Aging

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mbrady64

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I started my first batch of homebrew about three weeks ago. I bought a beginners kit because it sounded like a good way to start and learn the techniques and steps. After the two weeks of carbonation, I couldn't help but to crack a bottle and see how it tasted. It was okay, but had a bit of a nasty after taste. I was wondering how much another three weeks of aging would affect the taste of the beer? Thanks for the help!
 
Three weeks of aging is good to start, but if it has a "nasty" aftertaste, I'm not sure that will be fixed with aging. Could you describe the bad taste? for example, is it sour, medicinal, fruity, ashy, etc. That would help us figure out what happened. Also, please post your recipe, the yeast, the OG and FG, and your procedure. It looks like you bottled it about a week after beginning? We can help you figure out what caused that after taste. Some times young beer isn't very good, but usually doesn't have an aftertaste.
 
I have yet to bottle after one week.

In fact, the shortest length of time I've ever waited before bottling is 3 weeks.

Many people here swear by the 1-2-3 rule...

1 week primary
2 weeks secondary
3 weeks bottle conditioning

I really did not like the taste of my first few beers so much that I had almost given up brewing. Then I tried some noob brew again 3 months later and it was more than drinkable it was actually damn tasty! Don't give up and exercise patience.
 
I generally modify the 1-2-3 rule to 2-2-4 just to start. Sometimes the "4" needs to be 6 or 8. Every beer is different.
 
Guys,
Thanks for the feedback. The after taste was a little sour. I think we might have had a bacterial infection. The instructions that came with the beginners kit never said anything about a secondary fermenter. I have heard about using the secondary, but the owner of my local home brew store said it wasn't necessary. I suppose I should use it in later batches. The directions also were fairly unclear. For example, after the wort had been boiling for the sixty minutes or so, the directions made it sound like you were to let the wort cool in the fermenter instead of the pot that had just been on the burner. So my partner and I dumped the wort into the fermenter and then cooled it as rapidly as possibly in a sink full of freezing cold water. I did more research later that day and found that you should let the wort cool in the original boiling pot. We also had a broken thermometer, so when we were heating up the crushed grains in the beginning, they started to boil. I immediately took it off the burner because the directions said not to let it boil. My father used to home brew, and I remember him always sanitizing everything. My partner and I were good with the sanitation, but I don't think we were careful enough. I think all of these factors together contributed to the off taste. But I guess practice makes perfect huh? Thanks again for the help.
 
Sour / acidic beer... sounds like infection. You can skip secondary, but I'd use a glass carboy or better bottle as the main and only fermenter if you're wanting to do that. Pouring hot wort into a plastic fermenter is never advised.
 
Depending on your definition of "sour", that taste could also be tannins from grains steeped at too high a temperature. Alternately, it could just be green -- my first brew had a harsh flavor that I could only describe as "the bottom end of hops flavor" that went away after a few more weeks in the bottle. I am still trying to develop patience -- I have a porter that is just now getting really good (three months later), but is nearly gone. So sad.
 
Well, if it's sour-ish, there are two possibilites to my mind. Both have been mentioned- "green" beer tastes a bit sour at times, until the flavors blend. Infection (particularly lactobacillus) can cause sour. An easy way to know- if it gets better, it's green beer. If it gets worse, it's infection.

While your techniques weren't perfect, nothing you mentioned can cause the sour taste, unless your sanitation was spotty. My vote is that some aging well help this beer, and that it's probably not infected.
 
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