Well I made a pale ale, it was done conditioning about a week ago. Every bottle I personally had tasted great with no issues, except perhaps a little bit more finishing hops next time or maybe a dry hop. However, I was at my brother's house he hadn't opened any of the beers I gave him yet, so he opened one when I got there.

He said "It's not bad, but it is a little watery"
I reply "there's no F*****G way you'd call my beer watery and took a sip" then I said "Oh my God this is watery wtf happened!?"

I later called my dad who I gave 12 beers. He said a couple were a little watery but most of them were great.


So I'm curious what the hell happened to those select watery bottles. Perhaps a wild yeast infection while bottle conditioning? (yet they weren't super carbonated and I had no bottle bombs) Also I could detect no pattern in which bottles were good or bad, maybe next time I'll number them as I fill them just in case.

i had this issue with an amber ale i made, after a month or so in the bottles they were fine. i would set some out of the way and brew another batch while it ages a bit more

I don't think that'll help since most were fine and others were watery. Also the batch is already gone since the good ones were quite tasty.


But I am curious about what could have caused the difference in quality of bottles in the same batch if anybody might know?

If it's different from bottle to bottle it sounds like its something in your bottle preparation. Could it be your cleaner or sanitizer. I don't know what would cause a watery taste, but that is where I would look.

i just finished off my ordinary bitter that quite frankly was as watery as bud light after it finished carbing, but after about 2 months in the bottles it was leaps and bounds better... just my experience, yours may vary

It's not that the batch was watery, it's that a few bottles were watery while most turned out very good.

I am not sure exactly could cause the "watery" effect, but I've had bottles that taste completely different than the main batch as well. Some of your bottles could have a small infection in them or something like that. Although, you didnt' mention that the flavors were off. So, I'm kinda stumped on this one too.

Well the flavors weren't off exactly it's more like they weren't there as much as you'd expect it. Essentially tasting watered down (except for the hops) yet fully carbed. I myself assume there had to be some sort of infection but there were no off flavors and they weren't overly carbonated so probably not a wild yeast infection.

If there was any kind of infection you would know it by the funky taste, so my guess is an error in bottle preparation. Sometimes when bottling any distractions can cause you to grab a bottle that's not completely empty of rinse water, or worse yet sanitizer.

Assuming you vigorously aerated your wort before and after pitching your yeast and didn't leave it sitting in the fermenter for 6 months there is no chance the beer found a way to separate itself from the water.