Andromedus

Recipes 

Brewed an all-grain hefeweizen (first ever brew) about ten days ago. The specific gravity is reading 1.010 (off a 1.044 initial) and I'm confident it's basically done fermenting.

While testing the specific gravity, I got curious and tasted the batch (actually two 5 gallon batches, identical except one is WYeast 3068 the other is WLP300).

My question is: how similar is this taste to the final beer after aging? Right now I'm disappointed in the way both taste. Clearly they lack carbonation, but beyond that they taste something like bud lite - not much in the way of cloves and banana esters, which I was going for. They seem very bland, albeit drinkable. Should I expect a similar taste in 2-3 weeks?

Thank you!

BlindFrogBrewer

Recipes 

The first time I brewed I tasted it before bottling and was very disappointed. After conditioning in the bottle and a few weeks of aging I loved it! So to answer it should be fine and taste a lot better.

Andromedus

Recipes 

Ahhh, thank you for the assurance. I will bide my time and hope that the conditioning improves the flavor/complexity. Thank you!

mlyday

Recipes 

A taste at that point will tell you if there are any real problems, but coditioning and carbination make a huge difference.

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woody34

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This. As your first brew, you'll be blown away at how much different /better it will taste when finished conditioning. My hefeweizen was actually pretty carbed after 1 week.

monkeybox

Recipes 

To add to that:

The first bottle, that we all know you're goign to open after 5 days? It won't be very good. Nor will that second one you open at 10 days. In about 3-4 weeks, though, then you'll be proud of it.

Brewing requires a lot of patience.

estricklin

Recipes 

Haha I remember doing this also. Really sad after tasting it in the bucket the first time but now I know what a difference time and carb makes.

YeastHerder

Recipes 

Same here, I used to taste everything at all stages. Here is what I learned:

post-boil and cooled wort: sweet and kinda hoppy
post-fermentation but before adding bottling sugar: not sweet anymore
2-3 weeks after bottle conditioning: beer!

Calichusetts

Recipes 

I use to read posts on here of how people said there beer was so good they would drink it before bottling and I was always nervous when I went to try my sample after bottling because it was lack luster. After producing several amazing batches I have learned not to pay attention to the taste at bottling.

billl

Recipes 

I guess I'm an outlier then. I don't package anything that doesn't taste like flat beer. Some of the flavors will be muted without carbonation and chilling, but it should be the same basic profile. If you were going for a strong banana flavor, you should expect to taste and smell some of that pre-carb.

Ester production in a hefe is quite temperature sensitive. What temp was this fermented at?