andycr

Recipes 

The last ever bottle of my first homebrew, from over 5 months ago, has been sitting in my fridge for months. 20 batches later, I finally cracked it open tonight.

At the time, it tasted like amazing beer. Now, I can taste nothing but flaws. I've learned so much in the intervening time, and I'm glad to have this as a reference for how my perspective and bias have changed in the intervening months. I hope to look back in another 6 months and my current beer to taste as flawed as this, as testimony to how much I've improved.

So now for your part - what was your first batch of homebrew like? Did you save any, and if so, were they as bad as this stuff is?

__________________
Primary: Black Pearl Porter, Wayward Pines Pale Ale
Kegged: Nil
Bottled: The Sunken Norwegian, Cream Ale, Dunkel, Murphy's Law, Waystone Inn Ale
Next up: Murphy's Law

Jersh

Recipes 

I do not have any of my first batch left, those were all consumed very quickly... I do however have a few bottles of my 2nd batch left, which also happened to be my first all-grain batch (I made the jump from extract to AG very quickly). These bottles have been sitting for 4 years. It's been about a year since I cracked one. Definitely not a good beer to age lol, it's a Sam Adams Summer Ale clone. As I recall it's holding up ok.

FourSeasonAngler

Recipes 

Wow, 5 or 6 months in and you've already done 20 batches?! I wish I had that kind of time! I've been brewing for over a year and just brewed #6.

I do remember how bad my first batch was, came in at 1.099 OG and finished at 1.037... awful stuff. lol Second batch was great, partial extract/steep and amazed a lot of friends family with it. Since then I've been strictly all grain.

I can't discern any flaws outright, but I don't have a trained palette.

__________________
Why is the home brew always gone?

aubiecat

Recipes 

I drank two Irish Stouts last night, my very first from over a year ago. Still very good.

__________________
Blake
Electric BIAB Build | BIAB Mesh False Bottom | Controller/Fermentation Chest

darrenbrews

Recipes 

With my limited experience I discovered with my first batch that their was a definite improvement from week 1 in the bottle and week2, and tasted real good after week 3. My second batch (dark winter ale) is ready to sample this weekend, I expect that it might be a little weak b/c I only fermented for 2 weeks. I believe home brewers can learn a lot from their past brewing mistakes and it only gets better with time.

DrunkleJon

Recipes 

The strength of the beer does not depend on fermentation time. It depends on the concentration of fermentable sugars in the wort + yeast. Packaging too early will not affect alcohol content, only the chance of bottle bombs and maybe the cleanup of any fermentation driven off flavors that would have been cleaned up on the cake.

__________________
On Deck: Black Lager (im stalling on this one for some reason), Octoberfest/Marzen
Fermenting:Apfelwein
Kegged: Breakfast Stout, Cream Ale, Apfelwein, Pale Ale
Bottled: American Amber/Red Ale

FourSeasonAngler

Recipes 

Weak can also mean taste. I can imagine a dark winter ale acquiring some mellow smoothness and maybe even more character with a week or two more time in primary.

__________________
Why is the home brew always gone?

Wig

Recipes 

first homebrew was over 5 months ago ( I assume less than 6) and you have brewed 20 batches since.
That is amazing.

My first batch was a long long time ago. I only remember it was a pale ale, pretty good, and I didn't save any before I started my second batch. Which was a stout that turned out was my worst batch ever. Now that one I remember clearly, and that was over 15 years ago.

__________________
"There's many a slip twixt cup and lip" -idiom