First Taste

[TheBrewAbides]

The OG on this beer was 1.068. It's been in the primary for 2 weeks and it's at 1.012. It has a nice pumpkin spice aroma (maybe too much) and I love the color. Here is where my concern lies...I haven't tasted many of my beers during the fermentation stage, so I am wondering of what I'm tasting is somewhat normal for an unfinished brew. The first thing I notice is the alcohol. I was hoping to taste more of the malt or even more of the pumpkin spice. The second thing I notice is that it's dry, maybe because of the alcohol flavor. Then I get the pumpkin spice, and I think that if I could taste more of the malt than the spice flavor would be more balanced.

 

[AmandaK]

What you're describing is normal. As long as you don't taste any off-flavors (DMS, sour, etc.) you're heading in the right direction.

 

[Walking_Target]

Yeah, it'll calm down in character when it's been bottled for a few weeks. You're also tasting a lot of active yeast and certain volatiles that will breakdown or off gas in the 2ndary. This is also why you're not tasting a lot of malt; these other flavours dominate the palette.

Beer is nice that way, you get a hint of what your hopping (or spice) characters will be like, but it does need to age to reach its best balance.

 

[TheBrewAbides]

Excellent, good to hear. Thanks guys.