My first taste!

I popped open the first of my homebrew on Friday. An American Amber from a Brewers Best kit. Been in the bottle 2 weeks.

I was a little disappointed at first; it had a definite roughness to it. Later on, going through the list of off flavors in Palmers "How To Brew", I determined it was definitely a green apple flavor. A little more time, and I think this will really be good.

Opened another on Saturday, just to see if a different bottle would have a different flavor, and lo and behold, this one had much less of the green apple. I got SWMBO (not much of a beer drinker) to try it. She said it tasted good, but a little harsh. Right now, I'll take that as a compliment!

Can't wait to try the weizen I bottled last Monday! :rockin:

Give it a minimum of three weeks in the bottle before tasting or you'll be chasing "off flavors" for a long time.

I've noticed that some of my beers don't come into their own until around 4-5 weeks in the bottle.

I just posted about a similar experience with my first ever beer. I tried it after only 1 week in primary, then only 2 weeks in the bottle. I was sorely disapointed. I thought I just sucked at brewing, haha. Then again after 3 weeks, it's like the flavors all came together. AMAZING what time can do. I can't wait to see what it will taste like in another couple weeks

My first brew, a brown ale, was a horrible mistake at three weeks but turned into an amazingly delicious beer at five.

Yeah, I knew from all the info on this site, that two weeks was a little quick, but I was anxious to try my own brew. This beer was in primary for 18 days, and bottled on 6/4. I'll be taking some of it to the beach with me next week.

I also have a weizen I brewed on 6/6 and bottled on 6/15. I'll test that at the end of this week, and if it's not horrible, will take 6 - 12 of them with me as well. I figure they'll be decent by the end of vacation??? And the rest will have another week to rest while I'm relaxing in the sand.

My only problem now, is that I can't brew until I get back from vacation. Our AC will be off while we're out of town, and I'm afraid it may get too warm while I'm gone, since I won't be there to provide an ice bath for the fermenter.

Oh well, I see more microbrews in my future, until I get my pipeline going! :rockin:

I know how hard it is. Having started only a few months ago it's hard because you don't really have anything else to keep you away from your beer. Now that I have a few beers in the bottle and a few on tap it's easier to leave the others alone until they are ready.

This is the draw back to kegging. Mine usually get drank after a week on gas

carbon111 said:

Give it a minimum of three weeks in the bottle before tasting or you'll be chasing "off flavors" for a long time.

I've noticed that some of my beers don't come into their own until around 4-5 weeks in the bottle.

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+1. It is amazing how much difference that extra week or two makes to the taste of the beer. On my first brew I was impatient and anxious to try (like so many others), I opened a bottle after a week and drunk it. It didn't taste all that bad, but I woke up in the middle of the night with stomach pain.

2 weeks later the beer was awesome tasting.

ChshreCat said:

My first brew, a brown ale, was a horrible mistake at three weeks but turned into an amazingly delicious beer at five.

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My second batch was a right royal mess up. Overshot the gravity by miles (1.060 when it should have been 1.040) Bottled after three weeks (which is a mistake, I think for something this size). After three weeks in the bottles, it was okay but a bit wrong tasting and gave me a wicked hangover. 6-7 weeks later it's very good; it tastes like a belgian beer. I only have 1 left.

It's done its maturing in the bottle.