First brew-tasting as they age

[howiehandles]

My first brew, an all extract wheat, will finish fermenting in the bottle next week. As its finished up, I've tasted a bottle per week. Just recently I tried one, and it was excellent. Nice aroma, really nice flavor as well. But two bottles after that one have not tasted as good. The second two were more similar in flavor, more bland. I don't know if it was just my excitement that the first didn't taste like crap, or my memory isn't that good, or something could have created greater flavor in one bottle, but less in the other two.

Anyone experience this before? or am I just losing my mind?

 

[MalFet]

Unlikely that there is a significant difference between the two, but there may have been a few confounding factors. Was the carbonation level the same? Presumably not. During the first couple weeks, bottles will carbonate unevenly but will tend to settle out near 3 weeks or so. Overcarbed or undercarbed beers can taste less interesting. Give it some time; I'm sure you've got a lovely batch coming your way.

Quick note of terminology: your beers finished fermenting in the fermentor. They are conditioning in the bottle.

 

[flabyboy]

Were they drank at the same temp? I find beer tastes a lot different in the high forties than low forties or high thirties. I don't like them too cold. Taste more bland to me

 

[sjbeerman]

Did you use liquid or dry yeast for this batch? Most of the flavor in wheat beers come from the yeast and should have a cloudy appearance in the bottle. When pouring a wheat beer in the bottle, it is important to pour as normal then stop about 1/3 before the end and swirl the bottle then pour the remaining beer in your glass. This will ensure that you get the yeast in the bottle to give your wheat beer that characteristic flavor. I'm not sure whether you did this or not, but I know I didn't very early on and the beer tasted much different without the yeast in the glass than it did with it.

 

[howiehandles]

Did you use liquid or dry yeast for this batch? Most of the flavor in wheat beers come from the yeast and should have a cloudy appearance in the bottle. When pouring a wheat beer in the bottle, it is important to pour as normal then stop about 1/3 before the end and swirl the bottle then pour the remaining beer in your glass. This will ensure that you get the yeast in the bottle to give your wheat beer that characteristic flavor. I'm not sure whether you did this or not, but I know I didn't very early on and the beer tasted much different without the yeast in the glass than it did with it.

You know, I wanted to pour the yeast, but I keep reading not to pour the sediment on the bottom. When I've had wheat before, I always tried to get it in my beer. I'm gonna try that.

 

[howiehandles]

Were they drank at the same temp? I find beer tastes a lot different in the high forties than low forties or high thirties. I don't like them too cold. Taste more bland to me

They were different degrees of cold, some barely, some ice. Funny this is, before starting brewing, I always drank cold beer. Now that I make my own, I want just a hint of cold, or even room temp, so I can taste the flavors.

 

[howiehandles]

Unlikely that there is a significant difference between the two, but there may have been a few confounding factors. Was the carbonation level the same? Presumably not. During the first couple weeks, bottles will carbonate unevenly but will tend to settle out near 3 weeks or so. Overcarbed or undercarbed beers can taste less interesting. Give it some time; I'm sure you've got a lovely batch coming your way.

Quick note of terminology: your beers finished fermenting in the fermentor. They are conditioning in the bottle.

Patience is something I struggle with. I'll give it more time, and not try to judge this batch till its conditioned longer. It still has a week to go.

 

[Captain Damage]

It's a tangent, but to clarify: For most beers you want to avoid the yeast/sediment at the bottom of the bottle. The main exception is for German hefeweizens, for which including the yeast is actually essential to the style (hefe is German for "yeast"). But not all wheat beers are hefeweizens. A lot of the distinct flavor of hefeweizen comes from the yeast strains used for that style. So if you didn't use hefeweizen yeast, you didn't make hefeweizen, and should avoid the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle as ususal.

 

[howiehandles]

It's a tangent, but to clarify: For most beers you want to avoid the yeast/sediment at the bottom of the bottle. The main exception is for German hefeweizens, for which including the yeast is actually essential to the style (hefe is German for "yeast"). But not all wheat beers are hefeweizens. A lot of the distinct flavor of hefeweizen comes from the yeast strains used for that style. So if you didn't use hefeweizen yeast, you didn't make hefeweizen, and should avoid the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle as ususal.

Got ya. I don't remember which type of yeast, but it was a dry yeast from a True Brew wheat extract kit. Definitely not a Weiss.