Sampled my first beer...not so much

[Zappa42]

Ok, I sampled a beer from my first batch last nigh. It was a Coopers kit and I was given dextrose to add to it by my LHBS. It fermented for one week, was in the secondary for 2 weeks and has been in the bottles for one week tomorrow. It was primed with 3/4 cup of corn sugar at bottling time. I know it needs to sit in the bottles at least 3 weeks but I wanted to sample one to learn the different stages. The beer was not very good. The taste had a little bit of sourness to it...maybe like green apples. I not real good at describing flavors yet. It was also flat. There were a few bubbles but it was not really carbonated and there was no head at all on it.

I know it will change over the weeks but at this early should the flavor be anybetter and should it have more cardonation?

 

[skybrew]

As a some what noob myself. You have to give it some time to mature. That is why most people here recommend the 1-2-3 method. One thing that I can recommend for sure to you is to get away from the canned LME and get your kits from a place that has good turn over of their LME, like AHS or Northernbrewer.
The 2 kits that I did with canned LME did not taste right to me but the next kits with non-canned LME were great.

 

[john from dc]

give it some time. flavor really does change in those three weeks in the bottles.

also, one wouldn't expect much carbonation after a week. but to ensure the bottles get nice and carbed by week three, be sure to keep them somewhere that's around 70-75 degrees if you can.

 

[Danek]

Yeah, what they said. Give it time. Trying a bottle every so often as a learning experience is a great idea, and I think after three or four weeks you'll notice a real difference.

Slightly tangentially, I think the "1-2-3" advice for primary/secondary/bottle isn't quite as good as "2-2-3". After one week in primary, the fermentation is likely to be finished - but if you leave the beer in primary slightly longer, you'll give the yeast time to clean up after themselves, and to get rid of some by-products that you don't want. I think either technique makes good beer, but the impression I get from reading on here and elsewhere is that a little longer in primary is desirable.

Having said that, I think the single most important thing for a new brewer is getting feedback by drinking your beer, rather than hanging around for ages trying to make the beer perfect. So you look to have it pretty much nailed.

 

[Bobby_M]

Not only that, but after the three weeks in room temp for carbing, let a few sit in the fridge for a week to allow for the chill haze to settle out.

It will get better but don't add dextrose to the batch as a fermentable anymore unless it's some monster imperial something or barleywine. Get your fermentables from extract.

 

[reshp1]

From Palmer's book (highly recommended read by the way, the first edition is available online here):
"Acetaldehyde
A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin; it is an intermediate compound in the formation of alcohol. Some yeast strains produce more than others, but generally it's presence indicates that the beer is too young and needs more time to condition."

Looks like you'll need to wait a little longer

 

[pherball]

a couple of weeks in the bottle will profoundly improve the taste of the beer. This was my experience with my first batch, which i had given up for dead after two weeks in the bottle. after a month if went from undrinkable to a pretty close emulation of Bass.

Mine took longer to mature, i suspect as the result of a slightly underattenuated batch, the higher terminal gravity required longer to mellow, but the difference was dramatic once it did

it went from weird tasting, to drinkable but mostly flavorless, to fruity and floral just like a good British pale ale should be. Mine was a little less dry than it should have been, but still turned out good.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

As hard as it is to restrain yourself when you're waiting on your first batch, everyone so far is right - your beer just needs more time.

While you're waiting for this one to finish you should brew up another batch because when you do finally start drinking that first batch you will go through it VERY quickly.

 

[Chello]

While you're waiting for this one to finish you should brew up another batch because when you do finally start drinking that first batch you will go through it VERY quickly.

+1 and your 2nd beer will be a light and day improvement over the 1st (if you use DME instead of dextrose for fermentables)

 

[Kayos]

I say try DME instead of LME. Next, the flavor is from young beer with sugar added as fermentables. Finally, I like to invert the bottles gentlyh once or twice after a week in the bottle to get the most carbonation.

Try this next time to carb instead of the standard 3/4 cup:

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html?8674392#tag

 

[zacster]

I just tasted one that was bottled 2 weeks ago myself, and I'd describe it just like yours, a little sour, and not very well carbonated. It had just a little fizz. It actually tasted better straight from the secondary. This was a pale ale.

My long ago experience says that it gets better with age as everyone else is saying. I'll test one next week before I decide to throw a party.

I'm also thinking about my next batch, something a little darker. I'd like to get it started before I start drinking the first batch. Maybe another trip out to the store is in order. (I just mentioned this to my wife and got 'the look').

 

[malkore]

I'm not a fan of the Cooper's kits. not real good stuff, especially the pre-hopped malt cans, and the instructions to use corn sugar for a good chunk of the fermentables.

stick to better kits, with actual hops, and no sugar except to prime the bottles.