# My beer tastes like wine?



## timstalltaletav (Jul 11, 2015)

Any idea what might have happened?  This was the Mr. Beer Red-White-Blue ale kit.  Brew and bottling dates are on the bottle pic below.  I know this probably needs 3-4 more weeks of bottle conditioning but I wanted to try one.  

The taste is not bad at all but it has a distinct red grape taste, actually like dry red wine which I love.  

I'm as certain as I can be that sanitization was solid on this one.  There are no off tastes, but I was expecting an ale and seem to have a mix of ale and dry red wine.  I'm not complaining, just curious....  I have 7 more bottles.  Going to drink one each week and note the changes.













20150711_203610.jpg



__ timstalltaletav
__ Jul 11, 2015









Stay tuned for more progress. 

BTW - Pumpkin ale brewing starts tomorrow morning.  It's weird to think about pumpkin beer and fall...  I barely have a pumpkin nub on my pumpkin plants.


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## timstalltaletav (Jul 18, 2015)

After more research I answered my own question.  The wine taste is from too high of a primary fermentation temp.

Much like BBQ...  brewing is very temp specific.  I thought my dark basement bathroom would be cool and ideal.  It was still a bit warm for the yeast.  They like 59°-62° and that's that....  my basement is probably 65-70 constantly.   Next batch will need some cooling assistance? 

Here's week 2 of bottle conditioning. 













20150718_223437.jpg



__ timstalltaletav
__ Jul 18, 2015







The red wine taste has backed off and now I'm getting a strong raisin taste.  Still really liking this one.


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## smokinadam (Jul 18, 2015)

Winter you will need to do some spruce tip... looks little fruity but hope it is good summer drink!


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## daveomak (Jul 19, 2015)

Sooooo, what's your plan now...   build a fermenting room....   then you could do some exotic meats also....


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## timstalltaletav (Jul 19, 2015)

DaveOmak said:


> Sooooo, what's your plan now...   build a fermenting room....   then you could do some exotic meats also....



I don't see any other solution...  lol!!  I'm sure the better half wouldn't mind if I took over her craft room.


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## daveomak (Jul 19, 2015)

I think you need to put up a 12 x 16 shed in the yard somewhere.....    maybe where she parks her car, and leave the craft room alone....


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## crazymoon (Jul 19, 2015)

TimsTallTaleTav said:


> I don't see any other solution... lol!! I'm sure the better half wouldn't mind if I took over her craft room.


Good luck with that !


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## timstalltaletav (Jul 19, 2015)

CrazyMoon said:


> Good luck with that ! :rotflmao:



It's all about priorities!


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## mr roos (Aug 6, 2015)

I live in a very hot place here in Africa. Judging from your comments it looks like I will need a cool room to brew my beer in.

What does that consist of? Is it expensive to setup?

Cheers


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## timstalltaletav (Aug 6, 2015)

Mr Roos said:


> I live in a very hot place here in Africa. Judging from your comments it looks like I will need a cool room to brew my beer in.
> 
> What does that consist of? Is it expensive to setup?
> 
> Cheers



I'm actually going to try using one of my bigger coolers to hold the primary fermenter in with some freezer packs/frozen water bottles.  I think if I switch them out every day or two it should get the temp down to where it needs to be.  It's a bit of work, but it's only for 21 days so it shouldn't be overkill.  I'm actually doing another batch this weekend.  I just bottled the pear cider I tried last Saturday, I can't say for sure but that one seems like it's going to be a failure. The color looked like slightly tinged water and it tasted like a real dry champagne coming out of the primary.  Maybe some carbonation will help it, who knows?


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## mr roos (Aug 13, 2015)

TimsTallTaleTav said:


> I'm actually going to try using one of my bigger coolers to hold the primary fermenter in with some freezer packs/frozen water bottles. I think if I switch them out every day or two it should get the temp down to where it needs to be. It's a bit of work, but it's only for 21 days so it shouldn't be overkill. I'm actually doing another batch this weekend. I just bottled the pear cider I tried last Saturday, I can't say for sure but that one seems like it's going to be a failure. The color looked like slightly tinged water and it tasted like a real dry champagne coming out of the primary. Maybe some carbonation will help it, who knows?


Good idea with the coolers. Let us know how it panned out.


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## bdawg (Sep 20, 2015)

A good trick for keeping the fermenter cooler than ambient is to place the whole thing in a shallow tub and drape a t-shirt over the fermenter. Put a few inches of water in the tub and then get the whole t-shirt wet.  Make sure that the bottom of the t-shirt is in the water so that the water will wick up.  Evaporation will drop the temp of the fermenter by 5 to 10 degrees.  Aiming a fan at it makes it work even better.  Works like a champ.


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