Did I just wreck a good thing?

Well 3 weeks ago I made my first extract kit, a pale ale, & today I bottled it. When I moved it from the primary to secondary 2 weeks ago I tasted it and it was GOOD! I honestly was impressed however I sampled some today while bottling and it was boring and just "ehh"..

Here may be the issue. My yield was 3.5 gallons thanks to evaporation while boiling, to try and curb this slightly I boiled 2qts of water with the priming sugar to help restore some volume instead of the 1 cup. When all was said and done I tasted a small glass of it and it just was bland, no real complex flavor or character.

So did I goof and wreck a good thing or will it develop over the 3 weeks in the bottles?

Thanks!
Zack

I kind of did the same thing for my first batch...used too much water when bottling, but it all turned out brilliantly. I wouldn't worry too much about it right now since there is nothing you can do about it anyway. About every two days or so I would pop a bottle and taste it...which I highly recommend for your first brew. It really is amazing how much it changes as the beer carbonates, clears, and flavors blend. Give it time, pop one every now and then enjoy the fruits of your labor. RDWHAHB as they say!

Is it okay to top it off to five gallons at the end of the secondary before kegging?

drsocc said:

Is it okay to top it off to five gallons at the end of the secondary before kegging?

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The best way to top off is to do it in the primary. Or, if you have a big enough brew pot just make a "5g" mark on the inside of it. If you get below that, just add some water while you are boiling. For all the flavors to really melt together, your best bet is to do a full boil...or add water to your primary (after boiling and cooling of course).

drsocc said:

Is it okay to top it off to five gallons at the end of the secondary before kegging?

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If you are losing volume through, you would want to compensate for that with your pre-fermentation volume/recipe. Beer lost to racking and such is just a sacrifice to the beer gods

You don't really want to water your beer down just to have an even 5 gallons after all.... If you got a short pint at the bar, would you want the bar tender topping it off w/ water?

As long as you boiled the water, you can top it up and it'll be OK. Maybe not the best, but it won't ruin the batch. And don't worry about the beer tasting thin while you're bottling, it almost always tastes like that before it goes into bottles.

TwoHeadsBrewing said:

I kind of did the same thing for my first batch...used too much water when bottling, but it all turned out brilliantly. I wouldn't worry too much about it right now since there is nothing you can do about it anyway. About every two days or so I would pop a bottle and taste it...which I highly recommend for your first brew. It really is amazing how much it changes as the beer carbonates, clears, and flavors blend. Give it time, pop one every now and then enjoy the fruits of your labor. RDWHAHB as they say!

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I would not recommend starting to taste the beer after two days. After two days it will taste exactly like the day you bottled it and you will now have one less bottle. I would suggest you wait at least a week before trying any of the bottles. Then sample at your own intervals to see the changes. Just my $0.02

Go Gators said:

I would not recommend starting to taste the beer after two days. After two days it will taste exactly like the day you bottled it and you will now have one less bottle. I would suggest you wait at least a week before trying any of the bottles. Then sample at your own intervals to see the changes. Just my $0.02

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YMMV, but I was ablel to taste a dicernable difference after two days. It wasn't a big difference, but it was interesting to get an idea of how and when a beer changes over time. Waiting a week would surely not hurt anything. I've only done this with my first batch, just to see what is happening in the bottle. With my last two batches, I let it sit in bottles for 2 weeks before cracking one.

Not sure what YMMV is, but I didn't mean to come across hostile...just thought that it could be a waste of a beer unless you have a really sensitive taste pallet, and know what you are looking for.

Go Gators said:

Not sure what YMMV is, but I didn't mean to come across hostile...just thought that it could be a waste of a beer unless you have a really sensitive taste pallet, and know what you are looking for.

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YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary

IMHO taste your beer when ever you want. Personally, I don't bother cracking a bottle open anymore until 2.5~3 weeks.

brewt00l said:

IMHO taste your beer when ever you want. Personally, I don't bother cracking a bottle open anymore until 2.5~3 weeks.

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Me too....I feel there's no point, you can't really judge anything either taste or carbonation wise until it's getting close to fully carbed and bottleconditioned.

And for most regular beers that's 3 weeks@70 deg f.

I wouldn't be worried. You could always claim you made a "light" beer if it still tastes bland without much body. Sell it to some friends for a few bucks a sixer and at least recover your ingredient cost.

Well I guess this is truly one of those "time will tell scenarios" I just thought the dramatic change in taste might be a signal of less than palatable things to come...

I'll report back with what happens!