TheHammer

Recipes 

Hello, my first post-

My first batch has been ageing (conditioning? not fluent with the lingo yet) in bottles for about 1.5 weeks now and I’m itching to have one. A concerned I have is that when I bottled it, it smelled and tasted not very good. I read that many of you find it tastes good before its bottled and carbonated. Is this bad taste foreshadowing a bad final beer? It is an American Cream Ale from a kit. After this batch I am going to do another starter kit, but then I would like to get more advanced. I know of a few things I could do to better my procedure. I hope it taste decent!! -Thanks.

Kephren

Recipes 

Most of the time, taste at bottling is an indicator. However, I have had several that tasted terrible at bottling that continued to improve over time. I had one recently that made me gag at bottling, and wasn't much better at six months in the keg. After a year, it was excellent - so go figure.

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The best way to store malt is to combine it with water, hops and yeast... -Charlie Papazian

Dark_Ale

Recipes 

I have had a few that I thought were not going to be good, then after a few weeks in the bottle turned out ok. Since this was your first batch, Is the American Cream ale a beer that you have had before and like or just a kit you wanted to try? Just asking because I have friends who turn their nose up at a good bitter beer, or a beer with allot of hops. Could it be a beer that your just not fond of? They are used to the bud, and coors and all that. Mabe it taste bad to you, but may be someone elses treasure. I am sure its fine, but if its not lets talk about your steps and mabe we can find the reason why.
Good luck!!!

Sasquatch

Recipes 

Boy, I'm just beginning here too, but I think if your beer isn't good after fermentation, it's generally speaking not going to get too much better. There are miracles, and I think it would be folly to discard the batch... try and see. My last batch tasted good after 9 days.

Clean Clean Clean.

Kephren

Recipes 

Conditioning will work wonders for your beer. I'm amazed every time I brew. I usually have my first glass about a week after kegging/bottling. It's usually pretty good. Then I'll have a couple during that week that get better. By the time the keg is gone, it's usually very good. It works the same in bottles. I bottle a few from every batch, and 3 months down the road, I have beer that is better than anything I can get at 7-11

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The best way to store malt is to combine it with water, hops and yeast... -Charlie Papazian

brewhead

Recipes 

well the taste test is subjective. certainly i taste when i rack to the secondary and then when i bottle but the taste (to me) is much different 3 months down the road. tho these intermediate tests don't make me cringe - i wouldn't say they tasted like straight up beer. most are bitter, grainy, flat - but then i kinda dig those funky kind of flavours. if they tasted like a finished product at bottling time - i'd skip the bottling process. imo - that's also a part of the conditioning process. the bottling/dark closet conditioning/cold conditioning...it all is a recipe.

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