Lagering vs Storing at room temperature

[scottish69]

Hi All,

Ive experienced a bit of an issue witht he taste of my recently completed muntons gold pilsner.

I conditioned 6 litres in the fridge for 4 weeks, and it tasted pretty good, i couldn't fit the rest of it in the fridge however so the rest is simply in a box in the spare room. I chilled a bottle of the "warm" stuff for a day and tried to drink it - awful! Really bitter taste, not a full rounded flavor.

So...

Do i simply need to let it lager for a few weeks?

OR

Should i get rid of it - its not really drinkable.

FINALLY

Whats the recommended way of storing beer once youve brewed it baring in mid most normal people dont have twelve fridges?!

Cheers Fellas!

[steve_flack]

Is there a lot of yeast in the bottles? Could be autolysis.

[scottish69]

theres a bit of sediment yeah - but i used the "bottling bucket" technique to minimise residual yeast.

I mean how do people cope when they dont have enough space int eh fridge, i cant continue to brew if 2/3 of my beer is rendered undrinkable.

Does this all mean that unless i cold store the beer after the secondary fermentation my lagers will be duffers?

[scottish69]

Having a bit of a read around and it seem smost people say brewign a lager is far harder than an ale - due to the lower fermentation temperatures needed. THey also say you need to lager it - but i can only do say 6 litres at a time as ive got a small fridge, will the lager conditioning at room temp simply spoil?

Ive been fermenting mine at room temp (20/21oC).

The lagers ive created never tast that good to be honest. OK, but not great.

Should i be thinking about trying an ale instead? Ive got a brewferm wheatbeer to get through in the mean time.

[mdex]

I've brewed this one as my first ever kit and its was and still is very drinkable.

Drank the first bottle about 4 weeks after bottling and had a very strong taste maybe still had some yeast that hadn't dropped out.

Drank another bottle after about 6 weeks and it tasted fantastic. Will probably be making again after trying a few others.

[scottish69]

How did you condition it? We are still talking about the pilsner arent we? Warm/cold conditioning?

[mdex]

How did you condition it? We are still talking about the pilsner arent we? Warm/cold conditioning?

Very cold conditioning. In my outhouse over xmas between 0-5 degrees.

[scottish69]

So the plot thickens.... had another bottle of the pilsner thats been at room temp and it tastes great! Also had another that DIDNT...

So could this variation be down to oxidation when bottling? I use a bottling stick, but its really tricky to get the last drops out of the bottling bucket past the tap if you know what i mean.

They are clear bottles but have been kept in the dark - they have been exposed to light occasionally briefly though...

All my newer brews are in brown glass bottles which should help.

[steve_flack]

Oxidation is more of a cardboardy sort of flavour. If you're getting bottle variations it sounds more like an infection that's bottle or crown cap related.

[scottish69]

Cardboardy is the flavour i think - its definitely not sour or vinegary as i believe you get in infections?

S>