Opened my first bottle from my first batch today...

And it was OK, but just OK. I brewed a Nukey Brown Ale from Northern Brewers on June 20th. It sat in primary for 3 weeks then secondary for 2 weeks and finally in the bottle for 2 weeks (OK, it would be 2 weeks tomorrow). Oh yeah, and the last 2 days in the fridge.

The beer poured with a nice head and the taste was in line with what I expected. The OK part comes from a bit of an after taste. I've read posts about esters and descriptions of off tastes but I'm not sure if this is one of those. I can say when you are swallowing it tastes great, it's just that when you stop, there is this taste/aroma thing. Is that an ester?

Anyway, I am going to celebrate by drinking another one and then brewing an Extra Pale Ale tomorrow. Thanks to all for answering all my n00b questions and for so many great ideas to make this next go round even better!

Taste/aroma thing could be many things. Give it a little more time to condition and I'm sure you'll be pleased.

double_e5 said:

Taste/aroma thing could be many things. Give it a little more time to condition and I'm sure you'll be pleased.

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+1 on this!

As an example I had a brew recently that after three weeks of bottle conditioning was awful - very estery with an astringent aftertaste. After two months, it's now really nice. This was a higher gravity brew (1.079) and I just hadn't given it enough time.

I've had Pales and Bitters sometimes take an extra week or two to come into line as well.

RDWHAHB!

No worries on the RDWHAHB, I plan on doing just that. I think this beer will come around but I wish I could describe the taste/whatever so I could figure out what to do better or different on this next batch.

Maybe somebody could post a "taste this" link

You could read This section of How To Brew and see if any of the flavors described match your impressions.

Whatever you end up doing -- make sure you start the next batch (or... if you have already started another -- start another after that).

Really... can you ever have too much beer?

Agreed on the let it sit. It's happened a few times to me as well. At 3 weeks there just something "off" about it. A few weeks after that, it's spectacular.

Thanks for the link weirdboy (gotta love that handle ) I read through the different descriptions and I can't really say any of them hit home. Maybe I can hook up with one of the more experienced San Diego area people from the forum and let them have a sample - professional critique.

Anyway, tomorrow is a brew day - an Extra Pale Ale and my first "full boil". Also, I get to try out my new burner & brew pot. All things considered it's like the sticker on my SUV says, No bad days

Congrats on the first. They only get better with time and so will you!

weirdboy said:

You could read This section of How To Brew and see if any of the flavors described match your impressions.

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Thanks for posting this! I was trying to figure out the kind of odd aftertaste from my first brew and this really helped

first "full boil". Also, I get to try out my new burner & brew pot.
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Moving to a full boil will help with the hops utilization and reduce scorching the malt. Your definitely stepping up.
Are you able to keep the wort at a good even temperature during active primary fermentation?
Outside of sanitization, and good ingredients it is the most critical factor.
You can look up swamp coolers here, just a tub, bottled ice and a wet towel can really help keep it in a good range.

My first pale ale SUCKED for the first like 5 or 6 weeks. It had no hop aroma and had some funny after taste. Sure enough by the time I had about 6 of them left (gotta drink em green early on, it's a rite of passage) they were so on point! Maltyness and hop aroma had perfectly balanced out. The carb was good pretty much after 10 days or so but the flavor was **** until about 6 weeks. I'd recommend just buying some commercial brew for the bottles and leave yours alone for another 4 weeks, if you can!