Beer Forum

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

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-

Checked them. Bottles are sitting pretty at 62 F.

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..........

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

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 ??

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

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.