homebrewandbeer.com

Hi Gurus,

I have put down a Coopers Bavarian Lager with Coopers brewblend #2 and 500g of honey on Monday. Its bubbling away nicely, but when I taste it, its quite bitter and there is an eggy smell coming from the airlock. Any ideas? Certainly wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be quite sweet at this early stage. Can't taste the honey at all. I accidently topped the fermenter up to 25l instead of 23l as well, not sure how this will effect the end result. Is it not looking good or is this quite normal?

Unless you gagged, coughed, choked and spat, it is probably not stuffed.

The eggy smell is 'coz of the true lager yeast that comes with the Bav Lager. Relax this is normal. You get good lager temps in Melb coz' the weather is shite and cold...

Of the Honey beers I have sampled the honey has been in the bouquet rather than the palate. Good though.

Over all, let it brew let it brew let it brew. Give it some bottle age - six weeks or so, and only then get worried if it tastes iffy. Send one to me and I'll let you know.

Cheers,

Greg.

ps: My attempt at honey beer was an Olde Dark Ale with a BE#1, half kilo of Leatherwood honey, dry hopped with 12g of Goldings. Thumbs up from all who sampled.

Thanks Greg, thats a relief. Enough about our weather, although it has been good for Lager brewing (read shite) the last couple of weeks.

Greg has nailed it

Lagers sure take time to ferment out to I have noticed, I have brewed two ales in the span my lager is taking

Dogger

Just quickly on this topic of worrying about the brews.

My brew has stopped bubbling, so I took a gravity check and will take another one tomorrow to see if it actually has finished.

When i tried the beer from the check it tasted a little on the sour side, not majorly but more like a rodenbach tip of tongue sour.

Now in my booklet its talking about sour being the classical sign of spoiled beer, is that what i'm looking at?

Or is it normal for beers to taste sour at such an early age?

Kozzi,

I wouldn't worry. I've never had an infected beer, and doubt that it would be very common among people who post here (or am I wrong???).

Beer does taste a little strange when it's not matured, so I think you'll be right.

Cheers,

Oliver