Drinking first homebrew now.....

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Happydad1689

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New brewer here and just cracked open the first bottle after 3 days in the bottle

Here was my recipe:

12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 1 9.0 %
1 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 2 12.0 %
6 lbs 9.6 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 3 79.0 %
1.00 oz Brewer's Gold [8.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 15.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 5 6.8 IBUs
3.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 40.0 min Hop 6 14.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 7 -
3.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days Hop 8 0.0 IBUs



I messed up the whirlpool and had the temps drop too fast.



Impression: I am pleasantly surprised. It has a hoppy taste which I like (even the head has a green tinge) I detect a sweetness (?) maybe not, not sure if I know what I am tasting.

Anybody see anything in my recipe that would be "unbalanced" There is something "off".......but on the whole good. :mug:
 
Was it carbonated after 3 days in the bottle? That seems pretty darn quick, I would expect it would taste a bit better a few weeks from now. It's still a pretty "green" beer at this point. I would give it several weeks in the bottle at room temp to carbonate, then put them in the fridge for another week to condition and I'm sure it will taste like a different beer. Conditioning is good for rounding the sharp edges of a beer.. As far as your recipe you didn't mention the finishing gravity. If it finished high (1.014+) that could account for the sweetness.
 
As mentioned, it's still green. 2-3 weeks at 70 degrees to condition. For something that hoppy, it needs the sweetness or maltiness to balance it.

It should be better in a few weeks meanwhile, start the next batch!
 
I think it's too early to call what off flavors or where sweetness comes from. After only 3 days there could still be priming sugar that hasn't been totally consumed by the yeast yet. Let it sit for 3 weeks and then try one. There will be a pretty big difference in taste from your 3 day tester beer.
As ericbw said, start on your next batch and forget about this one. Then start on a 3rd and forget about your 2nd. And so on and so on until you have nice pipeline then just keep it going! Cheers.
 
That couldn't have been carbonated yet... that will change the flavor substantially, that and some conditioning.

How long did it ferment for? What was OG/FG?
 
I disagree, a beer can certainly be carbonated in three days. Perhaps not 100%, but it doesn't take yeast long to chew through the amount of sugar that ends up in each bottle. This doesn't mean that bottle bombs won't happen...

But as said by others, 3 days is really not enough to judge the beer's merits and flaws. Definitely give it 2-3 weeks. And you said the head has a green tinge? I've never had that from dry hopping. Did you get some hop sludge in with the yeast at the bottom of the bottles or something?
 
I disagree, a beer can certainly be carbonated in three days.

Sure there might be *some* carbonation, but then again there's even a small amount of carbonation in the beer from fermentation. But three days will be very low carbonation. First you need to carbonate at room temps, but then you also need to refrigerate it for the CO2 to have better solubility in the beer. Three days is too short and not only will the beer be significantly flatter than it should be but it will also be greener tasting.


Rev.
 
Get back to us on Feb first with tasting notes. The beer is not ready yet. It is good to taste your beer throughout the process for learning purposes and to troubleshoot in the future. what you're asking is on the premise of a finished beer, which is not something you have there.

Congrats on the first brew! It only gets better from here:beer:
 
as others have said wait 2-3 weeks your beer will change so much even from a sample tasted during bottling till its carbed and then when it settles a bit after. I try my first at one week then at two weeks it's usually their close then come week three they've been ready for the fridge and the rest go in the cool basement until I have room in the fridge. Welcome to hb beer it's an addicting hobby.
 
Get back to us on Feb first with tasting notes. The beer is not ready yet. It is good to taste your beer throughout the process for learning purposes and to troubleshoot in the future. what you're asking is on the premise of a finished beer, which is not something you have there.

Congrats on the first brew! It only gets better from here:beer:


I had another one last night (a week from bottling) there was carbonation and a great head. Not sure how much more it can progress in this area. It is slightly too hoppy (and I like hops) I think this might mellow a bit with time.

All in all a great beer
 
You have a ton of hops in there. 3oz of dry hop is a lot, esp with 3oz at the end. Wow.
 
You have a ton of hops in there. 3oz of dry hop is a lot, esp with 3oz at the end. Wow.

i disagree. I dry hop all IPA's with at least 4 oz for 5-6days and its perfect. and i whirlpool another 4oz plus another 2 for bittering.

His recipe looks alright. the only problem is he cant relax and wait to drink this, wait two weeks minimum to drink it and you will see its true colors. :mug:
 
Except that he said it was too hoppy, son. And the reason it's too hoppy is that it's got 6 oz of hops at the end.
 
Keep a few bottles of your first beer. You'll want to taste them after a few batches and you start getting a hang of the process to see how you've progressed.
 
The hops might mellow some, and others will disagree, but I think that is a lot for dry hops. Maybe cut that down to two oz. I'm only saying that because you thought it was too hoppy.

How long did you dry hop?
 
Congratulations on your first brew! Patience is one of the toughest things about this hobby, young grasshopper, but it's always well worth the wait. It's way easier to be patient one you've got the pipeline going though, so quit reading my post and brew something delicious! :mug:
 
New brewer here and just cracked open the first bottle after 3 days in the bottle


Impression: I am pleasantly surprised. It has a hoppy taste which I like (even the head has a green tinge) I detect a sweetness (?) maybe not, not sure if I know what I am tasting.

Anybody see anything in my recipe that would be "unbalanced" There is something "off".......but on the whole good. :mug:

Where does is say too hoppy?
lol his problem was his first statement, drinking his brew after 3 days in bottle. He needs to wait at minimum 2 weeks. Also the head having a green tinge sounds very odd.

The sweetness problem was already answered so i wont touch on that.
 
Ummm... I was thinking of post #14. Where he said it was too hoppy? And a greenish tinge on the head? That can't be because he added 3 oz of something green, can it?
 
The greenish hue on the head is from rushing things and not fully understanding the fining process, not from too many hops. I've used a pound (including dry hop) of pellet hops for a five gallon batch, all into the fermenter. Poured the trub into a straining bag, squeezed, let settle out for days in fridge decanting twice. Got almost a gallon out of it and it was clear as it could get with all that hop oil.
 
The greenish hue on the head is from rushing things and not fully understanding the fining process, not from too many hops. I've used a pound (including dry hop) of pellet hops for a five gallon batch, all into the fermenter. Poured the trub into a straining bag, squeezed, let settle out for days in fridge decanting twice. Got almost a gallon out of it and it was clear as it could get with all that hop oil.

I'm not saying that 3 oz (or a pound) is too much to ever use. He said it was a little too hoppy, and the reason it would be hoppy is... wait for it... hops.

His favorite beer is a an IPA that sounds like it's a British style IPA (and possibly a light smelling one at that - I've never had it). He also liked a SNPA, which has a pretty hoppy aroma, but is balanced. (Depending on the source, SNPA may or may not be dry hopped, and most clone recipes that do dry hop don't seem to approach 3 oz of dry hopping.) From this, we can guess that the OP does not have the same enthusiasm for dry hops that you do.

I think it's great that you use so much hops that you have to strain it and let it settle for 2 days. That's awesome. But I'm also guessing that beer came in over 50 IBUs.
 
I'm not saying that 3 oz (or a pound) is too much to ever use. He said it was a little too hoppy, and the reason it would be hoppy is... wait for it... hops.

His favorite beer is a an IPA that sounds like it's a British style IPA (and possibly a light smelling one at that - I've never had it). He also liked a SNPA, which has a pretty hoppy aroma, but is balanced. (Depending on the source, SNPA may or may not be dry hopped, and most clone recipes that do dry hop don't seem to approach 3 oz of dry hopping.) From this, we can guess that the OP does not have the same enthusiasm for dry hops that you do.

I think it's great that you use so much hops that you have to strain it and let it settle for 2 days. That's awesome. But I'm also guessing that beer came in over 50 IBUs.

Uhh... I was just commenting on the green comment saying that it is not a result of the amount of hops but process. Easy there short fuse:beer:
 
Hi guys. Relax :) I'm ok with any input. I'm new, so I have a lot to learn. I appreciate all the input.
 
I just wanted to follow up on this thread. Last night I cracked open another after 12 days in the bottle, including 1 day in the fridge.

I was great! Very good carbonation, great head. Hops seemed mellowed out a bit, but strong enough to appreciate. I can taste a little sweetness which I "think" is from the Carmel 60 (.75 lb) (?)

I'll let it sit for a while and have a wheat beer planned for Monday :mug:
 
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