still green or ?

[Toga]

Need a little help from the experts. I bottled my first brew on Jan 4th. I did the coopers australian lager kit that camd with the coopers complete kit my wife got me for xmas. Fermentation went well. I even waited till the gravity reading were the same 3 days in a row till I bottled. I sanitized the bottles with 1step (i will use starsan in the future) added the coopers carb drops then filled and capped. When I put them in the closet to carb up the closet temp is 60 degrees or a tad less. The beer is carbed up ok now however it has an off taste to it. Not spoiled but almost peroxide like is the best way to describe it. From what I saw in other posts I should have kept them at 70 degrees to carb up. So my question is do any of you think It is still just a tad gr33n or did the 1step leave me with a bad taste ?

If green should I move them to a warmer part of the house for a few days?

 

[marubozo]

More important than the temps while bottle conditioning, what was your brew process? What temp did you ferment at and how long did you lager? The bottles will take longer to condition and carb at lower temps, especially sub-60, so in all likelihood it is still green. I don't know what peroxide tastes like, but maybe it's another off flavor. Check this list, do any of these explain what you're tasting?

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

 

[Toga]

I did not lager it. The kit comes with ale yeast and the instructions state the optimal fermentation is at 72 degrees. I kept it at a constant 70. It is one of their no boil kits. I did however boil 2 gallons of water turn off the heat, then add the pre hopped malt extract kit and the included brewing sugar, bring back to a boil for 15 minutes, quickly cooled the wart, dumped in the fermenter, added water to get up to what is the metric equiv of 6 gallons, added yeast, sealed up, then placed in closet to ferment. It was in the fermenter for 9 days. I then bottled it with coopers carb drops. I'd say the flavor was almost medicinal. It has mellowed a bit from when I tried the first bottle 2 weeks after it was bottled.

 

[marubozo]

Given you only fermented for 9 days and then left it in bottles at a relatively cool temp I'd say it's just green. The yeast still have a lot of work to do, and since they have been in bottles at 60 or less I'd either recommend moving them someplace warmer for another week or two or let them sit where they are for a long time. Many ale yeasts start to slow down a lot once you start getting into the 50s, which is why you're getting a slow conditioning in your bottles.

Since it looks like you did everything else right I'd say it's just going to be an issue of more time for you, which can be helped by moving the bottles to a warmer location for a bit.

 

[jimmywit]

Not to dispair you in anyway at all because I do think the Cooper kits are a good way to start and it does sound like your beer maybe a little green. But I never seemed to have good luck with those no boil kits. I also did the Australian lager kit and never did get it to turn out. I ended up doing some research and mixing all my ingrediants and doing full 60 min boils. I have had no problems as of yet, and it gives you the chance to make what you want and have more control over you final product. The Cooper kits come with instructions that seem to eairly to bottle and to eairly to drink. Also When you first get the Kit with all the equipment and a couple of kits in it, who knows how long it has been on the shelf and if any if that stuff is any good.However I am also very new to all of this and maybe wrong. But I will tell you that if you enjoy the process and good beer, look up some extract recipes and you can use your fermenter you have and make much better beer. If it helps one thing I did take advice on. I let my brew stay in the primary 3 weeks and bottled for 3. Do this with a brew and you will notice a big differance.

 

[Toga]

Thank you for the response. I'll move it to another part of the house for a couple weeks so it warms up a bit. Hopefully that will help. I'm not expecting much from an all in one can kit from what I read here.

 

[Finnagann]

For future referance a lower temp will give you a cleaner taste, ales should ferment @ around 18 C (64.4 F) and leave for 2-3 weeks in primary as above poster mentioned.

I always let mine carb up at a fairly warm temp, around 22C (71.6F) and move them to around 63 F once my plastic bottle is firm (I always do one plastic for this reason). I'm not sure if this warm is advised? But it has worked for me so far. I then leave for 1 - 2 weeks in the bottle before drinking.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

FWIW, if it has a medicinal band-aid flavor then it may be your water. Water with too much chlorine/chloromine in it can cause off-flavors.

Yet, I think if you have to ask if it is green, then it usually is. I ferment for a minimum of 3 weeks, usually 4, and try not to indulge before they have been in the bottle for at least a month, unless it is a Wit or Wheat beer they are meant to be drinked young, so 2 weeks primary 2-3 weeks bottled or until carbed.

At any rate, when it comes to fermenting and conditioning time is your best friend, and worst enemy.

 

[wendelgee2]

I know this was a gift, and that's awesome...so I hope this doesn't sound harsh, but: Start by getting a better kit.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/recipe-kits

I have never had a truly great beer that came out of a canned extract kit. If you want to use extract, buy it fresh from a local source, or shipped rapidly from a place with high turnover like Austin Homebrew or Northern Brewer. This is the difference between sugar snap peas at the local farmers market and canned peas that have been sitting on the grocer's shelf for 3 months.

As far as this beer goes, let it sit for at least a month at 60...then try it.