[gitterpicker]

The suggestion about water is another one that I'll take.  My very first 5-gallon batch was done with bottled water.  Nothing fancy, just the cheapest stuff I could find at the grocery store.  It was however my cleanest tasting beer. 

Here's one additional question that I can't seem to find answered in any of my books:

After cooling my wort I add my 2.5 - 3 gallons of water.  Should I be boiling this water as well?  I never do.  I just add the tap water when I get close to pitching temperature.  My brewing buddies tell me it's not necessary.  Then again, their beer all tastes like mine (yes we use the same city water!)

[tygo]

When I was extract brewing and topping off I never boiled the water either.  It shouldn't be necessary.  But you should treat your water if you're using city water to remove the chlorine and maybe chloramines.  That can be addressed with campden as Slowbrew suggested.

[skyler]

If a starter is too much of a pain in the butt, use dry yeast. Do a longer primary (3-6 weeks) and a long secondary (2-4 months). Then, add fresh dry yeast to your bottling bucket when you get ready to bottle. This will help age out a lot of the protein/gunk in your beer.

And make sure you only use the freshest extract - I would stick to nothing but Light or Extra Light (Pilsen) Dry Malt Extract.

[etbrew]

Agree with all the suggestions made.  I'd like to particularly highlight the need to get the chlorine out of your water if you are on a municipal water system.  I've been brewing for 3 years now and all me beers, while different, had similar off flavors that really bothered me.  My last three batches I made using camden tablets and the difference has been huge.  The first beer I made with this method was a nut brown which was the first brown ale I made that really tasted like what a brown ale should taste like.  Very clean compared the previous batches I had made.

To better beer!

[majorvices]

If a starter is too much of a pain in the butt, use dry yeast.

Oh, come on. 15 minutes worth of extra work for 15Xs better beer. I agree for Noobs that dry yeast is the best solution but you will want to try some good liquid yeasts eventually. 

[rkausch]

What's your procedure for chilling your wort down to pitching temp?  I know that if you let it sit for too long, it can pick up some nasty stuff. I've outlined one of my favorite tricks when doing extract with the bottled water below.

On brew day, pick up 6 gallons of artesian water (not distilled, that takes out too much of the good stuff in the water).  Put 3 gallons in the freezer when you start brewing (or, if you can plan ahead, put 3 gallons in the fridge the night before).  Don't let the water freeze though.  Then, make your wort as you normally would.  After you've finished your boil, you should have about 2 gallons left.  Add the 3 cold gallons of bottled water to your wort, take a temp reading, and pitch when you're at your target temp.

[andylovesburritos]

I've been wondering why my beer has been consistently... consistent... this is truly wonderful information, thanks a lot for the good tips!!!

after i'm done with my mead. i will have to do things the right way with filtered water. I started to wonder if it was the priming sugar, i was about to resort to Co2 in a keg to get away from bottle carbonating. that could have gotten expensive...

[Slowbrew]

Someday you'll want to start kegging, if only to avoid bottling.   

Kegging will not stop off flavors if they are in your beer.  It won't matter what container you put it in , it will still be off a bit.  Use these suggestions and then ask questions.  The folks on this board will you out with anything.

Paul

[richardt]

I agree that the water is the likely problem here.  Keep in mind that "filtering" with activated charcoal isn't always reliable for removing chlorine and chloramines.  It has to do with surface area and contact times.  Most people just blast water through a filter...

Definitely invest in campden tablets or buy the water.  Many of us get the RO water from the store and then build it up.

I had the same problem as you've described with extract kits being done with boiled tap water (filtered, of course)--still had that phenolic character.  Really annoying to get that result when you've invested the time and money to make the beer.

[andylovesburritos]

Someday you'll want to start kegging, if only to avoid bottling.  

someday nothing, i hate bottling... well not hate, but I definitely would rather tap it than cap it!

[beerstache]

I didnt see anything in the above about proper aeration.  How are you aerating your wort?  You might want to invest in a Mix-Stir rod that uses a drill to whip air into the wort.  Just my 2-cents worth.