digg

Recipes 

My brewing buddy convinced me that we should rack our first batch tonite so we did. It had been fermenting for 7 days when we opened the lid afew bubbles floating around and the airlock would bubble like 3 times a minute. and of course we had to taste tested and I was very happy great aroma clean flavor not much bite to it (brewing IPA) pretty sweet for how I thought that it would taste. the question is.
Is that sweet taste normal early on? Will the bitter just come with time?

Hagen

Recipes 

7 days is way too early to rack. If you don't have a hydrometer, get one and learn how to use it. Fermentation cannot be considered done until you get the same specific gravity readings 3 days in a row. Then, it's ready to rack to secondary if you use one.

Your beer tastes sweet because it's most likely not done yet, and you are tasting the unfermented sugars. The general rule is 2 weeks in primary if you use a secondary, or 3 weeks in primary if you don't.

Learn to be patient, your beer will be much better after time.

__________________
Too much too fast to keep track of...

digg

Recipes 

oh no so what do you suggest I can do now?

Revvy

Recipes 

Leave it in the secondary for a couple more weeks....Let it finish out...and don't let you buddy "convince" you to do otherwise....

__________________

The Open Heart Surgery Recovery "Dramedy" continues!

Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured. - Madman

I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac! - YooperBrew

digg

Recipes 

hey guys thanks

david_42

Recipes 

Sounds like your buddy lacks the main attribute for successful brewing: patience. Please have him join the board & do a search on "green beer".

__________________
Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"

homebrewer_99

Recipes 

...Agree with all the above comments...

Keep your buddy out of YOUR brewery......show him who's the BREW MASTER!!!

__________________
HB Bill

malkore

Recipes 

7 days may or may not be too early to rack. GET A HYDROMETER. without one, you have no clue what the beer is up to.

in this situation, it sounds like you did rack too soon. give it a LONG secondary, 3 weeks at least.

then test it with your hydrometer...see how it compares to the recipe's Final Gravity estimate/range.

__________________
Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10