It can never be said enough - it all takes time

So last night I caved in to impatience and put a bottle of the Cooper's Lager in the fridge. I figured what the heck, there were 30 bottles total so if I have one I'll still have 28 740ml bottles. Put it in the freezer for an hour to chill and popped it open. It was pretty good! It's got a lot more carbonation than the one I tried Sunday (which was only one week in bottle), still not all the way there yet but it's quite close. The beer is also clearing, was a lot less cloudy than Sunday's. It also tasted a lot better. Again, still needs more time but I found myself wishing I'd put another in the freezer so I could drink two instead of switching over to Becks (which I do like). Of course just from reading I know it takes time to mature so I wasn't expecting anything trying it early on. I just did it for the learning experience to see exactly what the taste is like and how it changes. But I'll admit, when you taste it young and it tastes so little like the typical commercial beers we drink it can be a bit worrying. You think to yourself, "How is this ever going to taste like a real beer!?". But in time it does!

So I'm pretty psyched. Starting my hefeweizen tomorrow and maybe even the amber ale too. I can only imagine how much better those will come out being I'm using DME instead of dextrose.


Rev.

Is the hefe a kit or are you doing an all grain recipie? I want to brew a hefe for this summer so you got my attention. What is it?

Sounds great! Don't fret too much about "wasting" a beer by trying one before its prime. It's the same rationale as tasting a sample from the fermenter when you take a gravity reading, it gives you an idea of where the beer is headed, and gives you insight into what a "green" beer tastes like.

You'll also find the beer will become clearer if you chill it longer. The next time you want to try one, put a beer in the fridge and leave it there for a week before you drink it. Drink one at the same time that has only been in the freezer for an hour. The one from the fridge may be substantially clearer. Yeast, as well as proteins that cause chill haze will drop out of suspension if you store it at cold temperatures for a longer time.

Agreed. I like to sample along the way as well to experience how it progresses. Kind of fun to taste not-so-good develop into awesome.

B

AR-Josh said:

Is the hefe a kit or are you doing an all grain recipie? I want to brew a hefe for this summer so you got my attention. What is it?

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It's a kit. The wife bought it also when she got me the Cooper's kit for Christmas. So I'm using the can of hopped wheat LME and am adding 2lbs of Briess wheat DME in addition to the 500g (1.1lb) included light dry malt. I am also using Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan yeast. So it's like their kit but I'm tweaking it a pinch. I won't be using the 300g dextrose they included since I'm using the wheat and light dry DME.

The amber ale is also a kit, from Northern Brewer. Still quite new to this so for a while I will be using extracts, hops, and steeped grains. After a while of that I will look to try all grain.


Rev.

Hefe's are the easiest beers. I'm doing a partial mash one this weekend:

2lb German pilsner
3lb German wheat
3lb Wheat DME

Hallertauer Hersbrucker 4.6% hops (don't remember how much)

Wyeast 3068

You can do an extract version with all wheat DME (I think it was 6lbs total) or all grain with 5lb pilsner and 5lb wheat.

gio said:

Hefe's are the easiest beers. I'm doing a partial mash one this weekend:

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Ya know, I've seen so many people say that and it's really reassuring since hefe's are my top favorite beer. Primarily Franziskaner - it's my absolute favorite beer ever, but NOT in the small green 12oz bottles! For some reason it just does *not* taste the same in the smaller bottles, maybe cause of the lighter glass... I dunno. So I always buy cases of the brown 500ml bottles. I also love Schneider Weisse (especially Edel-Weisse), their Aventinus, Hacker-Pschorr, Weihenstephan, Paulaner... ok... you get the point LOL.

Anyhow, it definitely makes me feel more like in time I can definitely make my own "Über-Weizen" So I'm getting they're easy to make, but is it also relatively easy to make one that competes with the big/famous german brands like earlier mentioned?


Rev.