First Batch

I am making my first batch of beer right now. It has been fermenting for just over a week. I was getting ready to transfer to bottles when I noticed a few things.

I still have yeast colonies on top of the brew with what I guess are yeast bubbles.

I then put a little of the brew into a glass for a taste and it smelled like medicine and had a sweet taste to it. I've done searches and found that the medicine smell might be a chlorine problem. I used spring water so it would not of come from there but I probably had some tap water in my fermenter from rinsing it out, but that would of been minimal.

I used a kit I received for christmas, Mr Beer. I followed the directions that came with it but after doing a bit more reading I'm thinking I should of not followed the direction that came with the unit.

Should I try to re-rack this beer or just dump it and start over? As of right now my plan it to bottle some of it and dump the rest and start over.

Thanks Ransom

Reply to
Ransom
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Reply to
John Letendre

I'm a "newbie" myself, but at a guess I'd suggest one week wasn't long enough. Most of the extract-kit beers I've made took longer. If it tastes sweet, maybe all of the sugar hasn't been consumed by the yeast. If you bottle too early, you may get too much carbonation. I can personally confirm that aging (conditioning) in the bottle improves the taste of homebrew dramatically. I try to give it at least three weeks.

Karl S.

Reply to
Karl S.

Beer can take up to 2 weeks to ferment, depending on the temperature, leave it brewing intil it clears or stops bubbling!

What temperature is the brew????

Reply to
Yeh!Yeh!

Its in my basement which stays right around 75F.

Reply to
Ransom

Ok I'll probably leave it in the fermenter for atleast another week and then bottle it to see what its like.

Thanks

Reply to
Ransom

By the way, I'm not familiar with "Mr. Beer" so I don't know whether it recommends adding a little corn sugar before bottling, as the kits I've brewed did. That last bit of sugar gives the yeast something to eat so it can carbonate the beer in the bottles. Without that, the beer will be flat. I'd wondered why Mr. Beer instructed you to bottle after one week - then it occurred to me that maybe Mr. Beer kits were bottled early while there was still some malt or corn sugar unconsumed?

Karl S.

Reply to
Karl S.

Give it a full 2 weeks in the barrel, then a full 2 weeks in the bottle. Don't keep looking at it and worrying over it, it will be just fine. follow the directions that came with the kit. it will make a good beer. Frank

Reply to
frank

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