General homebrew discussion, tips and help on kit and malt extract brewing, and talk about equipment. Queries on sourcing supplies and equipment should go in The Store.
I helped my dad do a basic K&K a few months back. The results were alright, except it had that distinct HB taste and smell you get in the first few brews you do- before experimenting with hops and so on.
My mum suggested a squeeze of lemon juice to nullify this. I admit, this was towards the end of the beer, so I don't know how effective this would be at the start, but it certainly got rid of that HB taste and smell, so I thought I'd share.
Not a bad tip I feel, particularly when you've got 60 odd beers to be drunk that all have that distinct taste and smell.
I think that taste might be the cidery taste that people get when they only use sugar instead of malt in their brews. I've never experienced the taste in my brews as i have never used sugar (not even in my first brew), but a friend of mine who only goes coopers and sugar has that distinct homebrew taste that you might be talking about.
I may also be a combo of that and sodium met or some other sterliser that people sometimes forget to rinse out of their fermenter...
happens to every young man i'm sure...
I freely admit that I was Very Very Drunk....
"They speak of my drinking, but never consider my thirst."
There is defenitely a home brew taste. Even with coopers BE2.
Even with controlled temp the taste is still there.
I have just done my first all malt to see the difference with a coopers can.
The next thing I plan to change is the yeast & see the difference.
I think if you were to add hops the smell & taste wouldnt be as noticable.
Matt
the brew I'm referring to used a Coopers BE2 and the dregs of two Coopers PA stubbies for yeast. It may be due to a lack of malt or hops, but that wasn't my point...
Chewie wrote:the brew I'm referring to used a Coopers BE2 and the dregs of two Coopers PA stubbies for yeast. It may be due to a lack of malt or hops, but that wasn't my point...
When are you saying to add the lemon?
Does it change the taste?
I dont bottle so when do I add the lemon?
I'm just saying if your drinking a beer thats got that distinctive HB taste your first few brews usually had, get up off your chair and add a dash of lemon juice to your drink.
I think also the yeasty taste people refere to is mostly filtered out of commercial brews.
Also people when they brew at first tend to rush it and drink there brews after on a couple of weeks in the bottle.
I have found a bit more time in the bottles helps get rid of the HB taste.
Who ever said nothing was impossible, never tried to slam a revolving door....
James L wrote:I think that taste might be the cidery taste that people get when they only use sugar instead of malt in their brews. I've never experienced the taste in my brews as i have never used sugar (not even in my first brew), but a friend of mine who only goes coopers and sugar has that distinct homebrew taste that you might be talking about.
I may also be a combo of that and sodium met or some other sterliser that people sometimes forget to rinse out of their fermenter...
happens to every young man i'm sure...
Trough Lolly back in September wrote:
Shell wrote:Hi all,
Husband & I have tried the 2nd bottle from our first batch of Coopers Ale and although better then when we first tried it after only been in the bottle 2 weeks it still has a slight cidery taste. It was bottled 6weeks ago. It has definately improved and i'm hoping will continue to do so. It tasted almost vegemity at the first tasting. We basically just used what came in the Coopers starter kit including carb drops when bottling.
My question to you is this.. Will it always have this cidery taste? or will that disappear in time? Not having tried homebrew all that much I'm not sure if it just tastes like that or if we've done something wrong? We did stick to the instructions and I was confident with the temps for the yeast addition & the temps maintained for fermenting. Everything was cleaned & sanitised and the beer itself is of a good colour without any obvious signs of infection.
Any idea's?
Hi Shell,
There's a bit of a momily going around that suggests that cidery flavours in beer are the result of too much sugar, especially sucrose, in your brew. The fact is that it's not the sugar, but the yeast, of course, that primarily influences the flavours added to any beer during fermentation. Some sugars do leave more dextrinous compounds, eg Belgian Sugar, Molasses etc, but simple sugars such as dextrose and sucrose, quickly ferment out early on in primary.
That said, it's likely that you may have fermented the beer too warm and if you followed the kit instructions, you may have done the beer a disservice by following the instructions. Ales ferment cleanly at 18C and lagers at 8-10C. You will get a lower perception of the cidery notes over time, but there's a possibility that some of the cidery flavours are present due to the fruity esters that the yeast threw off when you fermented it at 24C or more degrees.
Put it down to experience, keep good sanitation protocols and you'll be fine the next time 'round...
If you want an excellent primer on brewing, you might want to read Palmer's online brewing guide - despite a few questionable statements here and there, it's still a great starting guide: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
Cheers,
TL
Home Brew Taste may be attributed to several factors, depending on who's doing that attribution:
1. Kit twang
2. Fermenting too warm
3. Using too many simple sugars
4. Using a crappy yeast (btw, I like the Coopers yeast though some people don't). This may be due to strain, a lack of viability etc.
5. Ineffective sanitation
Sometimes I quite like a bit of the sedimenty bit at the end of the bottle. You go hmmmm, thats where my beer came from. I suppose thats why some bottle conditioned brews advise to roll to mix through the yeast before drinking. It adds to the flavour. Would be a bit of a shock if your used to drinking only filtered beers though.
If you're drinking straight from the bottle Chewie, try pouring into a glass in one movement being careful to leave the sediment behind. Not only will it reduce the yeasty taste (if thats the problem) you'll get the true taste of the beer. Whenever I pick up new beers to try I always drink them from a glass now. Didn't know what I was missing in taste until I had a Black Sheep Ale from my stein rather than from the bottle, and it tasted completely different. I figure I'm wasting my money on good beers if I drink it from the bottle and miss out on all the flavour.
I'm buggered if I know what people are referring to when they quote the "distinct homebrew taste" either, I have been brewing for better than ten years now, I have come from Coopers with sugar in a tin shed in Alice Springs, summer, winter autumn and spring, to a custom built, temp. controlled brew room with a variety of ingredients including malt and Coopers brew enhancers. I have made some bloody fantastic beer and some bloody terrible beers, but never anything I would label as distinct homebrew taste, unless you class some beers that leave most commercial beer I have tried for dead. As for the suggestion someone put forward about drinking it too soon, that is a definite possibility.
Honestly... no... the stein I have for sale is aimed at selling to the collector or Spaten lover (not that it would not be an excellent piece to get started with ). There are plenty of lidded steins to be had for half as much or less if you look hard enough
In fact I do believe I saw 500ml ceramic lidded steins at the local Dimmeys for $2 the other day (the same ones selling for $20+ on eBay ), if you have one up that way check them out.
). There are plenty of lidded steins to be had for half as much or less if you look hard enough 
), if you have one up that way check them out.
