Bottle Variation?

Howdy.
Long time lurker, first time poster.

We recently brewed a Bock. It has been enjoyable but not great so far but I attribute that to it only being bottle for 2.5 weeks. I know it will get better with more time in the bottle.

Here is my question....
How much bottle variation is normal?

Last night we had 3 beers.....
1st one...typical for the batch so far. Very thin head, but decent carbonation. Still a little young, but coming along nicely.
2nd one...beautiful thick rocky tan head, nice sweet malty flavor profile, decent mouth feel but not as heavy as I like in a Bock. This was a Wow beer.
3rd one....typical for the batch but with a acrid bitterness.

Pretty much they all have been on track with the first one mentioned above but #2 & #3 threw me off.

I've noticed similar things before. I had a couple (extract) batches like that. After another couple weeks, they all evened off, I chalked it up to small variances in contents.

Probably the difference in carb/head could be improper mixing of priming sugar.If you didn't gently stir it in then you may not have mixed it completely--done it myself.
The bitter one may be from suspended yeast in the bottle.It may have been one of the last ones bottled and have gotten more yeast sediment than the others.I've noticed green beer can have a tannic quality about it until all the yeast have fallen.
Advice is--You guessed it.Wait.Your beer will improve with age.I know,sounds like a broken record but it's all true.After warm conditioning,a couple weeks in the fridge will do wonders for it.Then all will be WOW beers.

jpowers1 said:

After another couple weeks, they all evened off, I chalked it up to small variances in contents.

Click to expand...

YUP!!!

If a few bottles are carbed and some aren't, really isn't about improperly mixed solution...it really mixes itself pretty well on it's own just by racking the beer on top of the solution in the bottling bucket...it usually really means the beers not ready yet...each bottle is it's own little microcosm, some even right next to otheres may merely be a tad warmer, and THAT could affect why one beer is done carbing and the other isn't. Waiting another week, and you will more than likely have them ALL carbed...

I have had beers take 8 weeks to carb and condition...It's a natural process...so it has it's own agenda based on the OG of the beer AND the temp of the bottles...

It is ACTUALLY theoretically possible to not add any priming sugar and with time to have the beer carb up (for lower grab beer like yours) In fact old english brewing books have recipes that DON'T add sugar...I ran some of the recipes though beersmith, and that corroborated that fact.

You just need more time, that's all I never worry unless it's 8 weeks for a normal grav beer..heck my 1.090 OG Belgian strong took 3 MONTHS to carb....

Read this;
Revvy's Blog, Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

Thanks for the responses!

yeah, I am not so much worried about it as I am curious.

Thanks again!

Made a bock. Drank it early (3 wks). Hated it.

Waited. Drank it later (another 3 wks). It's awesome.

Now that I have a pipeline full it is easier to wait and I find after 4-5 weeks the beer is WAY better than 3 weeks.

Question.
It has been 3 weeks in the bottle @ 68-70* in my spare bedroom. Would moving this batch to the basement where it is 10* cooler benefit the beer?

Not if you want them to carb and conditioning sooner....cooler temps=slower yeast activity....