So I just did my first batch of Red Ale (I bought the brewer's best recipe kit). Its been exactly 2 weeks and I just had my first bottle. The taste is a little off. It tastes very "yeasty" and very carbonated. Should I let it sit longer? Or will that make it even more carbonated? Also, before I even opened the bottle, there was a strip of "gunk" coated on the inside of one side of the bottle. Possibly from when I did the bottling. Any other ideas what this might be? Thanks!


Tags: home brew has a dirt taste

I would let it sit a while longer. It is probably a little green still. The gunk you describe, is it in the bottom of the bottle or on the side of the bottle standing upright? How did you carbonate it? With priming sugar? How much did you use? I believe those kits come with a package of sugar but I don't know if they are pre-measured for the style or not. I have only made one and it is still sitting in a carboy as it never cleared well after lagering. I' still give it a bit of time to mature a little bit.

What temp did it ferment at?

The gunk is standing up right not on the bottom. I used the sugar provided in the kit (i think it was 5oz). It said to use the whole thing. It fermented at about 65-70 degrees (room temp). The taste is real bitter, yeasty. Giving it more time to sit will likely make this go away right? Its only been 2 weeks since I bottled...

The sugar to carbonate the beer? Were the bottle on their side during any of this?
I would give it a few weeks maybe. 2 weeks minimum. I always go with 4 OZ to bottle.

How long did you leave it in the primary and secondary (if any)? Did you take a gravity reading before you bottled and if so what was it?

Here's what you may be running into...

Your beer was not completely finished fermenting before you bottled. Any residual sugars that were left in the beer will continue to ferment, causing an excess of CO2 in your bottles. This could cause bottle bombs. However, since you bottled more than 2 weeks ago, I wouldn't worry too much about that. If your beer pours cloudy, then you will get off flavors from the suspended yeast. You can throw your bottles in the fridge or ice them down. That should slow any further fermentation way down, and will also help clear your beer, if it pours cloudy. This is a technique called 'crash cooling'. You can search this site, or the www if you would like to find out more about crash cooling.

Alternately, your beer may have a wild yeast infection. Many wild yeasts can ferment a greater amount of sugars than what beer yeast is capable of. These yeasts tend to act slower than beer yeast. If you have a wild yeast infection, you will notice that over time, the carbonation will gradually get worse. You may end up with 'gushers', which means that when you open your bottles, the beer will violently erupt from the top. Also, wild yeasts will throw a broad range of flavors that are generally not wanted in beer. Over time, a wild yeast infected beer will most likely develop sour notes. There's really nothing you can do to correct a problem like this.

Also, the kit may have just come with a bit too much bottling sugar, and your beer is just young. Either way, I would definitely crash cool those bottles. Wait about 3 or 4 days, and try another one. And keep us posted!

Cheers
Dave

I left the wort to ferment until the bubbling in the air lock stopped (as directed). This was about 5 days (maybe 6). The gravity reading was 1.010 (right where it should be according to my instructions). Then I bottled and it has now been almost 2 weeks. When I bottled, I did notice that the wort had some stuff floating in it, mostly at the bottom of the bucket. There was a lot of sludge too at the bottom of the bucket that I tried to avoid letting into the bottles.

I looked at my bottles again today. The gunk is only on the sides of a couple of bottles. I had a few clear Newcastle bottles and you can see some light brown, dirt looking gunk on the bottom. What is this and what should I do? Thanks for you help.

That sounds like the yeast settling down. I think that the yeasty flavor might be from poring it out to fast. Be sure you don't let the yeasties get in your glass.