Do u taste ur brew during conditioning?

[FourSeasonAngler]

I usually have one at about 2 or 3 weeks in the bottle. I usually taste something "green" about it, but not always.

My favorite samples are on bottling day. Before adding priming sugar, tasting the last hydro sample is like looking through a murky crystal ball. You can see the beer it will be in the future, and it's always an exciting prospect.

But hey, it's your beer, taste it whenever you want. However, I've never tasted a beer early and thought, "crap that tastes great! I should drink them all now!".

 

[TyTanium]

... tasting the last hydro sample is like looking through a murky crystal ball. You can see the beer it will be in the future, and it's always an exciting prospect.

I don't know, I've found the last hydro sample to be an extremely accurate indicator of what the finished product will taste like.

 

[FourSeasonAngler]

I don't know, I've found the last hydro sample to be an extremely accurate indicator of what the finished product will taste like.

That's what I was saying...

 

[PseudoChef]

I find that having "green" beer teaches me that something was off with my fermentation.

And I'm in the camp that it is quite valuable to taste your beer to learn how it develops and how it differs from beer to beer.

 

[Cookiebaggs]

I don't know, I've found the last hydro sample to be an extremely accurate indicator of what the finished product will taste like.

I just bottled and kegged an amber ale last night. The last hydo sample I tried was great. I expect it to taste the same in a couple of weeks with the only change being it's now carbed.

 

[thatjonguy]

So you would give up a lesson can't taste in a book for the sake of maybe two bottles? I like kegging/bottling as much of the batch as I can but the beer in process can teach you a lot about the fermentation process.

 

[runningweird]

no, I don't taste it. I have tried my beer pre-keg/bottle and i think it always tastes aweful.

 

[davek]

I think it's a waste of beer to opening one early, even if it's got some carb it will more than likely be green. Me I prefer having all my beers drinkable, rather than sneaking them early.

I can never understand the point of sneaking beer's early when we KNOW they're not ready yet. I like to drink beer that tastes good to me, that's why for instance I don't choose to drink Bud Light. Not that it's a bad beer, but I don't like the taste. So I don't choose to drink it....same for my beers when I'm sure they're not ready yet. I'd rather drink something else and know that at the end of the journey I'll have 2 FULL cases of good beer.

I taste the wort from the sample I measure for OG, then I taste when I transfer from primary to secondary, again at bottling and a 12 oz test 2 weeks in the bottle

 

[bleme]

I always taste my hydro samples, but I don't usually open bottles for 4 weeks.

My first 12 batches, I brewed with a friend. He would open 1 of his every week and let me know how it was. That was good enough for me. Only once, on our first IPA, did he call me at week 2 and tell me that I HAD to try one now. He was right. It was awesome. Practically bursting with fresh grapefruit juice.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I find that having "green" beer teaches me that something was off with my fermentation.

And I'm in the camp that it is quite valuable to taste your beer to learn how it develops and how it differs from beer to beer.

I am in the camp of..."No matter how many times I taste my freaking beer while it is young, it still carbs up and tastes exactly like it would have"

 

[SteveHeff]

If not for any other reason, FOR SCIENCE!

 

[Cincyfan78]

Like anything else, people need to decide for themselves if it is worth it or not. Many people may not learn a thing about their beer or the process by having a few "early". Other people will learn a lot by doing so, as many have stated on here. The bottom line in all of this, like most things beer, is that you have to develop your own style that you are happy with and go from there. If you like tasting early, then go for it. If you like waiting, then wait. It's all good.

I do agree that it gets annoying, about those noobs who come on here after tasting their beer only 5 days after they've bottled and "crying" about how they are worried their beer is ruined, taste funny, infected, etc...but, that is less about them tasting early, and more about them not becoming more educated on their own before starting their first beer making process.

The problem lays in the fact that with so many local brew houses popping up, they hand out these generic recipies to follow, and the noob thinks that all they need to do is follow the paper they are given with their brew. Thus, they don't do any pre-reading research, or asking people they may know who have done this before on how to truly handle making their first batch. They then, run to the CPU when something doesn't taste right, find this forum, and subsequently do even less research by not searching for threads with similar problems they are having, and then post a new post about something we've all read about 100 times already. Unfortunately, I don't see this "issue" resolving itself anytime soon.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

Apropos to this, I once stumbled upon an episode of a 'reality' series called Auction Kings, in which the one of the cast decides to try his hand at brewing, with horrible results. It later turns out that he bottled the beer after only two days in the fermenter. A co-worker of his proceeded to actually follow the directions on the kit, and her beer came out fine.

 

[cheezydemon3]

OK, not trying to be obnoxious!

To me it is like sticking your finger in a cake that is 1/2 baked, and saying "Well, this is not awful, but I am sure the finished thing will be great!"

That is one less bit of cake that will reach it's prime, and there is NOTHING you should do at that point to improve the cake, so why do it?

 

[TyTanium]

OK, not trying to be obnoxious!

To me it is like sticking your finger in a cake that is 1/2 baked, and saying "Well, this is not awful, but I am sure the finished thing will be great!"

That is one less bit of cake that will reach it's prime, and there is NOTHING you should do at that point to improve the cake, so why do it?

Ha, it's not obnoxious, it's a good discussion.

To which I'll retort that the difference is, the cake is already cooked. I.e., the beer is already fermented. It's just "how hard the frosting is"

I usually have a few at the 1-week mark because I've found the carb & conditioning level to be sufficient for enjoyment, and that's enough for me.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Ha, it's not obnoxious, it's a good discussion.

To which I'll retort that the difference is, the cake is already cooked. I.e., the beer is already fermented. It's just "how hard the frosting is"

I usually have a few at the 1-week mark because I've found the carb & conditioning level to be sufficient for enjoyment, and that's enough for me.

Yeah, I have been known to taste one early, but carbed. Maybe I missed it, but I thought we were discussing uncarbed sampling. I do drink the last bit in the bottling bucket, it is waste anyways.

 

[TyTanium]

Yeah, I have been known to taste one early, but carbed. Maybe I missed it, but I thought we were discussing uncarbed sampling. I do drink the last bit in the bottling bucket, it is waste anyways.

Ha, no idea. Oh well. Cheers!

 

[Dynachrome]

The same things chewing on my grain and rubbing my hops do. The same things tasting my sauces and food while its cooking does.

As someone that kegs, I can pull short pulls off the keg, and I'm not forced to drink 12oz at a time. Nonetheless, I find value in the practice

Yes.

I was given some hops grown locally. If I had developed a pallet, I might be able to hazard a guess at how they would work in a beer. Right now, I can't even make an EDUCATED guess.

 

[scottland]

HOLY HELL!!!

If your pasta sauce tastes off, you add something. If your brew tastes off, IT'S SUPPOSED TO! Too many threads about noobs "adding things" in mid ferment because the poor bastards "tasted" it.

Fermenting beer and mid cooked pasta sauce are NOT the same thing.

Do you think for a second that professional brewers don't taste their product at every step during the process?

 

[abrix]

I am in the camp of..."No matter how many times I taste my freaking beer while it is young, it still carbs up and tastes exactly like it would have"

Except when I find unexpected diacetyl in my lager and make the decision that it needs to warm up for a week before getting bottled or kegged.

 

[Yooper]

OK, not trying to be obnoxious!

To me it is like sticking your finger in a cake that is 1/2 baked, and saying "Well, this is not awful, but I am sure the finished thing will be great!"

That is one less bit of cake that will reach it's prime, and there is NOTHING you should do at that point to improve the cake, so why do it?

Sure you could. You could decide that it has way too much sweetness, so make a second layer of a coffee pudding filling, to counterbalance the sweetness. Or if it has too much chocolate, and it's too bitter, you could make a small second layer of very sweet raspberry cake. Without tasting it, you're sort of stuck with the product and it might not be very good.

I sample wort when the brewday is finished, and with experience you can almost always say, "this is going to be GREAT" or "mmmm, this one's going to need some dryhopping"!

Before bottling, you can taste for phenols and diacetyl and see if you can help that diacetyl out.

At bottling, you can see if the beer is too sweet or too "hot". If it's too hot, it will need more aging than if it's not.

You can learn a lot about your brew by sampling at every stage.

If you open a bottle at day 5, and it's not too good, it's not like it's going to win awards at day 21. But it will carb up more, and flavors will meld some and it might be very drinkable by day 20.

Aging isn't magic, really. It may improve some beers but the easiest way to have a great tasting beer is to just make it correctly in the first place. If you avoid creating off-flavors, then there is no need to hide them or to try to age them out.

 

[PseudoChef]

If you avoid creating off-flavors, then there is no need to hide them or to try to age them out.

Just pulling this tidbit out to let it stand on its own. More people need to realize this.

 

[fbold1]

Revvy's right, I was on vacation, when I came back I tried my Bock, which had conditioned for 24 days, WOW! Perfectly carbonated, clear, clean taste, it was worth waiting for, I wasted bottles by tasting it early. After driving 850 miles today, it was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

 

[downtown3641]

I'll taste the sample I pull the check FG and about once a week after I keg. Sometimes, with my hoppy beers, I'll pull a sample every few days after the first week so I can be sure to start drinking as soon as the beer is carbonated and at its freshest. I see no harm in it because it's only about two ounces at a time and I'm pulling sediment that I need to get out of the keg anyway.

 

[HeavyKettleBrewing]

Sure, I taste the wort pre/post boil. I drink my hydro sample, no need to dump it. I even taste a little when kegging or bottling. Once it's conditioning, just let it be. When I first started with this obsession, I could not wait so I sampled early. The only lesson learned, it was not yet ready. I like what Yooper said, good beer is usually made on brew day, not one week after bottling. I also had to dump two batches because of my meddling and over zealous thirst for knowledge, but that's another story.