First Attempt at Brewing

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Imacfrog

Active Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2017
Messages
39
Reaction score
3
Location
Boothbay
Bottled my first batch of beer today, a Honey Porter from a Northern Brewer kit. Everything seemed to go well and now I am just waiting another 2 weeks in order to begin the drinking stage of the process.

Quick question, is the flat beer that comes out of the fermentation stage any indication of the beer itself? The taste of the flat beet was awesome as well as the aroma of the brew. :mug:

Life is much too short not to enjoy a cold beer! I think I'll have another!
 
My experience is, if the beer tastes good before carbonating, it will almost certainly taste good at the end.
 
I've never had a beer get worse so... you should be fine. I've had warm flat beers taste bad (usual case) but once carbonated and chilled taste great.
 
I agree. If it tastes good when bottling, you should be fine. At worst, you will have flat beer that tastes good in a few weeks. I love most of the NB kits, and I make them often. What I don't love are fizz drops. I've switched to Domino "dots" which are cheaper and do a better job in carbonating. My last two NB brews with the fizz drops turned out really flat.
 
I agree. If it tastes good when bottling, you should be fine. At worst, you will have flat beer that tastes good in a few weeks. I love most of the NB kits, and I make them often. What I don't love are fizz drops. I've switched to Domino "dots" which are cheaper and do a better job in carbonating. My last two NB brews with the fizz drops turned out really flat.

Yep this ^^^! Thanks to Flars, I switched to Domino Sugar Cubes instead fizz drops. I have used sugar cubes for about 3 months and have noticed a much faster carbonation and much better head retention. As mentioned, cubes cost about 1/3 as much as fizz drops.
 
WRT to the finished beer, the cold will tamp down some of the aroma and flavor and make the alcohol more noticeable, while the CO2 will add a bit of bite. When my SG sample smells and tastes strong, I know I did pretty well.
 
Paraphrasing Yoda from Star Wars, there is either brew or not brew. There is no attempt.:D

If your beer tastes good at bottling it will taste good after bottling too. What many brewers don't realize is that the darker beers keep getting better for a long time. Try to save a few bottles for at least 6 months. I think you will like those best.
 
I feel much more confident thanks to the feedback provided above! Where can one find Domino "dots"? Are these actual sugar cubes found in the supermarket? Thanks.
 
I've never had a beer get worse so... you should be fine. I've had warm flat beers taste bad (usual case) but once carbonated and chilled taste great.

I've had stouts that after 3 weeks of conditioning were perfect but say 5 weeks later they were over carbed but still tasted great.
 
I feel much more confident thanks to the feedback provided above! Where can one find Domino "dots"? Are these actual sugar cubes found in the supermarket? Thanks.

Sure...grocery stores carry them, but make sure you get the 198 count per box. The other ones are too big to fit in the mouth of the bottle.

Btw, I found the dots on EBay that were cheaper than the store. I bought a "2-pack" with free shipping.
 
Back
Top