Expert: Ed Westemeier - 8/7/2008

Question
I have been attempting to be consistent at brewing with kits.  It seems I have not been very happy with results overall while following recipes to a tee.  I have ok luck with darker porters and wheat beers, but mostly I have a similar acidic taste in a lot of the ales I have tried to brew and am almost at the point of giving up.  I usually do the 21/2 gal boil and add the remaining tap water to the wort to reach the 5 gal. batch.  could it be the water?  I also use the sprayer at the kitchen sink to top the bucket off, could it be putting in too much oxygen in as I do this?.  People who have done a lot less brewing than me come up with much better beers.  I use one-step to do all my cleaning, but usually just rinse out the bottles after each use and then put them in the dishwasher prior to bottling.  I am getting so disgusted, PLEASE HELP HELP ME!!!

Answer
Without being able to taste your beer, I couldn't give a definitive diagnosis. What you describe as "acidic" might be described differently by someone else.

In general, I would discourage any method that doesn't boil 100% of the wort, but that's only one problem. What you need to do is to read some good material on brewing, so you can understand the process in depth, and solve your problem by yourself.

My best recommendation would be to find a local homebrewing club and join. Otherwise, you should start with something like www.howtobrew.com for some good introductory material.

Good luck!