My patience has run out

I feel that I have been really, really patient (for a newbie, at least) with this brewing process. My first brew - Yorkshire square brown ale, an extract kit with specialty grains from AHS - spent fifteen days in primary, followed by fifteen more in secondary. On Saturday, it will have been in bottles for three weeks.

I cannot take it any more. I've placed one bottle in the fridge; on Saturday, I'll crack it open and see how it is.

It may not be quite there yet, since my closet is typically 65-68 degrees. I guess I'm cheating a bit on the three weeks @ 70 degrees guideline... but I figure the worst I'll get is very slightly green beer.

Of course, with my luck, this batch will want to bottle condition for six weeks or somesuch. We'll just have to see.

My second batch - an imperial nut brown ale - is almost at week four in primary. I'm looking at at least four weeks in secondary, followed by a looong time in bottles (the recipe tells me that it becomes barely ready at three months from brew date, is good at six, and amazing at a year). Darn it, I want some good beer NOW! Is that so wrong???

What is it they say....The first step in getting over a disease is admitting you have a problem....

I'm a few days away from being at 3 weeks in the bottle with my first brew (American Amber). I counted seven empty bottles on the counter. To be fair, 2 of those were from giving a pair of friends a sample.

The one I drank at week 1 had a lot of room to improve upon, but the taste matured and the carbonation increased in the second week. Now I'm ready to throw the rest of the batch into the fridge this Sunday (the 3 week point). Overall, i'm extremely pleased.

Personally, I would subtract the time spent in the secondary and you could have been enjoying them now!

Drink them up!!!

I have a problem?

Yeah, I have a problem.

Ah, well.

It really is amazing how the patience can pay off... I rushed batch #1 and drank almost all of it too green. 6 weeks after bottling it is starting to taste really good, at week 3 it was pretty bad and I didn't expect my 1st extract kit to improve much over time... I am kicking myself about it now, but at least I have empty bottles that I can fill with something new!

If you have waited three weeks after bottling, and have yet to try one - then you are a better man than I am.

I always try a bottle at one week, and another at 2, before I start stocking the fridge at 3.

frazier said:

If you have waited three weeks after bottling, and have yet to try one - then you are a better man than I am.

Click to expand...

For what it's worth, it is absolutely KILLING me.

Yeah are you kidding??? You have been EXCELLENT at this patience thing. Waiting darn near 2 months to try your brew is longer that I have ever gone before the first sip and this is your FIRST BREW!

Good on you man, those are more than likely all ready for you to drink em up and with your patience you definitely deserve it. Take solace in the fact that your very first beer you have made should be fully attenuated, carbonated, and conditioned. That is more than a lot of people can say for the first 6 pack from their first brew.

You guys are fantastic. Thanks for the positive feedback.

One more day and a half, then I can stop fondling bottles while staring longingly at them...

Hmmm. That didn't come out quite right.

If you want a quicker turn around you can check out some of the more straight forward recipes like Edwort's or Yoopers Pale Ales, a mild, a hefe, or search 10der or Fastest grain to glass for quick recipes.

Kegging helps too, fwiw.

I often drink "green" homebrew, but I primary for 3-4 weeks, so it is not really green, just not fully carbed. I am rarely disappointed, maybe not the beer it could be, but it is the beer I want.

Whatever, I am opening one in 2 days after 1 week in the bottle. It's for research and QA purposes!

D0ug said:

If you want a quicker turn around you can check out some of the more straight forward recipes like Edwort's or Yoopers Pale Ales, a mild, a hefe, or search 10der or Fastest grain to glass for quick recipes.

Click to expand...

I knew what I was getting in to; I have been prepared to wait. Not as big a fan of the pale ales and hefes.

I've done really well, but this last week is just killing me!

Well, as had been said before; You, Sir, are a better man than I!

Seriously it won't hurt anything to crack a few and drink them.

I have a chocolate cherry porter that i bottled about 5 weeks ago and reading everything on here about how much beers improve over time makes me afraid to drink them, but I admit to drinking about 8 or so of them and each one is tasting better and better. I moved a 12 pack to the basement to forget about for a few months.

Now i understand the importance of developing a pipeline!

smokeyfisherman said:

Now i understand the importance of developing a pipeline!

Click to expand...

I am already seeing this, and am dying to get my next brew underway so that I'll have something that will be ready in a reasonable timeframe!

homebrewdad said:

I am already seeing this, and am dying to get my next brew underway so that I'll have something that will be ready in a reasonable timeframe!

Click to expand...

I also have a dead guy ale clone bottled, it hits 3 weeks this Sunday. Im kegging an Irish red this weekend, and then a kolwch the week after that, a Sierra Nevada pale ale clone hits one week in primary this Sunday and Sunday I will also be brewing an ipa. I got the keg equipment now so its one batch a week until I have wayyy too much beer to ever find myself "running low" or drinking green beer.

smokeyfisherman said:

I also have a dead guy ale clone bottled, it hits 3 weeks this Sunday. Im kegging an Irish red this weekend, and then a kolwch the week after that, a Sierra Nevada pale ale clone hits one week in primary this Sunday and Sunday I will also be brewing an ipa. I got the keg equipment now so its one batch a week until I have wayyy too much beer to ever find myself "running low" or drinking green beer.

Click to expand...

Wow, nice pipeline!

I'll probably be brewing a batch per month - which is honestly more beer than I will drink.

Ummm. If you have any extras that you can't get around to drinking ... Well it wouldn't be right if we didn't offer to take those nasty, awful beers off your hands.

mid_knight said:

Ummm. If you have any extras that you can't get around to drinking ... Well it wouldn't be right if we didn't offer to take those nasty, awful beers off your hands.

Click to expand...

LOL, nice. I figure that I'll give them to neighbors, coworkers, etc.

I'm enjoying tasting mine and noticing how the taste changes. I had one after one week, and it was...meh. Beer-like, but lots of alcohol flavor. Had one last Tuesday (2nd week), and it tasted better, but the flavor kind of evaporated once it made it to the back of my mouth. Just had another one tonight, and it's got flavor all the way through. Very curious to see how it's going to change after another week.

DoctorMemory said:

I'm enjoying tasting mine and noticing how the taste changes. I had one after one week, and it was...meh. Beer-like, but lots of alcohol flavor. Had one last Tuesday (2nd week), and it tasted better, but the flavor kind of evaporated once it made it to the back of my mouth. Just had another one tonight, and it's got flavor all the way through. Very curious to see how it's going to change after another week.

Click to expand...

I noticed a lot of alcohol warmth (as well as a pretty watery character) when I sampled this one before racking to secondary. I know now that the warmth was probably due to me letting the termerature get up too high (I kept it at ambient 65-68 degrees... likely got me some fusels for my trouble).

The warmth was less noticable at bottling time (and the mouthfeel was better). While I expect that there will still be some after three weeks in bottles, I'm hoping that the beer will continue to mellow out.

My first brew just hit two weeks in the bottle, and a taste test was weird. Tasted a lot like cheap booze. Oh well. Just gotta give it more time I guess.

Meanwhile, I have a stout and a pale ale in fermenters, and brewing a hefe tomorrow.

My pipeline is so thin...

That's okay. Things will look better once the Leffe Blonde clone is fermenting. After that, an Irish red or a Chimay Blue clone...

Yeah I can't wait that long. I usually have one a week till its ready. It's really kinda cool to see the progression of the beer. I stop when I get to the 2 case mark though. A man has to have some kind of line he won't cross Oh, and short pours are the bee's knees..........LMAO.

My first brew I was lucky that I waited 2 weeks to crack the first bottle...damn temptation

I agree @ big beers, which is why the Chimay clone probably won't come quite yet, as much as I love the original beer. Leffe Blonde clone next, then an Irish red... ought to be able to survive a big beer int he pipeline at that point.

Chimay Grande Reserve - probably my very favorite beer, ever. If I can brew something that comes even close, I will be quite proud.

I just put a big beer in the fermenter tuesday, a hibernator clone that came out at 1.091....the wait will surely scar me.

BamaRooster said:

I just put a big beer in the fermenter tuesday, a hibernator clone that came out at 1.091....the wait will surely scar me.

Click to expand...

You can do eeeeet! (spoken in Waterboy-esque voice)

It's always fun to taste them as they come along.

I brewed a Black Cherry Ale thinking spring. Bottled
it last week. Had a very nice hint of black cherry flavor
with a little tartness.

Put one in the fridge this morning to sample tonight.
With all the others maturing as well.

Tough Job!

Black cherry ale? The only fruit beer I have ever considered is something blueberry (I love me some blueberries), but I have to say, black cherry ale sounds intruiging...

I'd think they would indeed go great with an amber/brown.

Grrr, I'm already three months out (minimum) on the brews I can conceivably do! I don't need another one to start bugging me!

homebrewdad said:

Black cherry ale? The only fruit beer I have ever considered is something blueberry (I love me some blueberries), but I have to say, black cherry ale sounds intruiging...

Click to expand...

Once you try ONE blueberry beer you won't be wanting another.

H-ost said:

Once you try ONE blueberry beer you won't be wanting another.

Click to expand...

See, I've read reviews that run the entire gamut. I'm pretty sure that I will grab one in a buld your own six pack before I make any sort of judgement... but I have seen so many reports of blueberry brewing going poorly that I don't have a real urge to try this, myself.