Quincy Ek Review

So my first beer was a good experiment, but I did make some mistakes.

The taste of the beer was somewhat cidery and with a strong green apple note. I have been reading How to Brew by John Palmer, and that indicates that I had excess Acetaldehyde. I believe that the reason for this is because the yeast that came with the kit might have been old, since I did follow the 2-2-2 rule for this beer. One reason I believe this is because there was little or no Krausen in the fermenter. Looking into the fermenter for my new batch, I can see that there is a thick layer of Krausen already.

Because of the weak yeast, the sugar I added to the bottles to carbonate my brew wasn’t converted into carbon dioxide. I did not put enough sugar in to begin with, but had I put more in, I believe that it would have just exaggerated the sugary, cidery taste.

In order to correct this in my next batch, I will make sure to re-hydrate the yeast (and perhaps make a yeast starter.) Also, I found a calculator when it comes to bottling, so that I can add the correct amount of sugar to the bottles.