Off flavors after priming?

[Martin]

Hi guys,

7 days have passed after I've primed and bottled my first batch - the Coopers Australian Lager.  The fermentation stopped after 5 days and I left the brew in the fermenter for another 5 days. Everything was fine until priming, the beer tasted and smelled like flat lager but was in fact very drinkable at this stage.

However, after priming with 1,5 Coopers Carbonation Drops per 500 mil bottle, I've decided to try one beer after 7 days. I of course do know that this is far too soon but I was courious if the carbonation drops/yeast started working since there was no sign of any carbonation after a week in the bottle.  ( room temperature 18-19 degrees )

Now, I cracked one beer open today and I'm very disapointed. The beer has a very strong off flavor, very sweet and fruity, almost like a cider. I can"t say how it smells since I"m sick and my nose is kind of blocked, but I'd describe the taste as beer mixed with cheap moonshine. Really bad in fact.

Otherwise, the beer is very clear, nice lager colour, almost no head at all, ( not expected )  but at this stage it tastes far worse than Dutch Gold and seriously I did't expect myself to ever drink anything nearly as bad again

I have another batch which will be ready to bootle in a week and don't want to make the same mistake again.

So, definitely the problem is with priming and bottling. Any thoughts what went wrong?

[LordEoin]

how did you sterilize your bottles, bottling wand, tap and caps?

[DEMPSEY]

Time should help here unless you got infection. Remember the beer is still young and often  you can get an alcohol type taste from young/green beer.

[Martin]

I didn't really since the Coopers set comes pre-sterylized, at least this what Coopers homepage says I guess I should have done that anyway

[Martin]

One more question though - can priming sugar produce some off flavours in the first 2-3 weeks after bottling? Or is it rather unusual?

As always, many thanks!

[molc]

Well the priming sugar is sugar until the yeast eats it up and releases co2 as a by product. The sweet taste could simply be it is finished yet, so your having sugary beer.
That said my first brew was one of those kits as well. It was ok but nothing to write home about either. The kit came with brewing sugar, which gave plenty of bang but little flavour for me.

[DEMPSEY]

Not really. You are doing a second fermentation but it is a small ferment and using only a small amount of fermentable sugar.

[LordEoin]

sounds like it's just young or infected.
Hopefully the off flavors will fade, but if they get worse then you might have picked up an infection off the bottles, tap or bottle wand

[Martin]

Thanks all. I'll monitor the progress and let you know if it improves after a few weeks. Meanwhile my English Bitter dry hopped with 30g Cascade will be ready to bottle soon - so far the brew tastes really good! This time I'll definitely sanitize the bottles straight out of the box.

[Bubbles]

7 days have passed after I've primed and bottled my first batch - the Coopers Australian Lager.  The fermentation stopped after 5 days and I left the brew in the fermenter for another 5 days. Everything was fine until priming, the beer tasted and smelled like flat lager but was in fact very drinkable at this stage.

I think you need to be a bit more patient with it. Kits need more conditioning time, and 1 week is definitely too soon. I found that at least 1 month was required for bottle conditioning kit beers.

English Bitter dry-hopped with Cascade was also my second homebrew batch!  And it was a cracker, certainly a lot better than my first attempt.

[Martin]

Thanks Bubbles, I know, I should be more patient but since this is my first brew I couldn't help myself...

However, an interesting read here regarding the off flavors after bottling, seems to be quite common issue:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/bottle-conditioning-necessary-223816/

[Padraich]

Hi Martin,

I had this with a Muntons kit I made in April/May (it was just the kit & 1kg brewing sugar) - it wasn't great to start with; barely drinkable - but I tasted oen of the 3 bottles I have left over the weekend and it was brilliant. 

So when using a kit & kilo of sugar, it needs more time to develop in the bottles.  As I was told when brewing my first kit " leave it for as long as possible but 6 weeks at a minimum"

It mightn't hurt to put the bottles somewhere warmer than 18-19 for a few days to get the yeast and sugar producing CO₂

Hope that helps.

[Martin]

Thanks Padraich! I moved the bottles to a warmer room, 22 - 23 degrees at present. Update to follow in a few weeks

[LordEoin]

english bitter with cascade is a great beer

[Bubbles]

Thanks Bubbles, I know, I should be more patient but since this is my first brew I couldn't help myself...

Everyone does it, absolutely everyone! 

The best thing is to do as you've already done - get your second kit on and busy yourself with that. Your patience will be rewarded. I found that a few kit beers took as long as 2 months to condition into something drinkable.

That English Bitter kit, assuming you made it to Coopers recipe with 500g spraymalt, conditions in no time at all. Really good kit for people new to the hobby. It's a nice kit to do modding with too - steeping crystal/roasted malt, doing hop teas etc.