Unremarkable Batch

[Darth Malt]

Good Morning Soldiers,


I have been having trouble with a beer that I wanted to brew for my Dad for Christmas. The Northern Brewer "Innkeeper" kit is supposed to be a clone of his favorite beer that ou can only get in the UK. After trying it out through the fermentation process, I noticed that it had a great hop flavor and a subtle malty back bone. Bottled after fermentation was complete and no while sampling, the beer tastes unremarkable and bland. I followed standard extract brewing and sanitation process' and wondered if anyone had any ideas?

Prost,

Darth Malt

[BDawg]

How cold are the bottles you are sampling?
You might try warming them up if it's refrigerator temp (typically low 30's). You want to drink a Best Bitter around 45F-50F.

The colder the beer is, the less smell and flavor it exhibits, which is why those blue color streaks on the "Coldest tasting beer in the World" cans exist.

HTH-

[Darth Malt]

Checked them. Bottles are sitting pretty at 62 F.

[animaldoc]

How long in the bottle?? Wine people talk about "bottle shock" - for a period of time after bottling a wine will taste flat and lifeless and then the flavors will open up again. I've heard some brewers say that happens with beer too .... I can't say I've tasted it first hand..........

[Darth Malt]

Its going on 2 weeks in the bottle. It isn't to long in the bottle, but that is what i am hopping for.

[Fugglupagus]

How long did you keep it in the fermenter(s)? Did it clear before you bottled?

I also brewed this beer. Mine was surprisingly cloudy after 2 weeks in the fermenter. I've noticed beers I've bottled before they were really clear had pretty drastic flavor changes between 2 weeks in the bottle and 6 weeks in the bottle. But generally that change has been from harsh towards delicious, not delicious to something not delicious.

I thought the 1.043 OG listed with the recipe was a bit high. My go-go-gadget math skills computed 1.040. My brew would have hit 40, but I topped off 1/4 gallon too high and ended up at 1.038. I wonder if this is a slightly smaller beer than it's supposed to be, or at least smaller than you were expecting ??

[Redroot]

Did you record your fermentation temp? If the bottles are sitting pretty at 62 I wonder if that was room temp, if so then I would say your beer may be lacking some of the fruity esters characteristic of english beers. Although fermentation activity may raise the temp a couple of degrees, it may not have gotten high enough to promote that ester production. For your next batch, try fermenting around 68F.

-Root

[Darth Malt]

I will try that root. thanks. The beer never really cleared up, but it have a few bottles sitting around and it appears to be getting better after time. I never thought a session beer with a 1.038 OG would need aging though.