We four pound robins prefer to think of it as being closer to the food source.

ok, well i tried the beer....kind of yuck
perhaps its not done conditioning...sigh
if it stays this taste that will make my ratio of good beers vs. bad about 50/50!
next time i will not add honey or strawberries
actualy, i will make a lager next, to ensure i can control the temp. do you know if its possible to make a good wheat lager? i may try that - though my wife is mad about the idea, it will take up the whole fridge!

as an afterthought, it doesn't taste as bad today... maybe i just tried it too early (6 days bottled)

I've yet to have a homebrew that tasted worse with time, but I've have several that improved markedly with age. Six days strikes me as rather young. What tastes bad about it?

it's sour. not hoppy bitter. and it's not horrible, it's just a little 'off'. last wheat batch was perfect 6 days out of the bottle. i also goofed and put too much honey in this time and it's noticeable. but again, that will go with time too. i guess i'm just measuring it up to the last one which was lager pure smooth. this has more ale character. i should also mention that i kept the same ingredient ratios as last time but moved to a smaller fermentor for strength, but if i make it again it will definately be with less honey and no strawberries in the primary (this too may have made the sourness).
nope, i will definately do a lager next. i may even use the same grains, and substitute tettnang for saaz and chinook, or hallertaur.
i'll stick with bavarian yeast too, because that stuff just seems to kick ass in the fermenter.
one thing i should mention, this time it does have a nice warm alcoholic 'punch' after just one bottle

Sourness might be an infection but there's precious little that can live in beer that can harm a person. I'd let it sit for a month or two and give it another taste. One possible worry: if the fermentation stopped because of a high alcohol level, it may actually continue slowly in the bottle. If you start getting overcarbonated beer in a month or three, you may want to take some precautionary measures. Did you use a hydrometer to measure your starting gravity?

no i don't use a hydrometer.

why, could they still explode months later? if anything i would worry about my blackity black black irish ale with the super high alcohol content. since it was too strong to drink i still have cases of it lying around the house. that reminds me to try one again, 3 months in the bottle now might have mellowed it nicely.

Yeah. Honey, in particular, is very good at appearing to have fermented completely and then slowly continue when you're not watching. It's just an excuse to sample regularly. "I'm not 'having another beer', I'm testing carbonation levels!"

i am all in favor of long fermenting periods, i don't like to hurry. i like to let things 'settle' for a few weeks before bottling. i did try one of my blackity black ales and it has gotten much better. but stroooong! when i do a lager i believe i will start using a hydrometer, because the fermentation may not be as evident at low temperatures.

by the way, i would love to make a hacker schorr wiess, or a grolsch. know anything about making those types? hops, malts, etc.

Not really: I've mostly stuck to various British styles (with the odd foray into Swedish ale).
You'd probably want to use Hallertau or Saaz hops and you might have difficulty getting a beer as light as the commercial version if you're using malt extract. There are a few different yeasts that you could use. I think that Hacker-Pschorr uses a top-cropping yeast. Something like Wyeast #3068 or #3638 would probably work well.

yeah, i can't seem to imitate a quality wheat with extracts. i may have to learn to mash my own.

well, now that you mention it. it tastes better, but is very very over carbonated after time in the bottle. the only precautionary measure i know besides throwing it all away before it explodes is to open the caps for a second to let off some steam and re-cap them, which is what i did. hope that works!
by the way, this is some real alcoholic stuff! one sip and you feel a warm glow in your chest. i wasn't aware that high alcohol content could stop fermentation.

Removing the caps only lets the pressure above the beer out; the CO₂ dissolved in the beer will slowly refill the headspace. The warmer the beer is when you lift the cap, the more carbonation you'll lose (but you run the risk of foaming).
In other beer news, I harvested my hops today. I ended up with just shy of a pound of delicious smelling Fuggles.

yes, but won't that protect it from exploding?

cool that - the fuggles. i used them with williamette to make a very good brown beer. i wonder what the taste difference is with fresh hops like that.

It'll help stop the the bottles from exploding but it's not a guarantee.
I'll let you know how the Fuggles comes out when I brew with it.

I'm not that much of a drinker. I really can't stand beer.

update, the advice i got from someone, was to open the bottles every 3/4 days to let the pressure out. this resulted in a semi-flat beer that did not explode. it now tastes very good, and is just about gone. i figured out my mistake, i used a five galloon glass and added less water to give headspace for fermentation. i therefore should have added less priming sugar but didnb't think of that.
i just made an ipa
6 lbs m and f extra pale
1 lbs special roast 40l
1 oz chinook
1 oz williamette
i oz cascade
american ale yeast
i think it will turn out very nice

Yes. I love beer.

so what's up?
made anything lately?

Not lately; I've been busy with grapes (half a ton!) and getting my little car back together in time for a show (I did, barely). I should be brewing next weekend if all goes well (a stout and an IPA).
How about you?

i made a few, i've got a ways to go really to perfect my brewing methods. i still insist on formulating my own recipes with mixed results.
i made (and drank) a five gallon ipa, that had a very odd creamy smooth texture (probably from the pound of briess special roast barley), but the hop rate was perfect and it was not bad. i made yesterday a brown ale, and am lagering part of it 'aleing' the other.
next weekend i will make a blackberry stout, if i can find any blackberries this time of year. i went to the supply store and bought 3 more fermenters of different sizes, so now i can make something every week.
yesterday i had the best beer i have ever tasted in my life! uncomparable. it is called rougue mogul ale from the rogue valley of oregon. holy crap what a good beer, and it listed on the bottle all the malts/hops used to make it, though not in what order or at what rates. man would i love to make something like that!
seems like i am always having trouble getting fermentation started smoothly. guess i will just have to start making yeast starters. as i type i stare anxiously at my brown ale and wonder why there is NO sign of activity after 24 hours. i'm just impatient, it always takes off eventualy.

The blackberry stout sounds interesting. I always make a good sized starter and usually have noticeable activity within 12 hours: I'd recommend it. I haven't had that particular Rogue beer but I've enjoyed some of their other ones.

yeah i like dead guy ale, but i'm telling you - try the mogul ale if you ever see it.
my brown ale finaly started. the one gallon i lagered took off right away.
for the bbeery, i'll do a 2.5 gallon and use kent goldings and fuggles and fresh or frozen berries, choc malt, roaseted barley, 40l crystal, and 3# john bull dark.