I caved in...

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Ridire

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Porter (first brew) was in bottles for 12 days when I threw 2 in the fridge to have a taste. After only 24 hours, I did it, I cracked the first one after dinner.

It was perfectly carbonated and sounded like a "real beer" when I popped the cap. It looked good, it smelled good, I was stoked. The taste: it had a hint off something off (as I expected after reading all the "3 weeks in bottles" on here). I would describe it as what others have called green apple taste.

Was it horrible? I'll let you know when done with the second. I've already put another in the fridge to see what 4 days or so in the fridge will do to it. I'll stick a slew of them in the fridge next week at this time.
 
Forgot the pic.

image-924742818.jpg
 
pheasant39 said:
Looks good it will get better with time

Thanks. I know it needs a little more time. I'm certainly not doing the "what did I do wrong" thing. I know what I did wrong...I didn't wait long enough. Still not bad. Can't wait until next week.
 
Nice ! Send one here to Dayton. :)
I'm sure that they'll age just fine at room temperature after a few weeks. How long since you pitched?
 
jethro55 said:
Nice ! Send one here to Dayton. :)
I'm sure that they'll age just fine at room temperature after a few weeks. How long since you pitched?

Pitched Jan 12, so 4 weeks in ferm and two in bottles, if my math is correct.
 
Looks great, I have always wanted to make a porter but I can't seem to get away from my flavored Pales and IPAs.

I've been doing the same here in the past few weeks with my Pineapple Ale. It has finally aged and is not the best beer I've ever made but SWMBO and my friends have all said its phenomenal.

Took a gravity of my Citra IPA yesterday, OG of 1.070 and has dropped to 1.008, and it tasted great. On the borderline of being a IIPA according to Beersmith.
 
My stout was the same situation the very first one had a off taste. But I am now going about 3.5 weeks in the bottles and they are tasting better and better!!! IPA is up next!
 
histo320 said:
Looks great, I have always wanted to make a porter but I can't seem to get away from my flavored Pales and IPAs.

I've been doing the same here in the past few weeks with my Pineapple Ale. It has finally aged and is not the best beer I've ever made but SWMBO and my friends have all said its phenomenal.

Took a gravity of my Citra IPA yesterday, OG of 1.070 and has dropped to 1.008, and it tasted great. On the borderline of being a IIPA according to Beersmith.

I've got the IPA sitting in a carboy. I need to do some drinking to free up some bottles. Mine is only a 1.058 OG. My first IPA.
 
Yeah just give it a few weeks. I'd let it go at least 2 full months from the pitch date before I drank one. In other words put all your beers back where you got them and stop wasting them by drinking them too soon!
 
Upthewazzu said:
Yeah just give it a few weeks. I'd let it go at least 2 full months from the pitch date before I drank one. In other words put all your beers back where you got them and stop wasting them by drinking them too soon!

Wasn't wasted. I enjoyed it. Not a great beer but it was beer, and not horrible beer. I have 46 of 'em; I don't mind "wasting" a few.
 
Yeah just give it a few weeks. I'd let it go at least 2 full months from the pitch date before I drank one. In other words put all your beers back where you got them and stop wasting them by drinking them too soon!


If the beer is 6 weeks old, it's not young. I don't understand why someone wouldn't drink a perfectly good beer before a certain date- my beers are often gone before they are 8 weeks old!

Unless a beer is oak aged, has lots of complex malt flavors, or is high ABV, there isn't any reason to just sit on the bottles. By trying one (or two) now, you can make sure you drink them at their peak instead of an arbitrary date.

Sorry, but I think your advice is wrong.
 
I caved also tonight although mines only been in the bottle for 6 days. I've got a thread on here somewhere where I asked people to convince me not to drink one. I was really just joking in that post. I always taste a couple over the first weeks. Hell I taste the wort before hopping, before pitching my yeast and at every gravity reading (drink the sample). At bottling I poured off a full glass of this batch because it was damn good warm and flat. Tonight's bottle was slightly carbed (no head but I could feel the tingle) and very tasty. I'm not ashamed. It's my beer and I had a long day. Tasting my beer that I brewed is always a pickmeup (as long as its not a bad batch).
 
citingzero said:
I caved also tonight although mines only been in the bottle for 6 days. I've got a thread on here somewhere where I asked people to convince me not to drink one. I was really just joking in that post. I always taste a couple over the first weeks. Hell I taste the wort before hopping, before pitching my yeast and at every gravity reading (drink the sample). At bottling I poured off a full glass of this batch because it was damn good warm and flat. Tonight's bottle was slightly carbed (no head but I could feel the tingle) and very tasty. I'm not ashamed. It's my beer and I had a long day. Tasting my beer that I brewed is always a pickmeup (as long as its not a bad batch).

Your thread corrupted me, actually. I blame you...
 
There's no corruption. It's ok for you to blame me for tasting one. I will not, however, be blamed for the second. I tasted one but had other beer ready to quench my thirst :mug:
 
citingzero said:
There's no corruption. It's ok for you to blame me for tasting one. I will not, however, be blamed for the second. I tasted one but had other beer ready to quench my thirst :mug:

Have to blame someone, man. I can't be held responsible for my own actions.

Glad I cracked it today, by the way.
 
At least make sure you "lose" a couple for about 3-4 months. I made a stout early on that I drank a lot of really young and there was a sixer that I had forgotten about and found about 4 months in and I definitely noticed a large improvement. YMMV. That is one damn good looking beer though so I can't blame ya!
 
Have to say I'm with "upthewazzu" on this one to a certain extent.

I've frequently found porters, in particular, to be one of the styles that need a longer than average conditioning period before they get anywhere near their peak. Definitely drinkable up to that point but once they reach their peak you quickly realise why it would have been better to have forgone the sampling during early stages of conditioning so that there would have been more to drink that had reached perfection.
 
at least make sure you "lose" a couple for about 3-4 months. I made a stout early on that i drank a lot of really young and there was a sixer that i had forgotten about and found about 4 months in and i definitely noticed a large improvement. ymmv. That is one damn good looking beer though so i can't blame ya!

+1
 
Porter (first brew) was in bottles for 12 days when I threw 2 in the fridge to have a taste. After only 24 hours, I did it, I cracked the first one after dinner.

It was perfectly carbonated and sounded like a "real beer" when I popped the cap. It looked good, it smelled good, I was stoked. The taste: it had a hint off something off (as I expected after reading all the "3 weeks in bottles" on here). I would describe it as what others have called green apple taste.

Was it horrible? I'll let you know when done with the second. I've already put another in the fridge to see what 4 days or so in the fridge will do to it. I'll stick a slew of them in the fridge next week at this time.

give dude a break; for a first brew, waiting 12 days in bottle I think is pretty good

we were all this shiny once and I know I didn't last 12 days

get a pipeline going will make it much easier to wait, because you aren't so anxious to hurry the currently fermenting batch along
 
GrogNerd said:
give dude a break; for a first brew, waiting 12 days in bottle I think is pretty good

we were all this shiny once and I know I didn't last 12 days

get a pipeline going will make it much easier to wait, because you aren't so anxious to hurry the currently fermenting batch along

My first IPA goes in the bottles in a week.
 
What's the magic three week mark?

Mind you I agree with you that for the most part beer is ready to drink much faster than most people will admit.

But let me say I bottle condition about 60 degrees and it takes a solid 3 weeks or more to carb up. So during the winter with 2 weeks in the fermenter and 3 weeks to carb I am looking at 5 weeks before it is ready to drink.

I know I could speed things up some by warmer carbing temps but I have a big enough pipe line I do not worry so much about it :D
 
Noms!
Looks great. I am jealous. My porter is only a week in bottles so I have to wait that much longer.
 
Yooper said:
What's the magic three week mark?

I just always see a lot of posts that recommend leaving it in the bottle without touching it for 3 weeks. The sarcastic quotes are for people that are super serious and super against tasting before 3 weeks. What happened to the "relax" part of homebrewing?
 
I think you should try every brew you make one, two and three weeks out to see how they evolve. You didn't cave, you're just diligent in your quality control :)
 
I just always see a lot of posts that recommend leaving it in the bottle without touching it for 3 weeks. The sarcastic quotes are for people that are super serious and super against tasting before 3 weeks. What happened to the "relax" part of homebrewing?

Beats me! If I had to wait three weeks for my beer to have the "magic", I'd quit brewing!
Thanks for the reply- I was really a bit in the dark. :mug:
 
I am one of those who has found 3-4 weeks at room temp to be best. Generally, my beer seems to get better for the first 6 weeks at room temperature while bottle conditioning, but the difference between weeks 4 to 6 are not as dramatic as between weeks 2 to 4.
 
Beats me! If I had to wait three weeks for my beer to have the "magic", I'd quit brewing!
Thanks for the reply- I was really a bit in the dark. :mug:

I know that Revvy has a tendency to reference a video when people bring up bottle conditioned beer not tasting right. I don't have the link but it basically is a guy showing the difference between 1,2, and 3 weeks in the bottle. I believe that is where the three week group think thing comes from.
 
PhelanKA7 said:
I know that Revvy has a tendency to reference a video when people bring up bottle conditioned beer not tasting right. I don't have the link but it basically is a guy showing the difference between 1,2, and 3 weeks in the bottle. I believe that is where the three week group think thing comes from.

Empirically, I think most people find their bottle conditioned beers' improvement curve starts to flatten around 3 weeks. I have not seen the video you referenced and don't think groupthink accounts for the 3 week consensus (such as it is.)
 
Empirically, I think most people find their bottle conditioned beers' improvement curve starts to flatten around 3 weeks. I have not seen the video you referenced and don't think groupthink accounts for the 3 week consensus (such as it is.)

I agree to a certain extent but personally I'm generally satisfied with carbonation at two weeks and about one week or less for low abv wheat beers. And then I have beers that just aren't worth opening up for a month or more. I think three weeks is a gross over-generalization and isn't really helpful for anyone.

I think from Revvy and others' perspectives that tout the "three week rule" is that it is something to tell people posting threads without doing a search for why their beer tastes like crap after two days in the bottle.
 
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