First beer, first sample

[geary51]

I recently bottled my first ever attempt at homebrewing. It was a Brewers Best witbier kit. I feel like everything went pretty well. The only thing I think that I did a little bit off was I didn't add quite enough water to my carboy before fermentation. I was short by about a 1/4 of a gallon. At the 7 day mark, I cracked open one of my bottles and tried it. I know thats probably a little early, but 1. I couldnt wait any longer and 2. I would like to gain knowledge of what green beer is, and the whole carbonation process. My question is about the taste. It was by no means bad, but it wasnt what I expected from a wit. I was able to taste a fair amount of hop finish to the beer, which in my experiences, doesnt generally happen with a wit. Plus the amount of hops that went in was very minimal. I am curious if this could be because its really not conditioned in the bottles yet, or maybe something went a little wrong during my boil. I am not stressing over it, like I said, its not like it tastes awful, I'm just curious if this could be because its green or not. Thanks!!

 

[TipsyDragon]

well my knee jerk reaction is its green. never judge a beer until its been in the bottle at least 3 weeks. tell us more about your brewing process from turing on the burner on brew day to caping the bottles on bottling day.

 

[bknifefight]

Was this a hopped can of extract type kit or a kit that came with all the separate ingredients? If it was one with all the separate ingredients then I would take this as an idea as how to improve this beer the next time you make it.

 

[DavidHawman]

Probably still green. I have been drinking my first beer on a daily basis and at the 1 week mark the beer was still very malty with no hop flavor. I am on day 10 and the beer already tastes a lot different than it did at day 7. I would imagine that by day 21 the beer will taste completely different. Give it some time and I am sure it will surprise you.

 

[gunner65]

This is the same beer I have conditioning it is a "mini mash" kit with unhopped lme. Mine is very cidery at this point too.

 

[geary51]

It was a kit with all the ingredients. Willamette hops for bittering, sterling for flavoring. Bavarian wheat LME, and others. If you really want me to list 'em all I can. It was a 55 minute boil, with steeped wheat, oats, and malt. It was fermented in a primary only, never racked to a secondary. It fermented for 18 days, my FG was at 1.010 on three consecutive readings, so I bottles it on the 20th. Tried my first bottle on saturday, so the.... 27th I believe. And thats the story lol.

Thanks for the responses guys, I wasnt to stressed over it, but it is good to know that I can still expect good changes. This recipe has orange peel and coriander also, neither of which I can taste yet. But like I said, I am trying to learn the process of green beer, so in the future I know where something is at just by tasting.

 

[gunner65]

My FG was 1.011 so we were very close. I primary'd 2 weeks second one will bottle three. My first taste was bottling night last Friday. I drank about a half of beer. Though it was flat and a little cidery it was very tasty.