Inconsistent from bottle to bottle

[ConnorPPrice]

Hey everyone, I'm on my first brew, so quite the newbie but felt like everything went pretty well until just a bit ago. I think I know what your all going to tell me, but cant help but ask anyway. Please forgive my lengthy post but I figure the more detail I give now the easier it will be to diagnose my issue.

I brewed an IPA for my first go at this, a kit from my LHBS, extract with specialty grains for steeping. I fermented in my carboy, 9 days in I threw in the dry hop addition, and at 17 days I bottled. I know that's a bit on the short side generally but the kit called for one week in primary then one in secondary for dry hopping and being my first brew I was a bit impatient. I didn't actually rack to a secondary because the guy at the LHBS and I got to talking and he forgot to give me the top to the bucket fermenter and I forgot to ask. That shouldn't be a big deal though, the two and a half weeks in the carboy should have been fine.

Last night I put one of my bottles into the fridge after 6 days of conditioning, again I know that's early but I just wanted to try it and figured it'd still be a bit green. I left it in there for 3 hours or so and popped the top with dinner. Upon hearing that perfect "pfft" that I'm used to and seeing some bubbles form at the top of the brew I was pretty excited, thinking that it was more carbonated than I thought it would be so I poured my glass and took a sip. BEAUTIFUL! Great hop aroma, wonderful taste, crisp finish, everything I could ask for. It wasn't the greatest IPA ever or anything, but its not something I'd be even remotely disappointed in buying. So even though I knew they still needed more time I tossed 6 more in the fridge since that one had been so good.

Fast forward to this evening... I crack open another when I got home. It sounds right, looks right, head forms nicely on the pour and has great head retention. But then of course there had to be problems; the aroma is lacking with just a bit of hops, the flavor tastes right but incredibly subdued and bland. Overall it wasn't bad or unpleasant, it didn't taste off like I hear about infections but it was just "meh".

What is with the inconsistency? Is it just because I didn't condition like I should? That's my hunch, but I'm a bit thrown off because the carbonation still seemed just right in the second beer that was pretty boring.

 

[iaefebs]

I think you have a pretty small sample size to draw any conclusion. Some days I enjoy beer more than other days.

 

[ConnorPPrice]

I think you have a pretty small sample size to draw any conclusion. Some days I enjoy beer more than other days.

In the interest of the scientific process, I'll try another tomorrow! I suppose that is possible, but I think its a bit improbable. Something definitely seemed different. Either way I've already got 5 more chilled so I can do one a night for a few nights to cancel out that possibility. Its certainly not that I'm not in a beer mood, I'm loving the Aroma Coma I'm drinking now.

 

[Monstar]

This was my least favorite part about bottling. First off, 6 days is way too soon! Second, I found the same thing all the time before I started kegging.

Granted, it was probably something I did... but it really is disappointing when you make a great brew and one is a dud. You should give them another week before you start drinking them. If it keeps happening, its probably a sanitation or capping thing.

Gotta love those kegs though!

 

[ConnorPPrice]

This was my least favorite part about bottling. First off, 6 days is way too soon! Second, I found the same thing all the time before I started kegging.

Granted, it was probably something I did... but it really is disappointing when you make a great brew and one is a dud. You should give them another week before you start drinking them. If it keeps happening, its probably a sanitation or capping thing.

Gotta love those kegs though!

Yeah, I knew I'd get some way to soon comments, and clearly it is. After the first one being so good I just got excited! My first brew... and it was awesome! I would have written it off as excitement, but I had 3 others try it and say it was good to. I'd be shocked if they were just appeasing my desire to feel like it was a good beer, they genuinely seemed to enjoy it. I'll just attribute this to being to young for now unless any other ideas are brought to the table.

Thank you for weighing in, I really appreciate the input.

 

[ConnorPPrice]

If we operate under the assumption that I just got to excited and threw these into the fridge to soon should I take them out and allow them to condition with the others at room temperature? Or now that they've been cooled should I just put up with mediocre beer for these few and look forward to the others being delicious?

I'll add that I cracked another one open and had my girlfriend try it. She had lastnights good one as well and we both agreed that this tasted sweeter. This makes me think it could be an issue with the yeast not having fully processed the bottling sugar? Could it have come out of suspension in the first one that was only chilled for a short period of time only to be returned once the yeast had been adjusted to the new colder temperature?

They're still better than bmc beers, just not quite what you'd really want out of a home brew.

 

[codyjp]

If we operate under the assumption that I just got to excited and threw these into the fridge to soon should I take them out and allow them to condition with the others at room temperature? Or now that they've been cooled should I just put up with mediocre beer for these few and look forward to the others being delicious?

I'll add that I cracked another one open and had my girlfriend try it. She had lastnights good one as well and we both agreed that this tasted sweeter. This makes me think it could be an issue with the yeast not having fully processed the bottling sugar? Could it have come out of suspension in the first one that was only chilled for a short period of time only to be returned once the yeast had been adjusted to the new colder temperature?

They're still better than bmc beers, just not quite what you'd really want out of a home brew.

Give it a couple more weeks warm, I think you'll get better beer!

 

[subliminalurge]

I think you have a pretty small sample size to draw any conclusion. Some days I enjoy beer more than other days.

Yep. This.

I just started kegging, and even though I'm pouring the same stuff, some days I think it's the best ever, and some days it's just "meh", then the next day it's the best stuff ever again.

And then there are days when I'm in a stout mood but only have a wheat and an APA on tap. Or vice-versa.

I've started buying commercial stuff when I'm in the mood for something I don't have. It costs a little more, but I get what I want at the moment, and the homebrew that I put so much work into gets to last longer and gets consumed when I can fully appreciate it.

I'm now starting to understand why a 12 tap kegerator just might be a necessity....

 

[scrambledegg81]

x50 for Aroma Coma! Just stocked those at the bottle shop I work at...well worth the price!

On-topic: a lot of factors can change how you perceive a beer. You seem pretty up to par on your brewing technique, so I won't get into the technicalities there. From what I've found, temperature has the biggest effect on beer over every other factor imaginable. Depending on what your fridge is set at, what your room (ambient) temperature is, and how long you let the beer sit in-glass can drastically change the nose, head, flavor & finish of the brew. Sweeter beer generally indicates that there are still fermentables left in the bottle (i.e. bottled too soon).

Since you mentioned it became sweeter over time, I'd say you may have inconsistently mixed your priming sugar when you bottled. Unless you 1) create a vortex when siphoning over your priming solution, and b) stir gently before bottling, the priming sugar can tend to settle to the bottom of your bottling bucket, and therefore, result in 1/2 over-carbed or overly-sweet brew, and 1/2 bland, undercarbed brew. The one you initially popped might have been bottled somewhere in the middle of bottling, so that would explain the "perfect" flavor/carb level.

Food for thought, etc.

 

[unionrdr]

Besides whirl pooling/stiring in the bottling bucket,I think the bottles can carb/condition at different rates. It may depend on the location of the boxed bottles,& where that particular bottle was in said box. Like how the ambient air temp can react with a bottles beer depending on whether it's around the edges of the box where the temp can effect it more. Or whether it was in the middle of the box where it's be insulated more by the surrounding bottles. That's my theory anyway.

 

[woody4]

In light of that info, would it be more consistent just to add the appropriate amount of priming sugar to the bottle? I'm curious because I will be bottling my first batch in a week or two.

 

[ByramMike]

In light of that info, would it be more consistent just to add the appropriate amount of priming sugar to the bottle? I'm curious because I will be bottling my first batch in a week or two.

I'm on my 4th and 5th batches, so I'm still new, but I've learned a bit. I've bottled two of batches (which is why I'm investing in tap-a-keg kegs:cross. I couldn't imagine dumping .x ounces of priming sugar into 50 bottles, I'd screw it up because it's uber repetitive. Mix it right (but gently) in the bottling bucket, and bottle.

It's your first batch, so you'll want to sample, go ahead, but know that you have to let them sit a 10-14 days (longer is better) before it's close to what you want. I opened my first bottle from my first batch in early June (autumn amber from mid-west) after 5 days... tasted good, but needed more time. I finished that batch over labor day, and the last 4 bottles were better than the first!

Keep on Enjoying the Ride!

 

[paulster2626]

You should be having at least 4 beers per day to get an accurate assessment. I think you just need to drink more.

 

[ncbrewer]

I'll throw out a possibility that you might consider - inconsistent pouring into the glass. Yeast from the bottom of the bottle would affect the flavor.

 

[joelmole]

The other thing not mentioned is the amount of time in the refrigerator. Believe it or not, 3 hours vs 24 hours makes a difference, even 24 hours vs 1 week can make a difference. Given enough time, proteins drop out of solution, CO2 in the headspace gets re-absorbed back into the beer, and there may be some temperature difference too. You mentioned that the one you had the next day seemed to have a more subdued flavor and aroma, maybe you just served it colder?

Not saying this necessarily accounts for all the flavor differences you noticed, but it's yet another variable that can affect your perceptions. The short conditioning time, as others have said, is the other big factor. Beers condition at different rates. You may have some that are fully carbed and tasty after 1 week, but others that need more time. That's probably why they say to wait at least 3 weeks because it gives the beers enough time to average out and reach the same level of readiness.