Can I try a bottled beer after four days?

[Brewmetheus]

Hey Guys, I bottled four days ago and I am going to be leaving to work out of town tomorrow, and I am thinking of trying a bottle of my first brew before I go.

I gave some bottles a shake and I see some bubbles and foam form. Is it carbed enough to try?

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

It won't hurt you to try one. They probably aren't carbed up much but they might have a little. Will it taste like it will in a few weeks? Very doubtful.

 

[Pkrd]

Yep, it'll be undercarbed and a little green but why not?

 

[Elkobrewer]

It won't be in its prime. Buts its your beer so drink whenever you like

 

[Brewmetheus]

Hehehe Thanks guys. Why not indeed.

I am a bit angsty about it's drink-ability even though it was fine, if estery, when I bottled. Just reassuring myself before I leave them for a bit.

 

[burdbrew]

It will give you a good point of reference to try it. It will be much better in a week or two; I bet you find that out for yourself. Homebrewer right of passage.

I dare say most of us have dipped in early because curiosity won the day. Just you and me? Probably not.

 

[Murphys_Law]

If it's a full 5 gallon batch then why not. When I bottle I usually try one at 1, 2 and 3 weeks just to see the difference.

If it's a small batch then I say patience, grasshopper!

 

[PurpleJeepXJ]

You can try it right after capping if you want...

 

[uSlackr]

Hehehe Thanks guys. Why not indeed.

I am a bit angsty about it's drink-ability even though it was fine, if estery, when I bottled. Just reassuring myself before I leave them for a bit.

I would drink a bottle a week until you love it. Then drink it all!

 

[Brookswade]

I always use a fill and cap a few plastic soda pop bottles with every batch. When they get firm, the batch is carbonated.

 

[motosapiens]

like others on here, i like to taste a few as the batch matures. depending on the yeast and temperature, you may have very drinkable beer at 7 days or so, but in my experience it keeps getting better for a week or so after that. it is useful because if you have very little carb at 7 days, you can call an audible and put the bottles in a warmer spot.

i also drink whatever few oz is leftover when bottling.

 

[Challenger440]

Because this is your first batch, I'd tell you to hold off until it has been in the bottle for three weeks. For subsequent batches, I'd say it is a great experience to drink a bottle or so a week while it carbs and matures. For your first batch though, it might be best to save yourself a lot of potential worry and pondering based on what you taste in your green beer.

 

[AkTom]

You should send me 3 or 4 bottles to verify what you are tasting.
Thanks.

 

[VegasBrew1]

Yeah. Let it motivate you to become more patient (I certainly had to learn that) and to get that pipeline going. Cheers.

 

[Timberline]

For me Patience is going to be the hardest part of learning to homebrew. I was looking for this same topic when I found this thread.

I have my first batch (from a 1 gal brew) that have been in bottles now for 10 days. I read somewhere about slowly rotating the bottles about once/week and when I did today I saw a few bubbles in the headspace. For reference I went to my fridge to do the same with a bottle of New Belgium and it had a LOT more bubbles. Probably not a good metric, but I'll give it another 10 days or so before I pop the first one.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

Hey Guys, I bottled four days ago and I am going to be leaving to work out of town tomorrow, and I am thinking of trying a bottle of my first brew before I go.



I gave some bottles a shake and I see some bubbles and foam form. Is it carbed enough to try?

You can try whenever you want. Will it be carbonated? Probably not. At least not enough to have actually disolved into solution.

Typically what you are seeing when you give the bottles a swirl is the trapped air in the dead space of the bottle churning around.

 

[RM-MN]

You may find that you get little heading when you open a bottle that early and your beer may gush (open it over the sink just in case) because there will be suspended yeast that can form nucleation points so that the carbonation wants to bubble out. The flavors won't be near what they will become later either. Don't judge the quality of the beer from the bottle you open early.

 

[mr_y82]

i also drink whatever few oz is leftover when bottling.

Me too... I have some 8oz coke bottles, but it never works out completely!

edit: actually it probably has worked out, and then I probably drank the 80oz bottle anyway!

edit to the edit: not an 80oz bottle, just 8... Iḿ not that crazy!

 

[Larkin989]

It won't hurt ya, but it may lack carbonation! I say go for it. If you don't like it, wait another week or two.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

2 things...1. Use Coronito or small glass Coke bottles to test carbonation level so you only have 7oz instead of 12 when it's not carbed.
2. I used to place a sixer with a couple Coronitos in a warm spot like by the baseboard heater and beers would frequently be carbed enough to drink in 3-4 days and really tasted good after a week instead of 3. Helped satisfy the impatience without wasting a lot of beer.

 

[rtstrider]

Go ahead and do what I did. Drink however much you want as much as you want. The first batch was a pure learning experience. Get to know the process and the flavors. That will get the curiosity out of the way for the future batches.

 

[BeeGeeBrew]

I just tried my first batch after only 4 days in the bottle. If for nothing else just to see the difference in taste after a few weeks. I plan on trying the next one at 2 weeks, and then at 3 weeks to see if there's a change. Mine was definitely carb'd up but tasted a little "empty" if that's the right word. So I'm waiting to see if it's just a matter of aging or just that my first beer sucks lol

 

[Brownalemikie]

IMO, the longer you wait, the smaller the head bubbles get and head retention lasts longer. Plus, the smoother the beer gets. Now, I have my pipeline set up so I put all bottles of a batch in the frig after 3 weeks.....delicious

I'm having another right now, did I say delicious?

 

[z-bob]

I drank a couple last night that I bottled Saturday. Gonna leave the rest alone for at least another week, but it was fizzier already than I expected. Still tastes a little "green", though (that didn't stop me from opening a second one)

 

[TANSTAAFB]

What was it and what did you think?!?! My first beer tasted like nanners, still thought it was awesome!

 

[Brewmetheus]

Well, here's the updates and learnings, as I come home once a week and drink a few between working on the road.

Week 1. Tasted ok if estery, almost like mediciny with a little pucker like tanins.

Week 2. The same but worse.

Week 3. Caramel and buttery mouthfeel slight medicine after taste. nOCKED ME on mY aSS! 10% Bitches!!!

Week 4 (Today). Even better and I hope I can make this the same. Slight after taste of Medicine probably from bleaching the bottles, to remove labels, before baking them.

No More Bleach!

 

[kh54s10]

If you want to have fewer beers when it is ready to drink.... By all means, try one. You will find out what a low carbonated green beer tastes like. I often try ONE at 2 weeks. Sometimes they have carbonation sometimes not so much. ALL of my bottled beers have tasted better at THREE weeks or longer.

 

[RM-MN]

Well, here's the updates and learnings, as I come home once a week and drink a few between working on the road.

Week 1. Tasted ok if estery, almost like mediciny with a little pucker like tanins.

Week 2. The same but worse.

Week 3. Caramel and buttery mouthfeel slight medicine after taste. nOCKED ME on mY aSS! 10% Bitches!!!

Week 4 (Today). Even better and I hope I can make this the same. Slight after taste of Medicine probably from bleaching the bottles, to remove labels, before baking them.

No More Bleach!

Knowing that now, I'd give different advice. QUIT DRINKING IT NOW!!:rockin:

With that high of alcohol that beer will improve for quite some time and you'll probably run out of it before it hits it's peak. Brew it again, twice even so you have so much on hand that you can't drink it all too soon. I'll guess that beer will hit its peak in about a year, more than that if it is a dark, high alcohol beer. Those might not peak for 2 years.

 

[Timberline]

I just tried my first bottle from my first batch this weekend. They've been bottled 3 weeks and counting. It was good and very drinkable with good carbonation - that was all I was looking for from this first bottle: did I make poison or beer.

What I find strange and unidentifiable is that I can somehow tell they'll be better in a few more weeks. Yes, I've read that plenty here. No, I haven't made this recipe before. But somehow it just "feels" and tastes like - "yep, needs more time and it'll get much better". Why I say this is strange is that this is my first batch EVER, so I have nothing to compare against. Maybe I've read that enough that the power of suggestion came into play, but it was the very first thought in my mind as I sampled that first bottle.

Patience is going to be my hardest lesson in learning to home brew.

 

[cegan09]

Depends on the beer. I've cracked IPAs at 3 days and loved them, and I've cracked my 11% stout at 2 weeks and hated it. The IPA never got better (rather it stayed rather good for a long time), but the stout sure as hell improved. I suspect it will improve for years.

Big beers are not to be rushed.

also why bleach for removing labels? Bleach is not something I'd reach for to deal with adhesives. Submerge the bottles in warm water with oxyclean free or PBW and let them sit overnight. Then rinse well and sterilize.

 

[Sadu]

Your first batch you are always going to want to dig in early, before its properly ready. This is why its important to get batch 2 going asap so you have a bit of a pipeline going.

 

[RM-MN]

I just tried my first bottle from my first batch this weekend. They've been bottled 3 weeks and counting. It was good and very drinkable with good carbonation - that was all I was looking for from this first bottle: did I make poison or beer.

What I find strange and unidentifiable is that I can somehow tell they'll be better in a few more weeks. Yes, I've read that plenty here. No, I haven't made this recipe before. But somehow it just "feels" and tastes like - "yep, needs more time and it'll get much better". Why I say this is strange is that this is my first batch EVER, so I have nothing to compare against. Maybe I've read that enough that the power of suggestion came into play, but it was the very first thought in my mind as I sampled that first bottle.

Patience is going to be my hardest lesson in learning to home brew.

Patience is easy once you have 25 dozen bottles ready to drink. There just isn't the rush to try the new beer too soon when you have so many that are all ready to drink.

 

[Brewmetheus]

Depends on the beer. I've cracked IPAs at 3 days and loved them, and I've cracked my 11% stout at 2 weeks and hated it. The IPA never got better (rather it stayed rather good for a long time), but the stout sure as hell improved. I suspect it will improve for years.

Big beers are not to be rushed.

also why bleach for removing labels? Bleach is not something I'd reach for to deal with adhesives. Submerge the bottles in warm water with oxyclean free or PBW and let them sit overnight. Then rinse well and sterilize.

I figured I'd clean and remove labels from some old beer bottles I collected at the same time. I had bleach on hand, so I used it and rinsed thoroughly but a residue must have remained. Most others can't notice the of flavour, I am being a perfectionist. Could also be because I rinsed with tap water before baking the bottles.

 

[Nubiwan]

You can try it right after capping if you want...

Reaching new heights of redundancy - I love it. Conditioned for 5 seconds.

 

[grampamark]

Even though it was a big beer I’ll bet it's gone, now, after 2 1/2 years.

 

[Nubiwan]

Even though it was a big beer I’ll bet it's gone, now, after 2 1/2 years.

Gone in 5 seconds.....

 

[m1k3]

You can try it right after capping if you want...

I was going to say you can drink from the fermenter. (but be sanitary)

 

[Brew_Dude41]

And this is why I rarely bottle any more, is just dont have the patience to wait weeks to let it carb up.

 

[Nubiwan]

That's it then. I have an IPA that is already 5 days in the bottle.

Its a vertibable Gandalf of an IPA based on this read.

 

[RPh_Guy]

And this is why I rarely bottle any more, is just dont have the patience to wait weeks to let it carb up.

My bottles carbonate in a few days. I rouse the yeast.

Its a vertibable Gandalf

Feeling the effects of the craft, eh?