First batch. Not great

[kilgoretrou_t]

Started drinking my first batch. Coopers Mexican Cerveza. It tastes a bit soapy. The froth is rather extreme when poured and the beer has a foamy quality in th mouth. With an unusual aftertaste. Also its not clear.






Sent from my GT-I9505 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

How did you clean you're bottles and other gear? Any chance you got some soap in there?

 

[kilgoretrou_t]

AARgh the app sent my post before i was finished. I am on the PC now so lets get this straight.

This beer batch doesnt taste great. I had a Mexican party before christmas and cracked a few open. unfortunatley everyone wanted the corona which we had in backup.

i used VWP sanitiser to clean the gear, and rinsed it thoroughly. My big mistake at the beginning of the process was to boil up too much water, which resulted in a hot mix when i put the yeast in. the instructions however told me to put the yeast in even if it was too hot. in order to get the lid shut etc. in any case the fermentation happened quite quickly and was over in less than a 5 days. never saw any bubbling on the airloack because i think the lid didnt shut properly. one thing i did do more than once though was to press down the top to produce the bubble effect. i think it may have inadvertantly pulled in some air when it flexed back up.

shall i bin this lot and start again? I have coopers australian pale ale lined up.

 

[IvanTheTerribrew]

Well first of all you even said yourself you used a sanitizer to clean. A sanitizer sanitizes, a cleaner cleans. So for the future be sure you know the difference because you can't effectively sanitize something that is not clean.

We would need to know a bit more specifics. Like again, was all you did was sanitize the bottles before bottling or did you do something else to them? How did you clean and sanitize all of your other equipment?

How hot are you talking when you say you added the yeast when it was too hot? You should have gotten the temp down to 60-70* F before you pitched your yeast. If you never got any airlock activity it likely is a leak somewhere in your fermenter but even still, bubbles aren't the measure of fermentation, a hydrometer is. If it is bottled I would just leave it alone for a while and see if whatever taste you have mellows out with time.
Be sure you get your cleaning and sanitizing down so that way you can eliminate those from your choices of what went off. I clean a bulk of my stuff with oxiclean and sanitize with StarSan.

 

[twistr25]

What kind of vessel did you put it in? Most active fermentation periods happen in less than 5 days, the rest appears uneventful, but it's still working. How long did it sit in your primary before you bottled it?

Get StarSan, it's no rinse so you don't risk recontaminating when you rinse it. "Don't fear the foam!"

 

[JR_Brewer]

ismedeiros88 really hit the nail on the head. Cleaning and sanitizing are two different steps, and both are extremely important.

One thing he didn't address was your carbonation issue (I assume that's what you meant by froth). How much priming sugar did you use to bottle? Most beginner kits tell young brewers to use 5 oz of dextrose for 5 gallons. This is rarely a good guide to carbonation. Use a priming sugar calculator to calculate how much sugar to use, and this should solve your overcarbonation issue.

Here's the one on tastybrew, the tool I use to calculate priming sugar.

 

[BrewInspector]

I'll agree that the soap flavor may be a result of cleaning but the op send to have had more of an issue with over carbonation in the bottles. That would be the frothy head and mouth feel. Of course that too Might be a cleaning issue but more likely just too much priming sugar recommended in the directions being followed.

While year may have been added while the wort was hotter than planned it apparently had no effect on fermention as the poster states there was pressure as evidenced by pressing the lid and that fermentation was thought to be complete in 5 days.

Give them time in the fridge and they should clear.