OK, I couldnt wait and I cheated.

I admit it, I couldn't wait any longer. After 16 days in the fermenter and then 8 days since being bottled, I couldnt wait any longer and had to try a bottle. It was slightly undercarbonated but I'm sure thats because it hasnt finished carbonating. It was also kind of bitter but I have learned here that the bitterness will go away after it ages a few more weeks. The lack of carnonation was no big deal because the wife and I split a bottle and between the both of us, the bottle didnt last very long. Surprisingly, my wife asked for another bottle but since I only put the one bottle in the fridge, there was no more cold ones. Theres now 4 more chilling as I write this.

It sure is hard to wait!

Yeah, I opened the first bottle of my second batch last night, and it was surprisingly good.

Im TERRIBLY guilty of this. I keep making excuses for why I need to drink one. I just put one of my O'Fests in the fridge. Its been two weeks in the bottle. So I decided it needed a two week tasting!!! My Stout was in secondary for about 4 weeks, and bottled for about 2 1/2 till it was gone. I need to be more disciplined with my aging!!! but the home brewed beer is so tempting to drink...........

I'm guilty of this too. My second batch has been in bottles a week now and I'm trying real hard to not touch it. (Actually, I tried one 3 days after bottling but for purpose of really seeing what a 'green' beer tastes like. Honest)

I've got 5 gallons of Apfelwein going too, it's on week 3. I think once I get that finished and my second batch is ready to drink, it will be easier to let my current batch condition longer. I don't really want to challenge myself and see how fast I can go through 10 gallons anyways.

For me it seems like it just takes a few batches to have enough on hand to allow more time for the next batch. I'm currently sitting on 15 gallons and I still don't think it's enough!

I just bottled a tripel today. I won't even try one til Thanksgiving. Most will be consumed post-christmas. Waiting is hard... unless you have other beers to drink. Luckily I have 4 kegs on tap right now that I can drink BREW MORE!

Ive found that in my constantly early sampling, it's sweetness that goes away and not bitter. But that being said I also see a mellowing of all sharp flavors with time. Sixteen days in the fermenter, your doing good. Seven and ten and I'm tasting, thinking about how good it will be.

Rule one:

Once your beer is bottled....get on to your next brew to help forget about the first one.

Rule two:

Rule one doesn't always work.

But seriously folks, go buy another batch and get ready for next weekend's brew session.

The funniest thing is that I have always been a Bud man. I never drank anything but Budweiser. When my buddies and I would go out drinking on dollar Import night, I would still pay more to drink Bud. If I went out somewhere and they didnt have Bud, then I didnt drink. But now, I have half a case of bud in the fridge and I dont want it. I want my homebrew.

My first mead had been in primary ferment for all of 22 hours when I pulled my first pint out of it.

It is good to know what is going on at every point in the process.

Poindexter said:

...It is good to know what is going on at every point in the process.

Click to expand...

Keep telling yourself that. It is a great excuse to keep tasting your creation. (LOL) I say it all the time.

- WW

It's not called cheating, it's called sampling

Man, I usually rock a bottle at 5 or 6 days. Why not? It's almost always green (except for wheat beers...my recent dunkelweizen was perfect at 6 days), but I like to try it anyway.

I think we all do it (those of us that bottle that is). I sample 1 out of every batch after 4-6 days, then another one a week later, then another one a week after that.

Like Evan said, sometimes they taste great after 2 weeks. If they do I'll have a few more.

My first batch was gone before three weeks in the bottle. My second, I still have two of (bottled it the end of may). Then I went nuts brewing and built up a stock, which is unfortunately dwindling as of now. What is fortunate, is the newly bottle Fat Tire clone and the 15 gallons of beer that needs bottled sitting next to it.

I agree with the previous comment to "move on to the next batch" and forget about the one you just bottled. That's the best advice ever. Its some of the hardest advice to follow, but its the truth.

I, personally, now being about 15 batches in, try (very hard) to not try a bottle for three weeks, at the earliest 18 or 19 days. I just figure that any bottle opened prior to that is like wasting what's going to be good beer.

Cheers,

After brewing only 4 batches thus far I have already developed a tradition of taste testing at day 10 My first brew sucked bad (actually I tasted that one at day 7) and I had to dump my sample bottle at day 11 it was good. Brew 2 and three were good at day 10 and my latest which I tasted this past Saturday at day 10 sucked and tasted exactly like the first. I'll try another tomorrow but then I'm going away for a couple of weeks so it will sit for awhile.