What would I expect if I cheated?

No, don't need marriage advice....ha ha...but, if some of ya'll have been following my stupid newbie questions this first week, you'd know that I think my first batch ever of brew, American Amber BB kit, is trashed. It just didn't look nor tasted like beer when I racked to the bottles last Friday. One week in the primary (bubbling was finished) one week in the secondary and now one week in the bottle. I should wait for two weeks in the bottles, I know, but I just can't help it. Driving me nuts. If this batch is toast, then I want to dump in out , clean the bottles and make room for some actual good brew. My techniques were all FU'ed for the first round and I suspect a LOT of things went wrong. If I pop one open, after chlling and being this "early", would I expect to tast something like beer but may need more time? Any pointers?

It might be flat but the basic elements of its character will be there. If you don't need the bottles right away I would say hang on to them for a bit just to see what happens, for the knowledge and learning if nothing else. It seems to me the idea is to learn to make better beer and that happens in part by learning from our less then amazing brews.

I botched my second brew and was tempted to dump the bottles. But I'm forcing myself to drink through the batch. (as penance perhaps?) But the longer they are in the bottles, the less horrible they taste. Maybe that's no suprise. So I would say let them sit for a couple weeks and give it another taste

I'm pretty new to this hobby, but seems your beer is way to young. I would wait 2 weeks before I bothered tasting. I think you'll be supprised. Stick to the simple formula of 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary and 3 weeks in the jug. Seems to be the 90% fool proof method.

Ol' Grog said:

No, don't need marriage advice....ha ha...but, if some of ya'll have been following my stupid newbie questions this first week, you'd know that I think my first batch ever of brew, American Amber BB kit, is trashed. It just didn't look nor tasted like beer when I racked to the bottles last Friday. One week in the primary (bubbling was finished) one week in the secondary and now one week in the bottle. I should wait for two weeks in the bottles, I know, but I just can't help it. Driving me nuts. If this batch is toast, then I want to dump in out , clean the bottles and make room for some actual good brew. My techniques were all FU'ed for the first round and I suspect a LOT of things went wrong. If I pop one open, after chlling and being this "early", would I expect to tast something like beer but may need more time? Any pointers?

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You can actually make quite a few mistakes and still have good homebrew. Making excellent homebrew is less forgiving.

Go ahead and drink one. You'll likely have a bit of carbonation forming. Be warned though. It's going to taste so much better in two weeks. And even better in six.

Never be hasty to pour out homebrew. Like I said you can make a lot of mistakes and it still be good and it always gets better with time.

If you still think you need to pour it out, you can bring it to me. I'll trade you out for clean bottles!

I share your pain. My first brew, a Scottish Ale, spent 10 days in the primary and then I bottled. It was three weeks before it had a decent flavor. 5 weeks before I called it drinkable. Now that its been 6 weeks, its really good.

Appreciat the reply's. Seems everyone is conjunction....leave it the hell alone for a while. This brings up another question...I've read the 1-2-3 rule and a lot others. One week in the primary seems to be universal, now 2 weeks in the secondary, that remains debatable. Is there any particular reasoning behind the two week in secondary rule? The LHBS pro told me to use the 1-1-2 rule. From what I've read, the secondary serves as a clarifier more or less. If the secondary is not bubbling, then is there any particular advantage to leave it in there for one week then go to bottling? It would seem that they all serve the same hypothesis, clarifying only.

I’m talking somewhat out of my ass here, because I haven’t done it yet. I’ll be racking to a secondary for the first time tomorrow night. But that’ll be a secondary with fruit in it, so really its more like a second primary.

Some fermentation may continue to take place in the secondary. It all depends on how available the sugar was for the yeast to digest in the primary, if it was racked too early, or if the fermentation became “stuck” in the primary and restarted in the secondary. But I think its mostly about giving the beer extra time to allow sediment to fall out (so it doesn’t end up in the bottle) and allowing more time for flavors to improve.

It also seems to be a general rule that the higher the gravity of the beer or the more complex flavor profile you are going for, the longer it should sit in a secondary.

HEY!!!! What's wrong with 3.2 beer???? That's ALL we get here in Oklahoma. ha ha haha

Its was said by a lady pulling pints in the beer tent at the Oktoberfest I went to last weekend.

3.2 is all that can be bought in Utah unless it is sold in a State Liquor Store, consumed at a bar or in a beer tent.

I had to dump my first batch due to contamination. I bottled my Weizenbier last Saturday and tried on tonight (Thursday). I agree with BrewPastor, my Weizenbier is flat but the beer taste is there. Give it some time in the bottle and I should get better unless you have a contamination problem.

Good luck.

Ol' Grog said:

From what I've read, the secondary serves as a clarifier more or less. If the secondary is not bubbling, then is there any particular advantage to leave it in there for one week then go to bottling? It would seem that they all serve the same hypothesis, clarifying only.

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The advantage is the beer clears and thus you avoid bottling that yeasty sludge that gives homebrew a bad rap. I was away and had to leave a batch in secondary for 3 weeks and so far it's been my best. There's a ice cold mug of it right next to the keypad..yummy.

I've been keeping my batches in primary for 11 to 14 days, then in secondary for 14 days minimum.

My first batch is in bottles now for 5 days, and I'll be waiting another two weeks and two days before I sample my first bottle of that first batch on October 15th. It'll be 42 days old by then and more than three weeks in the bottle. I want that first bottle of homebrew I open to be memorable, in a good way.

Ol' Grog said:

No, don't need marriage advice....ha ha...but, if some of ya'll have been following my stupid newbie questions this first week, you'd know that I think my first batch ever of brew, American Amber BB kit, is trashed. It just didn't look nor tasted like beer when I racked to the bottles last Friday. One week in the primary (bubbling was finished) one week in the secondary and now one week in the bottle. I should wait for two weeks in the bottles, I know, but I just can't help it. Driving me nuts. If this batch is toast, then I want to dump in out , clean the bottles and make room for some actual good brew. My techniques were all FU'ed for the first round and I suspect a LOT of things went wrong. If I pop one open, after chlling and being this "early", would I expect to tast something like beer but may need more time? Any pointers?

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I haven't read any other replies on this thread, but I want to answer with my perspective now, because I was in the same boat you are two or three weeks ago. I brewed my first batch last month, and later found out that my airlock setup was wrong, which led me to fret about possible infection in the beer. Sure enough, when I racked to secondary, I took a taste, and I wasn't very impressed. Two weeks later, I bottled, and it tasted absolutely horrible. I then waited a week, and tried a bottle (too early, but like you, I was impatient). It tasted pretty bad, but it seemed there was improvement. After two weeks, it was actually drinkable. Coming close to three weeks in the bottles now, it's actually good. Not great, but good.

The main thing here is patience. A good conditioned beer takes time, and is well worth the wait. If that's not what you want to hear, believe me, I sympathize! But, it is the truth.

Good luck.

I always let the beer sit in the secondary for a few weeks. I kinda practice the 1-3-4 rule. Sometimes I use the 2-4-4 rule, and occasionally I use the 2-6-6 rule. If you leave the beer in the primary and secondary for a longer period of time, it's not going to hurt, and may greatly improve your beer. If you don't leave it in the primary/secondary long enough... you may end up with bottle bombs and sediment laden beer.

I'm dying to see how my American Pilsner turned out. I'm hoping that it ends up tasting like Bud or Miller. (call me sick, I know. But that style is hard to nail down. Its a real challenge, and I like a challenge.) But the beer was bottled on Sept. 22nd. Its only Oct. 6. I need to give it AT LEAST another week before I open a bottle. It's killing me. Patience is hard. Thats why I suggest gathering enough bottles so that you can brew a couple, or even three batches in rapid succession. Build up a stockpile so that some of the brew can age. You'll be rewarded with some tasty brews... trust me.