Am I doing this backwards?

[jump_xiii]

My 1st attempt at home brew went ok and I bottled it some 6 weeks ago. Some was bottled in pint bottles and the rest in smaller bottles. Now it seems to me that the beer in the pint bottles tastes way better- so here's the thing:

It makes sense to me to drink the smaller, not-so-great beers first, saving the better ones for later, but maybe if I drank the good ones now, the not-so-great ones would taste better by the time I get to them.

What would you do?

BTW- I think that the cause of the difference might be that the smaller bottles didn't get the right amount of priming sugar at bottling. Also the pint bottles were sanitised in the dishwasher and the smaller ones were a bit hit and miss with sanitisation- not that I think there is enough wrong with them to suggest infection.

 

[Begin2Brew]

My 1st attempt at home brew went ok and I bottled it some 6 weeks ago. Some was bottled in pint bottles and the rest in smaller bottles. Now it seems to me that the beer in the pint bottles tastes way better- so here's the thing:

It makes sense to me to drink the smaller, not-so-great beers first, saving the better ones for later, but maybe if I drank the good ones now, the not-so-great ones would taste better by the time I get to them.

What would you do?

BTW- I think that the cause of the difference might be that the smaller bottles didn't get the right amount of priming sugar at bottling. Also the pint bottles were sanitised in the dishwasher and the smaller ones were a bit hit and miss with sanitisation- not that I think there is enough wrong with them to suggest infection.

What's so different about them, can you explain the taste difference? How did you mix in the priming sugar, tablets?

 

[jump_xiii]

What's so different about them, can you explain the taste difference? How did you mix in the priming sugar, tablets?

Definitely less head when poured on the smaller ones. Slightly "fruity" smell too- a bit funky, but certainly drinkable. I've had quite a few and no ill effects.

Carbonation was done the long and tedious way- half a teaspoon of sugar to each pint bottle. The small bottles got 1/4 teaspoon but they are bigger than half a pint.

 

[Captain Damage]

Carbonation was done the long and tedious way- half a teaspoon of sugar to each pint bottle. The small bottles got 1/4 teaspoon but they are bigger than half a pint.

This is your problem. It's pretty much impossible to accurately measure your sugar and carb level this way - especially since you know that you were under-priming the smaller bottles. In the future, mix all of the priming sugar for the entire batch (usually 5 oz by weight or ~3/4 cup for a 5 gallon batch) with 1 pint of water, boil for 10 minutes and add to your bottling bucket. Then siphon your beer on top of it. This way all of your beer will have the same carb level, regardless of what size bottle you use.

And yes, carb level does have an effect of the taste and balance of your beer.

 

[jump_xiii]

And yes, carb level does have an effect of the taste and balance of your beer.

So further conditioning is unlikely to improve anything, right? So my instinct to drink the small ones first and save the pints makes sense?

 

[Captain Damage]

So further conditioning is unlikely to improve anything, right? So my instinct to drink the small ones first and save the pints makes sense?

Well, maybe. At 6 weeks in the bottle already, it's not likely to improve much with more conditioning. Though that can depend on the style of beer. High gravity beers can take a long time to condition. But for most basic anytime drinking beers, they're where they're going to be by 6 weeks. Then again, you might want to put some aside for a few weeks and see if they do in fact improve.

I think the bottom line is you didn't add enough sugar to properly carb your beer, so assuming you conditioned at- or very close to 70F they won't change much. But if you conditioned at a lower temperature, the yeast may have just been a little slow and there's still sugar in there for them to eat.

 

[jump_xiii]

I'm going to put a couple somewhere warm, rather than out in the shed. In a couple of weeks or months I'll give them a go...

 

[unionrdr]

That's likely your problem. Putting them in an outside shed is too cold to condition very quickly this time of year. Bring'em inside for a week or two.

 

[jump_xiii]

That's likely your problem. Putting them in an outside shed is too cold to condition very quickly this time of year. Bring'em inside for a week or two.

Originally they spent 2 weeks in the house before they went back out to the shed.

I'm starting to think that the BIGGEST MISTAKE I MADE was FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE EXTRACT KIT. Definitely not long enough, but it was already bottled before I stumbled upon this forum.

Oh, AND, my bottling technique was appalling! Spilling, splashing, you name it. I bottled with a hangover. I learned a lot!

 

[unionrdr]

Splashing at bottling time also isn't good. Oxidation tastes like wet cardboard. Two weeks in the house,then outside in the cold likely made the yeast go dormant. Ale yeasts don't like going that far down temp-wise.

 

[djfriesen]

get them consumed before that oxidation taste can set in. and get another brew going to get the pipeline established.

 

[jump_xiii]

get them consumed before that oxidation taste can set in. and get another brew going to get the pipeline established.

Stout has been in primary for 8 days now. Not sure whether to bottle next weekend and call it "New Beer's Eve", so that maybe it will be ready to drink at the start of February, or give it 2 more weeks in primary due to the slight temperature issues I had at the start. Started the process by sending the yeasties to sleep for the first day due to the temp dropping overnight, then at one point on the second day of being in the FV the temp got up to around 78• due to my efforts to warm it enough to wake them up kinda getting a bit of momentum...

I think I've answered my own question...

 

[jump_xiii]

Oh, and I've set a couple of littl'uns and 2 big'uns aside to taste in 6 months, but so far today I've done a pretty good job of working through them.