Holy crap my beer doesn't suck

[cvstrat]

Ok so I had a thread a few weeks back about my thus named "Epic Fail Pale Ale™" and how I was pretty sure I F'd it up.

Notable idiotic moves were boiling the 2 oz cascade for 60 and 1 oz for 1 min (yes one min lol) instead of all 3 for 60 per the recipe.

My OG reading was 1.020, an impossibly low number considering my next 3 brews overshot OG by a good bit, so I know my effeciency is over 75%.

I sampled the beer while taking gravity readings and hated it. I did 1 week primary, 2 weeks secondary, and finally bottled. I had a smidge left over after bottling, and it too tasted like ****.

After 3 days of in bottles I cracked on open for the hell of it, and it tasted just as aweful as it did the entire time.

Here it is about 7 days after bottling and I chilled one and cracked it open just to track progress. No head, but there are bubbles coming out of the beer. Color is good, maybe a smidge light. But damn does it taste GOOD! I was worried because it had this bad flavor (guess that's what you call green) and now it's smooooooth as silk and I can finally distinguish malt and hop flavors, and there is actually a pleasant aroma. I can't wait until two more weeks pass and it's ready to rock.

Thanks for the encouragement not to throw this batch out. I'm glad I saw it through and I can't wait to get my next 3 brews on the bottle and ready to drink!:rockin:

 

[pnj]

I've found that if everything is kept sterile, you will usually end up with something that tastes great. It may not taste like you thought it would, but it will be great none the less...

 

[RCCOLA]

Notable idiotic moves were boiling the 2 oz cascade for 60 and 1 oz for 1 min (yes one min lol) instead of all 3 for 60 per the recipe.

That's not idiotic.That addition gave you hop aroma which is important in a pale ale.Most pale ale recipes have additions at 60(bittering),15-5(flavor),and 0 mins(aroma).along with dry hops added to secondary for more aroma.

My OG reading was 1.020

What was the final gravity?
Oh, and congrats.Ain't it great when it all turns out all right and you didn't dump it?

QUOTE]

 

[Brule]

Sounds tasty coming from someone who wants to eat cascade hops for breakfast. I'm starting to figure out that as idiotic as some of my mistakes have been, so far my homemade has been very forgiving.

 

[cvstrat]

My OG reading was 1.020

What was the final gravity?
Oh, and congrats.Ain't it great when it all turns out all right and you didn't dump it?

QUOTE]

The last one I took was 1.009

 

[SteveM]

Yup - this process has been around for many centuries and if you do nothing but give the yeast a chance to do its thing, chances are you will brew up a winner.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

Right on brother! This making beer thing isn't rocket surgery.

As for the hop schedule... If I was putting 3 ounces of hops in a beer like that, I wouldn't boil all three for 60 either. That ounce for one minute makes far more sense than boiling away all the flavor and aroma.

 

[CATFISHER74]

I bottled three small plastic soda bottles so i could watch and taste mine from start to finish.It was interesting to watch and taste as the beer matured over the three weeks.