As far as I’m concerned, the beer I brewed with the Mr. Beer kit is infected. I just tried some tonight after 3 weeks of conditioning/carbonating and the beer still tastes like apple. If it was meant to be a lambic of some sort, it’d probably be good (though the other flavors from the pale ale don’t go well with the sour apple flavor). I took a couple sips and dumped the rest. This time I was sure to try one of the ones I bottled in the glass bottles to see if the little buggers hid in the groves of the plastic bottles. It tasted the same. I’m going to leave it for one more week and try some more and see how it is. I don’t have any hope for it right now.
I posted about it on the Beer Advocate homebrewing forum and someone mentioned that I probably didn’t have a chance because of the age of the ingredients (which wouldn’t surprise me considering I received the kit in December 2006, though the expiration date is September 2008). I’m not at the point where I’m ready to give up brewing though. Hopefully, I’ll soon be getting the real equipment (which I need to save some money to buy the other stuff that my boss doesn’t have) and I’ll be brewing real beer (though probably extract at first, at least until I have more space than just this apartment). I’ll be sure that once I get ingredients, I brew within a week or so to prevent them from getting too old.
Well, that’s too bad. But definitely don’t give up yet! Once you get into it, I’m sure you’ll love it (the process and the end results).
I’m not one to give up easily. I’m not sure how much I’ll like the process, but as long as it doesn’t taste like that beer, I’m sure I’ll love the results.
Though, being kind of a geek, I’m sure I’ll enjoy the process. I just ordered The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Papazian from Amazon (along with Tea Leaf Green’s Rock N Roll Band, a live album). Once it comes in, I plan on reading it cover to cover. Hopefully by the time I’m done I’ll have the equipment.