Have I ruined my beer?

[ryanm]

I have made my first home brew using the coopers Canadian blonde kit. I have been very careful, up to the point of being very anal and getting up in the middle of the night to check temperatures during fermenting :) And during the day I was on this forum pestering you folk with anal questions :)

I bottled my beer 3 weeks ago. I primed each bottle with 1 coopers carbonation drop (which i researched and found it would be ok using just 1 drop) and stored the bottles back into their original boxes (bubble warped) and then into a wardrobe upstairs.

Last night I wanted to try a bottle so I put one in the fridge. When I took it out of the fridge after a few hours, I held the bottle to the light and gave it a gentle shake. I could see a few bubbles and I got a slight hiss when opening the bottle. The head is there but it's minimal.

The problem I have is the taste and colour of the beer. Now I wasn't expecting much to be honest. Generally I would drink Ales so I'm not sure if I have just become accustomed to the taste of an Ale. The kit was a present for Christmas so I wanted to do it right.

When poured into a glass, it seems a little cloudy to me and the taste seems a little bitter. I have no idea of what the final product should look and taste like. Perhaps it's ok but it just doesn't seem right to me.

Thanks for any help. Much appreciated

EDIT:

I have since moved my beers into the kitchen close by to the radiator. Would you advise doing this or should I leave it back in the cupboard where it will be slightly cooler?

 

[PWFBrew]

I think you will find that the cloudy beer is due to a chill haze. Let it warm up in a glass for 20 minutes and it should clear. To avoid this problem in the future add some polyclar at 1st racking.
I have used the carbonating tablets myself and they do seem to take longer to condition the beer than priming sugar.
:

 

[Covrich]

My Canadian Blonde suffered from chill Haze.. It like said will clear when warmed up.. It also cleared as the weeks went by too..

Nothing to worry about

 

[ryanm]

I think you will find that the cloudy beer is due to a chill haze. Let it warm up in a glass for 20 minutes and it should clear. To avoid this problem in the future add some polyclar at 1st racking.
I have used the carbonating tablets myself and they do seem to take longer to condition the beer than priming sugar.
:

Thanks for that. I will try that and see what happens

 

[stesmi]

Last night I wanted to try a bottle so I put one in the fridge. When I took it out of the fridge after a few hours, I held the bottle to the light and gave it a gentle shake. I could see a few bubbles and I got a slight hiss when opening the bottle. The head is there but it's minimal.

If you shaked it will dislodge the sediment, hence cloudy. It's best to cold condition the bottles once they've carbonated. Doing this helps cake the sediment and avoids cloudy beer. Cold conditioning will also help mellow out any top note tastes. Anything below cellar temp will do a good job cold conditioning. So you're idea of a cooler storage setup sounds good yo me. :-)

 

[Ale]

As @stesmi says don't shake it. My bottled beers usually have a bit of sediment at the bottom. When I poor them I always make sure I have enough light coming through the bottle to see when the sediment stirs and stop pooring before it comes out of the bottle. Usually have 1/2-1 cm of beer in the bottom at most and that's the bobbly bit.

 

[ryanm]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated. I might put them into the garage for a few weeks then :)

 

[clibit]

What stesmi says.

But make sure your bottles are properly carbonated before cold conditioning. Sounds like they may not be yet.

 

[Oregonized]

Instead of drops or tablets you may want to try saving some wort (best option short of co2 kegging) to use for carbonation. Or get some DME dissolved in some boiling water as a primer (cooled of course) It will give a more natural flavor than sugar or tablets. I don't remember the exact ratio, it's been awhile since I have used that method, but if you have or get (highly recommended) Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing it has the proper ratio in the book. You will have a much better tasting brew.
Also I would avoid keeping them away for a heat source. When I use to homebrew, I would keep in a closet at room temp and then not rush the cooling process (yes had to do some times) but if you can put them in the fridge for a day or so you should not have an issue with the hazy. Best of luck, and as Charlie would say "relax and have a homebrew"

 

[Cwrw666]

I've always carbonated using plain white sugar. It's cheap and everyone has it. It also works fast - 4 days in the warm, then store for a couple of weeks in the cool. I don't like my beer too gassy, so I use 1/2 a level teaspoon in a 1 pint/500ml bottle.
As to the taste - some kit beers can be drunk pretty soon after bottling but others noticeably get a lot better after 3 or 4 weeks.
Also some kit beers never taste very nice! but others are truly excellent. You have to find out which ones fit the latter category - try looking through the beer kit reviews section on this forum before buying another one.