safe to drink when?

Alright, brewed my second batch of beer--a munich amber something or other--and things got busy so it sat in the primary for three weeks. I bottled last night and now comes the waiting. By the way, I didn't do secondary because I don't have a carboy yet.

Anyway, I was wondering how long I have to wait before giving one of these a taste. My first batch I waited two weeks and it seemed ready, although they got better after a few more weeks. I was just wondering if because I left them in the primary so long (bottled my first batch after a week), do I have to wait the two to three weeks to try one? When will they be drinkable? Cheers.

Do yourself a favor. Get to creating your next recipe and turn your thoughts towards that. It'll help keep your mind of those beers calling your name.

In answer, we're all been guilty of sampling bottles before they were ready.

My rule of thumb was 21 days in the bottles at 72 degrees and then into the fridge for one week.

You can drink them at any time, however there will be yeast off-flavours for 2-4 weeks. I used a wine fermentor to dry-hop an APA and developed a bad habit of filling a pint or two from the spigot. Very tasty, but played hell with the bowels.

it needs a full week just to carb. it'll really taste best after 3 weeks in the bottle.

primary for 3 weeks, primary for 1 week and a 2 week secondary...either way that's 3 weeks and doesn't count for bottle conditioning/aging.

you can taste 1 a week to see how they're coming...regular beers usually peek at 6 weeks or longer

DeathBrewer said:

you can taste 1 a week to see how they're coming...regular beers usually peek at 6 weeks or longer

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Are you serious?

What am I going to do for 4-6 weeks? BUY my beer? haha.

I tried my beer after one week. Just a beer. It had a real after taste. It smelled good. It tasted good, but the after taste was a little tough.

Is that because is was green?

probably. it's sometimes hard to determine what the final taste will be at just one week, but it's always interesting to see how it's coming along

Cheers DB. You always to seem to ease my mind....:rockin:

Nothing wrong with sampling along the way. I normally try a couple at 1 week, then a couple more at 2 weeks just to see how it's coming along. That should get you through those 3 weeks of waiting.

Go grab some of your favorite micro to hold you over until yours is ready, and get your next brew session(s) planned.

Be it 1-2-3 or 3-3, six weeks is the minimum for 98% of beers.