really dissapointed… my beer has a kind of champaine taste, and won’t hold head. It is supposed to taste like maple. heart broken. I have caribou slobber fermenting now, one week till bottling, and I was hoping to have a home brew to drink as I was bottling my second batch. what could I have done wrong? let it ferment for two weeks, bottled for 2 weeks. tried one a week ago, tasted the same, tried one today, same, it has a high alcohol content, 8.7 abv by my cal. made serveral mistakes but i don’t think that would have affected it by much, accidently added tap water (chlorinated and other additivies that city adds), dropped the rubber grommet off the bucket lid in the wort and fished it out with hands without thinking, transfered to secondary fermenter after 3 days, added more yeast then. maybe I over did something. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. I am letting my second batch, caribou slobber, sit all two weeks in primary, then bottling. helpful advice and encouragement welcome. Lighter note, my first brew will def. get you drunk.
Details please!
What kind of beer did you try to make?
Was it an extract kit?
What was your target vs. actual OG?
How big of a batch?
Which yeast did you use?
How much yeast did you pitch?
At what temp did you ferment?
8.7 is pretty massive
Maple Wheat Ale from Clone Brews.
It was scaled down to a one gallon batch. It was a DME recipe. I don’t know what the target gravity was supposed to be, but the gravity I got was 1.087 OG. I used Safbrew WB-06 was the yeast I used, pitched at around 68-70 degrees… started fermenting at around 65 ish, then finished around 71. The recipe is as follows… best to my memory, as I have lost the actual written recipe.
2 lbs Wheat DME
1.75 oz Maple Syrup
Willamette hops
Safbrew WB-06
Boiled for 60 min with DME and Maple Syrup and first addition of hops (halfed the package, then divided one half of the package into thirds placing the other half back in the fridge. 1st hop addition was 2/3 of a half package for entire boil). After 45 min, added the second addition of hops (the remaining 1/3 half package). when boil finished placed the wort into the sink with ice bath, (at that point tap water was accidently introduced to the wort). Allowed to chill to 65 - 67ish. cleaned and sanatized bucket, airlock, hydrometer. when wort was chilled to about 67-68 I poured into fermenter bucket, pitched yeast, and placed lid on it. Put airlock in the lid (pushing the grommet into the wort, had to remove the lid and fish it out… used hands) let it ferment for about 4 days then transfered to secondary fermenter for 1.5 weeks, then bottled. been bottled for 2 weeks.
Leave everything in the primary for 2-3 weeks. No reason to transfer after a couple of days. If you pitch enough yeast from the get go you shouldn’t need to re-add any later.
could that be why it is so fruity?
Sounds like it fermented out to a really dry state. I’m suspicious of infection too. Completely headless and fruity beer are very suspicious for infection IMO. Bummer. Keep at it. You’ll get it nailed. My first couple of batches were completely undrinkable.
I don’t plan to give up… I can promis that. I really like the idea of making a really epic beer, and will strive for perfection in the future. I am on my second batch now, and will be upgrading to a 5 gal setup soon, as there are more recipes for that amount. I may not be patient, but I am persistant. I will make a truly epic beer, and when I do I will share my experience with all.
