trying to be patient!

[carpentero]

What is a good time or I should say how long should I wait after I bottle before I drink my beer. I hear the longer the better but I think it taste alright after at least a week. Does waiting have something to with appearance, taste, aroma or what?

 

[theredben]

After it's bubbly, time to drink!

 

[Nurmey]

It is hard and you can drink it whenever you want, HOWEVER, make sure to spread the drinking over a period of time. Save a few for a couple months so you can taste what it is suppose to taste like after it has fully aged. Make a couple more batches right away!

 

[Chris1272]

I know how it is when you first start out, but if you can forget about it for a month you will be happier than drinking under carbed green beer. once you have a pipeline going you should always have something to drink while the new beer is bottle conditioning.

 

[chapa]

I usually crack one after a week or 2, just to see how its coming along, then after about 3 or 4 I'll start drinking more frequently, while still trying to spread them out, like Nurmey said. Its a treat to drink a 6 month old brew, and see how the flavor has developed and grown in complexity(esp in higher gravity brews). Get working on your next brew asap

 

[hudsonj6]

Brewing patience didn't come til after my 5th batch maybe? You can drink it after a week if you want, I've done it, but you may find that it's a bit sweet (priming sugar that hasn't fermented yet). Two weeks is probably the minimum before it's carbonated but better if you can wait for 3 weeks, and it does get better with time. To answer your question, a lot of the hops/flavors seem to mellow out and produce a nice smooth beer. Mmmmmmm

 

[Homebrewtastic]

Ignore everything above my post. Wait a minimum of three weeks. Four weeks is better.

 

[NorthRiverS]

I would recommend sampling one at two weeks, just to see where the carbonation level is. If the carbonation is good, cool it in the garage or fridge to age a couple of weeks. If the carbonation is not adequate, leave it at room temperature 1-2 weeks more, then test again.

NRS

 

[RM-MN]

It depends. It depends on what kind of beer you made. Some are ready to drink rather quickly, some take almost forever to mature. Try a wheat beer at 2 weeks. It should be quite good. An oatmeal stout may not be good for 2 to 3 months and a really strong barleywine might take 6 months to a year or more. With that kind of range in maturity times, nobody can tell you when your beer might be ready to drink. I usually try mine at a week (ugh!) and then another at 2 weeks just to see how the beer changes. If it isn't ready yet, I wait a while for the next sample.

 

[beergolf]

Thinking back about my first brew I can fully understand that it is hard to wait,but......

Here is how my tasting went for the first one. My wife understands and likes good beer, so here are her comments.

First taste at three weeks. I give her one and her comments were- " Pretty good but a little thin/watery, nice taste but a pretty strong bitter finish." I agree that is how it tasted.

At five weeks I hand her a beer and tell her to taste it. She takes a taste and asks what beer it was. When I told her it was the same beer she tasted two weeks ago. She responded with " wow this is a totally different beer. Nice well rounded taste, not thin or watery at all and the bitter finish is much more balanced. Now go pour yourself another one because this one is mine" I agree it did taste much better at five weeks than even three.

If you want to drink your beer early, just be sure to save some to age a little so you can see how the flavor changes. After you do you will get much better at waiting.