Doing something wrong?

how much priming sugar did you add? what temp did you allow them to carb at? (it is cold in Mass can't imagine Maine) how long in the bottle before sampling?

 

I highly recommend that you read the book How to Brew by John Palmer. There is an online version but I would encourage you to purchase the updated hardcopy book.

Keep brewing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers!

 

How about you get into all the details and the. Someone may be able to help.
Need to know exactly what you are doing to know what you may be doing wrong and how to correct it...

 

What temp did you pitch the yeast at, and what temp did you ferment at? Also how long did you let the bottles condition at room temperature? You want to pitch the yeast at 65-70 F and put your fermenter somewhere cool (65 or below) Also you should let the bottles sit at room temperature to condition for at least 2-3 weeks before putting them in the fridge and drinking them.

 

They should have carbed up at those temps, but I have no experience with the tabs. Whether the beer should have tasted good or not depends on everything that happen in between.

 

Hmm. I would consider using priming sugar instead of the fizz drops (although I have no experience with them). Boil 4oz of regular cane sugar in a few cups of water and mix that in before you bottle. And maybe just double down on your sanitation, everything that touches the beer, and anything that touches anything that touches the beer, should be fully sanitized. And as JackHorzempa said, How to Brew is an excellent book that will tell you everything you need to know about homebrewing. Good luck and stick with it

 

4oz would be far too much for a 1 gallon kit. .8 oz would get you in the neighborhood

 

Understandable, I assume these are extract kits? What kind of flavors are you getting?

 

My bad, forgot we were talking about 1 gallon batches.

 

Not a problem, didn't want OP blowing up his closet

 

Did you use chlorinated tap water?

 

To repeat what @JackHorzempa said, you need "How to Brew". Amazon sells it cheap. You could substitute "Brewing Classic Styles" if you want a lot of recipes and a less "science", also cheap at Amazon.

 

I would strongly recommend that @adamsns6696 purchase How to Brew first. I suspect that he is experiencing a process issue if "all of my batches turned out like horse s#!@". Brewing Classic Styles will not help him to turn his horse s#!@ beers into tasty beers.

Cheers!

 

I would have agreed with you a month ago, but I recently picked up Brewing Classic Styles again. The first 4 chapters (which were written by Palmer) do a very good job of going through the process of extract brewing. The only real difference between those chapters and How to Brew is that Brewing Classic Styles doesn't go into the "science details", but if someone follows those chapters, they can probably avoid the horse shit in their beers.

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest you hook up with a local homebrew club. Most members are like me and love having an extra pair of hands around on brewday, and you get to shadow an experienced homebrewer. Win Win