bignath]

Obviously it isnt Friday night at your house.

'course it is....just cracked my seventh JS IPA for the evening. It just took me several goes to understand your post that's all.

no offence intended :icon_cheers:

 

[kelbygreen]

ok to add what nath said.

Dont add 1kg of sugar or dextrose. use 50% light dry malt extract and 50% dextrose but I wouldnt go over 500g dex so if you want more alcohol add more malt. Punch in ians spread sheet (from memory) or kit and extract spread sheet into the search engine and download the latest version of that (prob on last few pages of the thread) you can put in all the ingredients and pick a style and try to brew to it but it will give you a very close idea of how strong it will be.

Also yes adding 2kg of dex will make a strong beer but a drinkable one?? NO! so as I say prob dont go over 500g dex and dont aim for a 9% beer unless its to style a 5.5% max for easy drinking beer is alright but again try to make it up in malt not dextrose. Get a better yeast good yeast for this time of year location depending (update that in profile so people can give better advise or may offer to show you how to brew better) is nottingham it ferments good at 14 deg and its a fast fermenting yeast its a very neutral yeast and it drops like a rock (good flocculation)

the farting is more to do with the yeast. There are ways to minimise this.
1. once fermentation is over drop the temps to about 1deg or as close to it as you can get (if using a fridge for temp control) at this stage you can add finnings this helps drop the yeast quicker. I have not tried finning without temp control so cant say how good it works. leave for at least 4 days with finning or 2 weeks without.

2. I guess you are bottling so once bottled let them carb up for 4 weeks try to keep them warm 18-24 deg is alright as they have to secondary ferment to produce co2 to carb up. put one in fridge after that and if carbonation is good put as many as you can in fridge all is best as they will mature better and the yeast will settle better. Its best to leave beer at least 8 weeks or more the taste will improve greatly in that extra month or so.

3. try not to disturb the yeast in the bottom of the bottle so try leave them where they are and stand them up. if you have a jug its best to poor the whole tallie (in one motion) into the jug and when you see the yeast (it will be whiter beer) stop pouring you may be left with 20ml of beer in the bottle. but most will be yeast.

If I am impatient with beer and keg and drink when its cloudy always farting and shit threw a eye of a needle but if you clear it up its all fine. So dont drink out of the bottle try to pour in one continues motion to not disturb the yeast

 

[CosmicBertie]

'course it is....just cracked my seventh JS IPA for the evening. It just took me several goes to understand your post that's all.

no offence intended :icon_cheers:

Non taken

No offense to the OP, but I was just trying to communicate in the same language. Much like how my teenagers do. I would've typed in grunts and snorts, but they wouldn't have worked much

Oh, and im all out of beer

 

[Aleosaurus cervisiae]

Hi Chantele and welcom to the forum. As you can gather from previous posts, the funny taste you got is probably from using kit yeast and ordinary sugar and too high fermenting temperature. For your next batch, I suggest go to a home brew shop near you (Google it, there are many) and get a kit you can afford, which will likely have a can of malt extract, decent yeast and a bag of "brewing" sugars which will have malt extract, maltose, dextrose etc. The more money you can spend, the better the beer. Do not get discouraged by failure and after a few of kits, try to get into serious brewing, partial then all grain, you will feel rewarded (and pissed, for real).

 

[scott_penno]

Chantele,

Filling in your location in your profile will help people point you in the right direction (ie closest local homebrew shop).

Follow all of the above advice, particularly regarding temperature and yeast. The one thing that hasn't been mentioned that may also make a significant difference is sanitation. Everything needs to be clean. If things aren't clean, the bad bugs get the jump on the yeast and make everything taste like rubbish. So get some Coopers sanitiser or whatever the local homebrew ship has and make sure your fermenter and anything that comes in touch with the goo and water, is cleaned with sanitiser. Also make sure you give your bottles a rinse after use and rinse them in sanitiser before you bottle.

Ok. When yuv chucked all de stuff dat da kit tells ya to in da big bucket fing, but not really, ven u need ta let it bubbel in a colda place. U bubbld it 2 warm.

U wud prolly be berra makin yer own spirits so dat u can get pissed kwiker 2. just wun day for a load ov 'ome made vodka. ripper.

Laughed my arse off at this...

Happy drinking all...

sap.

 

[Glenn Brown]

Hi,

I am new to this and might have already missed the boat on the topic but here it goes.

I think one of the most important things with brewing is to have as much knowledge about the ingredients you use as possible (ie what you are adding for either fermentables or for flavour). Once you begin to understand the purpose of the ingredient, you can then substitue those things for better or more effective products. Reading the instructions or contents on a packet will give you an idea of what is in it, but I have always found your local brew shop opperator will happily give you the in's and out's of what you are buying and what it specifically adds to your brew.

Not that I have ever tried one but it might be worth trying a Stee-pac to go with your kit and sugar. Get your brew shop guy to explain to you what you are adding and why and I am sure you will gain knowledge and experience, not to mention a better brew!

 

[bignath]

Hi,

I am new to this and might have already missed the boat on the topic but here it goes.

I think one of the most important things with brewing is to have as much knowledge about the ingredients you use as possible (ie what you are adding for either fermentables or for flavour). Once you begin to understand the purpose of the ingredient, you can then substitue those things for better or more effective products. Reading the instructions or contents on a packet will give you an idea of what is in it, but I have always found your local brew shop opperator will happily give you the in's and out's of what you are buying and what it specifically adds to your brew.

Not that I have ever tried one but it might be worth trying a Stee-pac to go with your kit and sugar. Get your brew shop guy to explain to you what you are adding and why and I am sure you will gain knowledge and experience, not to mention a better brew!

Fundamentally i agree with this concept.

In reality though, too many of us live near home brew shops that are owned by people that have no idea on how to brew beer.

Way too many times i've been recommended to ferment well above 20 deg, and i've had the unusual experience of the home brew shop owner trying to sell me WB06, S23, and then 34/70 yeasts, when he was all out of us05.

True story - my LHBS is run by a bunch of cockheads.

 

[Glenn Brown]

Fundamentally i agree with this concept.

In reality though, too many of us live near home brew shops that are owned by people that have no idea on how to brew beer.

Way too many times i've been recommended to ferment well above 20 deg, and i've had the unusual experience of the home brew shop owner trying to sell me WB06, S23, and then 34/70 yeasts, when he was all out of us05.

True story - my LHBS is run by a bunch of cockheads.

Good point Big Nath. A cockhead could certainly point you in the wrong direction. The brew shop owner/operator near my place is really good. No question is too dumb, and he explains things in laymens terms for people like me. Helpful with recipe ideas too.