Tasting Throughout the Process

What are the best times to test your beer (or wort) throughout the whole process? I thought I read somewhere you can sip the cooled wort and get a good feeling if the beer came out ok... And I'm assuming you can taste during and after primary fermentation, and at bottling... Am I wrong on any of these? Will tasting any of these stages give you a warped sense of the beer?

I took a tiny sip today of mine after a hydrometer test... It has been in the primary for four days and seems to have reached a gravity equilibrium. I'm wondering how accurate this tasting is, and if it will taste anything like the final product, because, frankly, it tasted like crap. It smelled good but it had a very strong alcohol taste, almost like drinking a wine. I'd like to know what that means, if anything.

Thanks ahead of time if anyone can give me some insight into this stuff...

Thanks!!

What you were tasting is GREEN uncarbonated beer. 3-4 weeks in the bottle make all the difference in the world!

it is good to taste the beer throughout, train your palate. will take a few batches start to finish for you to learn what you are tasting, what ages out, what doesn't, etc.

That's what I hoped to hear, thanks guys!

Agree. I taste at every hydrometer reading, which for all grain is pretty much:

(1) Pre-boil.
(2) Post-boil (OG).
(3) Anytime I check to see if FG achieved.
(4) If racking to secondary, then at racking.
(5) Kegging.

You can't tell everything from earlier tastings, but you can tell some things. You won't get any yeast flavors from a pre-boil tasting, but you can tell if you've got too many tannins. When you're starting, taste frequently and train the palette, because pre-fermentation tastings generally taste like nasty sweet crap.

In your case, four days isn't enough. I wouldn't even say you've reached FG, because the general definition of FG is when it doesn't change for three days -- a constant SG over two days doesn't necessarily mean it won't move again later. Even if its at FG, that's not enough time for the yeast to clean up the off flavors they produced in fermentation. My absolute quickest primary time is six days, and that's only for low gravity hefes. Many beers require several weeks to several months before they taste good... If you give the style and OG, we can guesstimate about how long it will take, but its not an exact science.

It is a British Bitter Ale Extract from NB - Beer Properties as listed by NB.

My OG post-boil, pre-yeast was 1.030. My SG at day 3 and 4 were both 1.010. Day 3's taste seemed like it had a bit more alcohol than day 4. The beer started out at around 76F during the first day, but has since dropped to 64F.

I have just purchased a second glass carboy because I was hoping to get a second batch in the pipeline, but I have been thinking I could use it now as secondary fermenter instead, even though the recipe does not call for secondary fermentation. Any thoughts there?

Generally I'm against secondary for beers. Unless you've going to be leaving in the fermenter for more than two months, or you've doing additions in secondary (adding wood, fruit, etc.), you probably won't notice a difference between a secondary versus a longer primary. Racking over is work and introduces risks of contamination, oxidation, etc., plus transfer losses. I personally wouldn't put a bitter in secondary, but I would leave it in primary for a minimum of two weeks, ideally for about a month. That "tastes like alcohol" flavor should dissipate fairly quickly.