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gdenmark

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So my first batch that I brewed was a Robust Porter. I tried it after a week and still had a pretty green taste I felt like. After two to two and half weeks it had a decent flavor, it was not anything special but drinkable you could say. My roommates and I drank quite a few of them but tried another one a week and a half after that. It had a really different taste and was not quite as good as it had been before. What would be a reasoning for that to happen? I stored them in a closet that was around 66 to 72 degrees. I kept them out of direct sunlight as well. Thanks for the help.
 
hmmmm. Well like I said that first batch was a porter and it was the first batch I ever did. So it was chilled at a decent rate, but it could have been done better. I am just wondering why it tasted alright and then just after a week and a half it was not the same and not quite as good of a beer?
 
I asked because, if the first beers you tasted spent 2-3 days in the fridge and tasted good...but the second set were pulled out of the closet chilled down for an hour or two then chugged, it would have a big impact on the taste.
 
o okay you meant more in the sense of chilled in the fridge. Well actually the beers that I did not think tasted quite as good did only chill for a couple of hours. I still have some left in the fridge right now maybe I will try those and see if the fridge time makes a difference. Thanks for your input.
 
Ive had beers quick chilled that tasted better than the ones in a fridge a few days.(15 min ice bath)
I think you may be tasting a sweeter not all the way carbed beer. It may just need like 5 or more weeks from my experience 6 week beer is better than 3 week beer.Also depends what taste is in your mouth from food or actually your alkalinity/acidity balance i beleive this is a big factor because i get so many inconsistancies, but i like drinking to the evoulution of my beer i enjoy tasting the change over time.
 
Give that porter another few weeks and it will be better still. I like to leave mine in the refrigerator at least 24 hours and more time is also better. Once you get to really liking that beer, let one sit out after chilling it and warm up for an hour. The flavors will really pop out from being a little warmer.
 
Beer changes over time. Usually the flavors will mellow with age. Is the flavor more muted now then it was when you first tried it? If so, brew a beer that has even more of that flavor you enjoy and when it mellows a bit it will be perfect.
 
I'll be the pessimist here (since I'm in a funky bad mood tonight for no good reason).

If indeed the beer started tasting a little less good after a couple weeks, and its not so much a 'sour' or otherwise 'infected' flavor but just a 'its not as good'...I'd suspect oxidation. It causes the beer to go 'stale' sooner than it would in real life.

Porter is typically a beer that isn't great at first, but after a couple months in the bottle comes into its own. Teh more robust or imperial the porter, the longer it'll probably take to hit that peak flavor.

Many describe oxidation as a 'wet cardboard/newspaper' flavor.

Sometimes its just one bottle that got oxidized while filling. Sometimes the bottles don't age at the same rate.

And too, as beers mellow they can change several times. Especially with yeast in the bottle and priming sugar, the beer is 'alive and evolving' for some time.
 
Well if you know wich ones had bubbles in as in oxidize then drink them first.I usually do this with my last beer bottled because i havent rigged a tube to the botteling spout yet and usually oxidizes the crap out of my last one, this one i drink first.Never had cardboard yet.I did make a irish blonde and had used a cotten tea bag to filter with the auto siphon and it oxidized the crap out of it,(not doing that again)because alot of the hardendkrausen got into the beer so it bubbled the crap out of the beer so i ended up pulling it off and just racked the last half so im thinking i need to drink these soon.
 
malkore said:
I'll be the pessimist here (since I'm in a funky bad mood tonight for no good reason).

If indeed the beer started tasting a little less good after a couple weeks, and its not so much a 'sour' or otherwise 'infected' flavor but just a 'its not as good'...I'd suspect oxidation. It causes the beer to go 'stale' sooner than it would in real life.

Porter is typically a beer that isn't great at first, but after a couple months in the bottle comes into its own. Teh more robust or imperial the porter, the longer it'll probably take to hit that peak flavor.

Many describe oxidation as a 'wet cardboard/newspaper' flavor.

Sometimes its just one bottle that got oxidized while filling. Sometimes the bottles don't age at the same rate.

And too, as beers mellow they can change several times. Especially with yeast in the bottle and priming sugar, the beer is 'alive and evolving' for some time.
Click to expand...

Yep. Pessimistic and a rather huge leap to make given the little info we had. Nothing he said other than "A week and a half later" would suggest oxidation.

I know you have a lot more brewing experience than me, but that sounds like a pretty heavy-handed diagnosis to put in a newb's head...dontcha think?
 
Well. Ya I am a little overwhelmed with the feedback. This was only my first batch that I tried. The first batch like I said is okay but not really too great of flavor. My second batch has turned out much better. Anyways I understand what oxidation is in a sense of biology and technical terms. What exactly do you guys mean by the oxidizing in the bottles? How does that happen?
 

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