How To Correct The Flavor On Your Next Batch Of Home Brewed Beer

If you're a true beer connoisseur, you might have already gone to the major beer cities in the U.S., and tried some of the most unique brews from around the world. If the next step for your passion for beer is homebrewing, you're in for a rewarding experience, but a challenging one too. Chances are you won't nail it the first time; a lot can go wrong with homebrewing, resulting sulfur-y, bitter, oily, harsh, too-sweet, or acidic flavors. There's no quick fix — chilling the beer or serving it in a pretty glass won't work here. To understand how to avoid these off-putting flavors, Chowhound spoke with Nick Tedeschi, head brewer and brewmaster at The Post Brewing Company, which operates several locations in Colorado.

Beer is a fermented product, so naturally, it will have some notes of sourness or acidity, with some varieties more than others. If it's tart, with almost a sour milk taste, then this means something has gone awry. It's possible to age the beer longer, which tends to mellow the sour flavors out, and a pinch of baking soda can provide some balance to the pH. For the next batch of homebrew, Tedeschi recommends, "Monitoring the 'sourness,' aka the pH, over time, and knowing what pH you are trying to achieve." Beer pH can range from 3.0 to 5.6 depending on the style, and it's important in homebrewing to measure the pH from the start and at every step to understand when and where problems arise.

If you find yourself with a bitter homebrew that makes your throat dry, it can be tricky to find a quick fix. Some brewers recommend balancing bitterness with added sweetness with the addition of lactose to make the brew more drinkable. Rather than adding to the brew, Nick Tedeschi prefers to keep it simple, stating less is more when it comes to managing bitterness. He shares that instead, "Lowering the measured bitterness on the next batch is the key here." Hops, the level of minerals in the water, and grain can all contribute to the bitterness — so fine-tuning these from the start is key to a smoother beer. This could involve using fewer hops, using different types of hops, or changing your water source.

On the other hand, if a beer is too sweet, this could signal that the yeast didn't ferment enough sugars. Most beers have natural notes of sweetness, with a small amount of unfermented sugars leftover, but if it's syrupy, this isn't a good sign. Tedeschi advises, "You need to figure out how to have more fermentable sugars at the beginning of your fermentation. That could be from a change in the malt bill, as well as adjusting your mash temperature." The ideal mash temperature is around 152 degrees Fahrenheit to transform the grain starches into fermentable sugars, which will then be eaten by yeast and converted to alcohol.