Will beer be any good 1 week post bottling?

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MooDaddy

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My Double Chocolate Stout has been bottled and sitting in a closet for a week now. It was suggested that I try one every once in a while just to get an idea of how things change - hopefully for the better - over time. I am planning on popping one open tomorrow and I'm not sure just what to expect.

Will it be somewhat "carbed" by now or is it too early to have much of that?

Should I drink it right from the bottle or pour it carefully into a glass?

I have some Young's Double Chocolate Stout in my fridge - should I drink one alongside mine for comparison or is that not going to be a fair fight now - or maybe ever?

For these stouts, is there an optimum time to be left hanging out in the bottles in the closet to get the best result?
 
Is it a double alchohol also? Stouts take longer to blend.I tried mine early and it tasted good, then i tried one a week later in the fridge a week and was dissapointed. Depending on how long you let it ferment also to consider of how it tastes, as far as it being carbed,well its really up to the yeast to decide that but feel free to try one,generally it takes 3 but for me 5 weeks for them to taste really good and carbed in general, mostly the taste good part-for 5 weeks.Ive had decent carbonation before a week @67 degrees condition- I would only recommend to try one before a few weeks.
Mmm. Younges double chocolate, i just tried one for the first time and really liked this one. good luck for it tasting this good.It may take some time though.
 
First, always pour handmade beer into a glass - you can't appreciate the appearance, aroma and flavor out of the bottle. And you'll want to carefully pour the beer, so as not to disturb the yeast at the bottom of the bottle, leaving the last 1/2 inch of beer/yeast in the bottle.

Your beer will surely be young and 'green' at 1 week, but I say go ahead and try it. It may or may not be carbonated - don't worry if it isn't. I keep my bottles at around 72 degrees while they are carbonating, and that helps speed things up.

Congratulations on your brew!
 
It may have some bubbles. It will taste flat and "worty." In my opinion ... It is worth the experience for educational purposes.

It won't ruin your batch or anything.

PS- The yeast still in suspension may give you some...um... gastrointestinal discomfort
 
It may have some bubbles. It will taste flat and "worty." In my opinion ... It is worth the experience for educational purposes.

It won't ruin your batch or anything.

PS- The yeast still in suspension may give you some...um... gastrointestinal discomfort

 
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DON'T DO IT!!!! wait for 10 day mark to try your first one. and even then it will be flat. there is a very small difference between bottling day and one week into conditioning, IMO. but at the 10 day mark yeast have settled a little and and 14 days into it the have formed a good cake but at 21 days they have cleaned up a majority of the material they **** out
 
Yeah-- throw it in the fridge for 2 days & then drink it!
just don't share it w/ anyone... it is not ready yet.
good luck!
 
This is why i usually try to do a couple very small bottles (5 oz or so) with every batch, then i can take samples every 1 - 2 weeks to really see how things go.
 
I just never had gleaned anything substantive from that. Despite the rationalization that many new brewer say is for 'educational purposes' I find there's very little to be gleaned tasting a beer at 1 week, and again at 2....that to me just means there 2 less beers that are actually tasting good and are ready at the end. I don't buy budweiser because I don't like to taste "bad" beer. So why would I drink my own beer when it was "bad" especially since I know it's going to be delicious a few weeks later.

It's a great rationalization, and I hear it every time I make my assertion. But the thing to remember is that since every beer is different that 5 day old Ipa you may have decided to crack open is not going to taste anything like that 5 day old brown ale you opened early in your next batch. They're two different animals. There are so many tiny variations in things like ambient temp at fermentation and carbonation, pitch count phases of the moon, that even if you brewed your same batch again and cracked a bottle at the exact same early time on the previous batch, the beer, if you could remember how it tasted, more than likely wouldn't taste the same at that phase....Heck even in the same batch if you had grabbed a different bottle it may seem carbed or tasting differently at that point.

A tiny difference in temps between bottles in storage can affect the yeasties, speed them up or slow them down. Like if you store them in a closet against a warm wall, the beers closest to the heat source may be a tad warmer than those further way, so thy may carb/condition at slightly different rates. I usually store a batch in 2 seperate locations in my loft 1 case in my bedroom which is a little warmer, and the other in the closet in the lving room, which being in a larger space is a tad cooler, at least according to the thermostat next to that closet. It can be 5-10 degrees warmer in my bedroom. So I usually start with that case at three weeks. Giving the other half a little more time. Each one is it's own little microcosm, and although generally the should come up at the same time, it's not an automatic switch, and they all pop on. They are all going to come to tempo when their time is right...not a minute before, and then at some point they all will be done.


So you're not, to me learning anything special from it. But It's your beer, but there's not gonna be anything right or wrong at that point, except that you're out a beer that 2-3 weeks later you're gonna post something like"Sigh, they always say that last beer of the batch is the best, now if only I hadn't "sampled for educational purposes" all those weeks back I could be having another on of these delicious beers."

What you haven't told me is the time and temp of your carbing...those are the two most important factors,followed by gravity.

The 3 weeks at 70 degrees, that we recommend is the minimum time it takes for average gravity beers to carbonate and condition. Higher grav beers take longer.

Stouts and porters have taken me between 6 and 8 weeks to carb up..I have a 1.090 Belgian strong that took three months to carb up.

Temp and gravity are the two factors that contribute to the time it takes to carb beer. But if a beer's not ready yet, or seems low carbed, and you added the right amount of sugar to it, then it's not stalled, it's just not time yet.

Everything you need to know about carbing and conditioning, can be found here Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning. With emphasis on the word, "patience." ;)

as Poindexer's video in my blong does show, a lot of "activity" often occurs in the one week or even 2 week mark...it may be "fizzy" but fizzy and a fully set carb are not the same thing, and a lot of brewers just equate a pop and his with a beer being drinkable, when the bubbles and head proteins don't tend to come up fully for a few more weeks. (I usually call that "newb carb" and find that a lot of new brewers who tend to kill their two cases off in a few days, don't experience true carbonation and the pleasures thereof, until they actually get a pipeline going, and have their first 5 or 6 week old full carbed and conditioned wonderfully little puppy! Then the come back with an "aha" moment.

:mug:

Like he shows in 1 week, all the hissing, all the foaming can and does happen, but until it's dissolved back into the beer, your don't really have carbonation, with tiny bubbles coming out of solution happening actually inside the glass, not JUST what's happening on the surface.



To me all you're doing is wasting a beer that will be excellent when your beer is ACTUALLY carbed and conditioned...

There's an old saying, the best beer in a batch is the last one...

But it's you're beer after all.

Do whatever floats your boat. But just DON'T start a "My Beer is flat, or tastes like A$$, what's wrong?" thread.
 
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Man, pop that badboy! If you don't know how a beer you made will taste after a week in the bottle in your closet, then you are an inexerienced brewer. I'm with joetothemo on this one - this hobby is all about experience in my opinion.

I say open one and experience a MooDaddy Double Chocolate Stout a week in the bottle. It'll tase rough, hot, and green. You will learn a lot. Print out some of these, look up anything you don't understand, and have a go at evaluating your beer.

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/SCP_BeerScoreSheet.pdf
 
I always taste one at 1 week to 10 days (oaked traditional bock in front of me right now, 10 days old). I never lose the excitement. I also don't follow any rules but my own.

You don't wanna get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel.
 
Well i guess its ok to crack open one beer to see a contrast between your green beer and your properly conditioned beer. You don't have to do it for every batch but i think it is beneficial for a beginner to try the beer throughout the conditioning process so that he/she can gain an appreciation for the conditioning processes
 
Well i guess its ok to crack open one beer to see a contrast between your green beer and your properly conditioned beer. You don't have to do it for every batch but i think it is beneficial for a beginner to try the beer throughout the conditioning process so that he/she can gain an appreciation for the conditioning processes

My sentiments exactly.
 
My Double Chocolate Stout has been bottled and sitting in a closet for a week now. It was suggested that I try one every once in a while just to get an idea of how things change - hopefully for the better - over time. I am planning on popping one open tomorrow and I'm not sure just what to expect.

Will it be somewhat "carbed" by now or is it too early to have much of that?

Should I drink it right from the bottle or pour it carefully into a glass?

I have some Young's Double Chocolate Stout in my fridge - should I drink one alongside mine for comparison or is that not going to be a fair fight now - or maybe ever?

For these stouts, is there an optimum time to be left hanging out in the bottles in the closet to get the best result?
Sweet jesus dude, its not like your first girlfriend asked you to sneak into her house tomorrow night. Its a BEER.
 
For these stouts, is there an optimum time to be left hanging out in the bottles in the closet to get the best result?

I think there is an optimum time to leave them bottled in the dark and warm place but you aren't going to want to wait for it. My stouts and porters seem to take about 2 to 3 months to really "get it all together". It's a long wait but it's worth it in the end.

While you are waiting, brew up something a bit lighter. I did a cream ale that sat 3 weeks in the fermenter and after only 1 week in the bottle was quite drinkable and by the second week was quite smooth.
 
Sweet jesus dude, its not like your first girlfriend asked you to sneak into her house tomorrow night. Its a BEER.

Yea, drink one, if you want.
Don't let these people make you feel guilty about wanting to try one.
It is just beer.
 
Dude drink one if you want, its your beer. I usually bottle 3 Grolsch bottles per batch so I can taste one weekly. Its not like you're going to drink the whole batch after the first week.
 
To drink or not too drink, man what can you say. Everybody here has a good point. I look at it this way, I like beer and I like the beer I make. I know that if I taste it early it will not be complete and as long as I know that I am still drinking good beer, it is just "green" good beer.

Patience is one of the hardest things to learn about homebrewing in my opinion so take heed to Revvy's post and if not, drink up and enjoy!!

Side note: glad you are back Revvy, this site is not the same without your golden nuggets of brewing wisdom!
 
Side note: glad you are back Revvy, this site is not the same without your golden nuggets of brewing wisdom!

What is with people and revvy's junk??

two weeks ago it was his "dip tube" and now "golden nuggets"

Hey Revvy, you must be something with the ladies if the guys are talking!!!!:D
 
I just tried my brown ale and was disappointed
. It seems the beer has developed an astringent aftertaste. I've been studying to death to figure this out. It seems mash ph could be the issue, inefficiency with the runoff, oversparging, bugs, green beer. It's a bit frustrating really, because the taste when botteling was good, it was a bit light / watery but it was good. I added corn sugar and 8oz of maltodextin at bottling. 5 gallon batch, all grain, sparge method, brown ale. 1968 london yeast, ferment temp 65, primary for 14 days, been in the bottle for a week.

any thoughts? i do notice that my sparge / runoff is relatively quick, it's done in about 10 minutes, and as a result my efficiency is about 57%. I've read elsewhere that it should take an hour, but i'm not sure how i would get mine to go that slow unless i barely opened ball valve on the mash tun.

You boys have any thoughts as to why my sparge is so quick? and perhaps what's contributing to my aftertaste? does green beer sometimes have a "strong aspirin" type aftertaste? beer looks great, smells good , has excellent head retention and tastes good in my mouth, it's just when i swallow it.
 
dutchman22 said:
I just tried my brown ale and was disappointed
. It seems the beer has developed an astringent aftertaste. I've been studying to death to figure this out. It seems mash ph could be the issue, inefficiency with the runoff, oversparging, bugs, green beer. It's a bit frustrating really, because the taste when botteling was good, it was a bit light / watery but it was good. I added corn sugar and 8oz of maltodextin at bottling. 5 gallon batch, all grain, sparge method, brown ale. 1968 london yeast, ferment temp 65, primary for 14 days, been in the bottle for a week.

any thoughts? i do notice that my sparge / runoff is relatively quick, it's done in about 10 minutes, and as a result my efficiency is about 57%. I've read elsewhere that it should take an hour, but i'm not sure how i would get mine to go that slow unless i barely opened ball valve on the mash tun.

You boys have any thoughts as to why my sparge is so quick? and perhaps what's contributing to my aftertaste? does green beer sometimes have a "strong aspirin" type aftertaste? beer looks great, smells good , has excellent head retention and tastes good in my mouth, it's just when i swallow it.

If you're fly sparging 10 minutes is too fast, just barely crack the ball valve if that's what it takes.
What water are you using and did you treat it with anything?
Why the maltodextrin at bottling?
How hot is your srarge water?
Are stopping your sparge at a certain gravity or when you reach your pre-boil volume?
 
I just tried my brown ale and was disappointed
. It seems the beer has developed an astringent aftertaste. I've been studying to death to figure this out. It seems mash ph could be the issue, inefficiency with the runoff, oversparging, bugs, green beer. It's a bit frustrating really, because the taste when botteling was good, it was a bit light / watery but it was good. I added corn sugar and 8oz of maltodextin at bottling. 5 gallon batch, all grain, sparge method, brown ale. 1968 london yeast, ferment temp 65, primary for 14 days, been in the bottle for a week.

any thoughts? i do notice that my sparge / runoff is relatively quick, it's done in about 10 minutes, and as a result my efficiency is about 57%. I've read elsewhere that it should take an hour, but i'm not sure how i would get mine to go that slow unless i barely opened ball valve on the mash tun.

You boys have any thoughts as to why my sparge is so quick? and perhaps what's contributing to my aftertaste? does green beer sometimes have a "strong aspirin" type aftertaste? beer looks great, smells good , has excellent head retention and tastes good in my mouth, it's just when i swallow it.

Its still young,that is probably just it really. As talked about much,earlier in this thread,it will be a different beer in a few more weeks or more. If it tasted good at bottleing it shouldnt be bad after carbonation/conditioning generally although I think its hard to compare the finished hydro sample to the finished carbonated/conditoned end result. It just needs some time. However with age and you are still having issues then that is something to troubleshoot. John Palmer-How to brew (book/online) has good descriptions of common off tastes/flavors. Just let em sit for a while and see what happens with time.:mug:
 
I just tried my brown ale and was disappointed
. It seems the beer has developed an astringent aftertaste. I've been studying to death to figure this out. It seems mash ph could be the issue, inefficiency with the runoff, oversparging, bugs, green beer. It's a bit frustrating really, because the taste when botteling was good, it was a bit light / watery but it was good. I added corn sugar and 8oz of maltodextin at bottling. 5 gallon batch, all grain, sparge method, brown ale. 1968 london yeast, ferment temp 65, primary for 14 days, been in the bottle for a week.

any thoughts? i do notice that my sparge / runoff is relatively quick, it's done in about 10 minutes, and as a result my efficiency is about 57%. I've read elsewhere that it should take an hour, but i'm not sure how i would get mine to go that slow unless i barely opened ball valve on the mash tun.

You boys have any thoughts as to why my sparge is so quick? and perhaps what's contributing to my aftertaste? does green beer sometimes have a "strong aspirin" type aftertaste? beer looks great, smells good , has excellent head retention and tastes good in my mouth, it's just when i swallow it.

10 min runoff is way the hell too fast for either fly sparge or batch sparge. Slow your roll. Lauter more thoroughly. Run a nice clean wort after vorlauf. You are probably extracting tannins from your husky debris from running off so quickly.
 
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