Am I the only one?

[Gridlocked]

...who doesn't really like the taste of my beers before they are carbonated?

For my first three or four batches, and a few now and then I have tasted samples of my beer after fermentation was completed - usually when I am packaging. Each time I have not enjoyed the taste at all. It hasn't really tasted like beer. And, not that it matters but it's given me the runs just about every time.

After they have had a week or two to carbonate (bottle or force carb) they have been really good, but until then - not really a fan.
No, they have not tasted bad because they were bad beers. I know it's going to change and understand all that, but after carbonated = like / before carbonated = do not like.

 

[boo boo]

I drink my hydro samples all the time and find it different than when they are carbonated, but that is to be expected.

I love the taste of my beer before I package it.

 

[samc]

I like the taste of my wort/beer in all stages. From the sickly sweet wort after chilling to the precarbed beer.

Until proven otherwise, I'd say you're the only one!

 

[Airborneguy]

I only really sample post-fermentation. There is certainly a difference, but I wouldn't say they suck and then magically taste good after carbonating. Maybe you just don't have the taste for non-carbonated beer.

Have you ever tried real ale? I'd be interested in what you think of beers served from a hand pump.

 

[Gridlocked]

HA! I think you nailed it, Airborneguy. For me, it's like the flavor ferry whips out her magic wand and does something magical to the beer after I package it. I bet the beer ferry is crazy hot.

No, I've never tried real ale. I don't think I've even heard of it. Beers served from a hand pump?! Explain please.

 

[Airborneguy]

Real Ale is naturally carbonated beer served without the use of added CO2 pressure. Technically, bottle conditioned beer is also real ale. But I was referring to beers served from a hand pump, which uses the pump to bring the beer up from the firkin (keg). This beer usually has very low levels of carbonation and is served at cellar temps, that's why I was wondering if you would had ever tried it.

 

[Gridlocked]

Interesting! I'd like to try some. Maybe google will tell me somewhere to try this in MN. I don't really need the beer to be super carbonated. I enjoy my perfectly carb'd imperial stouts and porters...

 

[bennyd]

I enjoy the hydro samples.....what I don't like (and this may sound strange because I do like the hydro samples) is the flavor of the beer after bottling up until around four weeks in the bottle. It tastes very green and it makes me more nervous than anything when I drink it. But I usually find that after four weeks in the bottle and then a few days in the fridge, most of the beers I've made have come into their own.

There is something to be said for patience in this hobby.

 

[SkiSoloII]

I taste the beer at all levels. Wort, fermented after primary, fermented after seconday (at bottling) - if I secondary, and usually at a couple of days after bottling. Then, I tend to understand all of the steps the beer goes through, and how it develops. I enjoy it at all of these steps - sweet wort!:rockin:

Of course, I also drink it once fully conditioned. I DO like that best.


Dave

 

[stp]

I've noticed this too. I'm on my fourth brew and have been tasting my samples at all stages. My first was a wheat but I didn't really care for the taste of the wort. I love wheat beers and the wort gave me no indication that the beer would taste like a wheat. An soon as it was 1 week in the bottle it already tasted so much better. 4 weeks in the bottle and it's almost gone. If it tasted anything like the wort it would all still be left. Second was a cream ale and the same happened. Third is in a secondary and is an english brown. These samples taste awesome the whole way through which gets me worried, lol. It will either be really really good or just the opposite!

 

[certaut]

I taste it start to finish
taste the second runnings from mlt
taste the sweet wort from the hydrometer glass
taste the yeast starter before pitching (careful with this one, unless you have a few extra packs of tp)
taste hydro glass racking to secondary
taste when racking to keg
taste every 7 days after kegging
when right, taste a few times a day
oops none left to taste

 

[jtkratzer]

I taste the hydrometer samples at all points along the way. The taste, prior to bottle conditioned/carbonated, is like a sanity check along the way. The wort should have at least a certain level of sweetness and it gives you an idea about the hops/bitterness. It should taste something like beer at bottling time, sure, green and flat, but it should give you something.

The Christmas beer I made this year had a really strong ginger profile at bottling, but it has settled down and is much better. It's not that I didn't like the sample, but it gave me an idea of where the beer was and whether I could drink it right at 2-3 weeks of carbonating or if it needed longer to improve.

I just bottled a German Altbier and had I not known it was my own homebrew, I would have guessed it was straight out of Düsseldorf. This sat in the primary for 8 weeks - the longest any of my beers have primaried. Most are around a month, but the schedule and life got in the way of this one.

I'm really pumped about this beer and it makes me wonder if most ales will benefit from that much time in the primary. I guess I'll have to see how it goes once carbonated and try it with some other beers.

 

[camus]

I taste ingredients, any samples etc. I have have SWMBO taste when around too, she has gone from creeped out to judging, "yuck", "this is gonna be a good one", "I won't like it but you will." The latter always turn out the best.


For awhile I thought I was burnt on brew, everything was tasting bad and the same, I could taste the yeast, hops, malt and the smell of a fermenter, all were horrible, turned out I just had a cold.

 

[TheTimotin]

I love how the tastes seem to change every time you try a new sample. I just made a porter, and when I put it into the primary it was very dull tasting beer. A week later and it was very bitter. Another couple of days and it was almost sickly sweet. Finally yesterday when I bottled I tried some more and it tasted like delicious flat beer!

 

[jiggs_casey]

I bottled a Dead Guy clone late tonight that I brewed back in November. Although I prefer carbonated, I held back a 2 liter bottles worth after bottling to 'sample' as I am off tomorrow...

 

[JoeBronco]

i like IPA's in all stages.
Hefe's are only good cold

 

[Tall_Yotie]

I have enjoyed some of my brews right before bottling, flat and room temp. I just bottled an Imperial Stout, and my parents were wanting a taste. My dad took a sip, paused, and said he would drink it just as it was, no need to age or carb.

That being said, others need time to carb and to condition. Depends entirely on the brew. I love sampling the brews through the entire process however!

 

[emjay]

I enjoy the hydro samples.....what I don't like (and this may sound strange because I do like the hydro samples) is the flavor of the beer after bottling up until around four weeks in the bottle. It tastes very green and it makes me more nervous than anything when I drink it. But I usually find that after four weeks in the bottle and then a few days in the fridge, most of the beers I've made have come into their own.

There is something to be said for patience in this hobby.

Same. I guess it's due to dextrose (or whatever you use to prime.) I get a whiff of vinegar and green apples when opening a bottle too early, though thankfully there's no vinegar in the taste... I assume this is due to acetaldehyde, as if the secondary fermentation of the priming sugar takes a lot longer to really complete. I'm still not too keen on the taste of sweet wort (though I'm kind of working to acquire it), but I have no problem with the taste of the stuff during hydro readings and when bottling... before the sugar of course

 

[Crinkle]

I think you're insane! I mean, who doesn't like flat beer??

Of course it's better carbonated, but I do find it very helpful to try some at all points in the process. 3 years ago, I tried a beer on bottling day, and it was awful, funky smell and all. Turns out, it got infected along the way, no I know, if I taste that again, to dump it. I still have a case in the bbasement, that I'm too lazy to dump down the drain

 

[Beerbeque]

I always drink a glass of my homebrews from the fermenter (cellar temp and flat of course) before bottling. If it doesn't taste good at this stage, it probly won't taste much better after bottle conditioning. I then make my first tasting notes in my brewbook and pray that the beer gods will continue to bless my beer. ( They almost always do).

 

[ultravista]

Take a good production beer, pour it in a glass, and put it in the refridgerator overnight to degass. It will (or at least should) taste like crap in the morning.