mew

Recipes 

I just racked mine to secondary (didn't fill the five-gallon carboy, unfortunately) and I tasted a little. It was pretty potently awfu! I had never imagined a taste such as that. Is it supposed to taste bad at this point?

todd_k

Recipes 

it won't be at it's best until a few weeks to a couple months after bottling. don't worry about it.

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Primary:
Secondary:
Conditioning:
Kegged:

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Buford

Recipes 

If it's only a week old it'll taste beer-like but be very "green" and yeasty. You don't need to worry unless it's sour like vinegar or "ropey", which would imply an infection. My first batch, when I racked a little over a week ago (it was four days old at the time), tasted very bitter and practically undrinkable due to the huge amount of suspended yeast and strong flavors that haven't had a chance to mellow out, but it did smell like beer and have a basic beer taste to it. Higher alcohol beers will need several weeks before they're at their best, and really strong ones can take months.

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FERMENTING: ---
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disaffected

Recipes 

When I bottled my very first batch, a fairly bitter ESB, it tasted like minerals (copper, really) and was just plain overwhelming. I thought it might not be drinkable. Now after almost six weeks in bottles, it is absolutely fantastic beer! It is very similar to my favorite commercial ESB, the Fuller's ESB.

Just give it time and don't judge it harshly yet.

Yuri_Rage

Recipes 

It starts tasting good when you're drunk enough not to notice that it doesn't. Or in a few weeks.

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david_42

Recipes 

Five weeks from the end of the ferment is a good guideline.

I advocate tasting the brew along the way & keeping notes.

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ARFan

Recipes 

In my experience 3-5 weeks is a good guideline, but as others mentioned there's nothing wrong with sampling along the way. Personally, I'm too damn impatient to wait the whole time period before trying it. Just don't be disappointed if it's not everything you'd hoped for right away.

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boo boo

Recipes 

Maybe it's because I'm an alcoholic, but all my beers taste good going into secondary. Just flat. I taste/drink all my samples at the various stages in
which I take them. I get a feel for how my brew is progressing.

But like the guys have said, let it go for a while and it will melow out into
a great brew.

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anthrobe

Recipes 

Hahaha, I too love the taste of my beers along the way. I am also an avid airlock sniffer

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On Deck -
Primary1 -Hop Knot 10/04/07
Primary2 -
Secondary1 -
Secondary2 -
On Tap
Tap1 - Kelly's Rasberry Cream Ale 7/11/07
Tap2 - Black Stap Porter (8/25/07)
Tap3 - Hefeweizen 7/05/07
Waiting for tap\Conditioning
Keg1 -
Keg2 -
Keg3 -
Bottles
-
-

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boo boo

Recipes 

Wow, me too. What are the chances that there are two people on this
site that sniff their airlocks, lol.

I guess we are one-of-a-kind.

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