Aging works!

[iv_hokie12]

So small story. I started brewing last June. My first beer was a Brewers Best Irish Stout kit. It was fantastic from the start. My second was an American Amber Brewers best kit. It came out mediocre to bad. My third was a spiced winter ale. It was just awful. Now this is a really bad trend, but right after this I did brew and all grain that came out well, and my next 3 that I just finished are all pretty good. However what I am really getting at are those 2nd and 3rd batches. I've been leaving them out for months as my body has never really called for them. They sucked afterall. However I still have three cases left of bottles to acquire to brew these last two beers. I popped open and Amber and it moved up into the mediocre to good category. I popped open the spiced ale and it was good/very good. Don't dump your bad batches!!!! Patience!!!!

 

[FarmBoy530]

I am a very big fan of giving all beer a little age. If I'm going to bottle using dme then I give 3 weeks for a good prime and 3 weeks more for flavor. If I keg I most often try it in a week or so and sip on it until I say damn that's good. That's normally about a month after the carb'd date. Beer comes together after a little time in the bottle. I have a barley wine that was great fresh. Then after a year I thought it had gone bad. Same at 2 years. Done why I kept it but after over 3 years as I went to throw it out the other day, it seemed to taste pretty damn good. I guess anything can come around.... But most simple ales take just a couple weeks after carb.

 

[Camride]

Yep, same thing with my first batch of Irish Red. I fermented too hot and even after 3 weeks it tasted of fusel alcohol and was generally unpleasant to drink. After 4-5 weeks it was ok, and after 6 weeks it turned a corner and is really good. It's been about 2 months now and they're really enjoyable. Definitely a good idea to wait it out.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

The last beer always tastes the best. Perhaps I should drink the last bottle first :rockin:

 

[HopHeadGrady]

I have had a beer that had some weird tastes. I let it sit 8 weeks then it tasted fine. Not my fav beer, but no strange after tastes etc. Every once and a while you'll brew a good beer but it's just not for your pallet. I gave one of my older beers to a buddy that likes dark beers and he loved it.

 

[timewasted]

I popped the top on my second batch last night. It was very, very green. It wasn't unpleasant, but I wouldn't want to open another one just yet. Thanks to reading this board every day for the last month, I relaxed and decided I will give it another couple of weeks and try it again. Rinse and repeat until it taste right.

 

[Jayhem]

The bigger the beer the longer it needs to age!

I brewed a Brewer's Best Imperial Blonde as my 3rd beer about 3 months ago. It was a 1.071 OG beer! Finished at 1.014. 7.7% ABV. After 3 weeks in the bottle it was terrible, bitter aftertaste, harsh alcohol taste, just not a pleasant beer. Now after almost 2 months in the bottle it's somewhere between "Ok" and "Good"!

 

[Camride]

I wonder what it's going to be like with my big hoppy beer... it's 8.2% ABV but it's an IPA so it's meant to drink young. It'd suck if I had to wait for the beer to mellow while the hop taste/aroma disappears.

Either way I'm trying it after 2 weeks to see where it's at.

 

[BrewChem]

My first AG batch was a Belgian Wit... hit my mash temps, OG and FG dead on.. primed and bottled then let it carb for two weeks... popped one open and it smelt like a wet dog and tasted like what I assumed the dog's bath water would taste like... figured maybe an infection and considered dumping it... anyway, I let it sit for two more weeks and it seemed to improve... two more weeks and HEY..!! First real lesson in patience for me in homebrewing.