How does beer change while conditioning?

[LittleHoudini]

So first of all, I know that i've been incredibly wasteful but I couldn't help myself...first brew. I made my first brew 18 days ago; after 7 days in primary, i siphoned into my 5 gallon better bottle then 11 days later I saw a lot of sediment had settled in the bottom and the airlock had been calm for a few days so I figured it would be alright to go ahead and bottle. I yielded just short of 4.25 gallons so I used about 80% of the priming sugar provided in a packet premeasured for 5 gallons of beer from the local homebrew store. I bottled and about 4 days later I got really impatient and wanted to try one of my beers. Basically I figured, its been sitting for like 3 weeks, what could happen as a result of waiting more that hasnt already happened? so of course it wasnt carbonated except for a little "psst" when i opened the bottle and a slight tingle on the tongue, but i noticed that the beer tasted pretty...crappy. it just tasted watery(despite using 11 pounds of grain for just over 4 gallons of wort) and had a pretty bad aftertaste. I soaked everything really well in iodophor solution so i think was clean enough.

A nice quote i saw in one of the threads was "we arent making cool-aid here." does it just take time for everything to come together? will my beer get better with time?

here was my recipe just so you have an idea of what it should taste like:

9lbs maris otter
2lbs crystal 120
1oz amarillo-60min
.5oz amarillo-5min
.5oz amarillo-0min

soooo yeah. thanks in advance guys.

 

[LittleHoudini]

oh this should be in the all grain brewing forum...my mistake. admins? do your magic?

 

[Revvy]

Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

 

[KAMMEE]

Revvy's article on bottle conditioning is good for the bottle aging process, and I whole heartedly suggest waiting another two to three weeks before cracking another one, unless you want to learn about how the taste profile of your beer changes over time in the bottle. Also, if this was an all grain recipe, do you have the other specs? Mash temp, temp loss, original and final gravity readings?

 

[LittleHoudini]

mash temp was about 165. mashed for an hour and at the end of the hour my temp was down to about 150-155. I'm using boston tap water which...might be a huge no-no im not sure. I didn't do original gravity readings because the guy at the brew store said its not completely necessary for your first brew.

 

[evanmars]

It isn't completely necessary. It's is only useful if you want to know where you are starting from and where you can expect to end up. It'll let you know how relatively well your mash went.

If you had a poor crush on your grains you could have had a low original gravity.

That is a pretty big temperature variation. That is a pretty high temperature for the mash, it is nearly mash-out temperature which stops the enzymes from converting the malt starches to sugars. Your statement that your ending temp is about 150-155 seems to say that your starting temp could have been as high as 170.

You need to get an accurate thermometer and a hydrometer.

 

[LittleHoudini]

well i get that because i read that you lose 10 degrees when you transfer water to your tun and then another 5-10 over the hour. i heated the original water to 170...too hot?

 

[IrregularPulse]

You're drinking your beer earlier than a lot of us remove it from primary. You said you've read the threads about waiting, what good is one more person telling you to wait going to do?
Try it again in 3 weeks. By the time you finish your last bottle in a month, you'll wish you'd waited til then to start drinking it.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I'm so glad you decided to finaLLY announce this!

Yes, you have the patience of a 4 year old.

 

[LittleHoudini]

I'm so glad you decided to finaLLY announce this!

Yes, you have the patience of a 4 year old.

its been a while since ive used forums for anything. id say i got pretty lucky with this one, just about all of the responses i got were really helpful...lol but there are always people like you out there huh? well at least your post count is really high so you must be a master of homebrewing.

anyway, the video posted was incredibly helpful and revvys post was as informative as anyone could ever hope to get on a forum.

thanks a lot guys. cheezydemon3, stay classy

 

[evanmars]

well i get that because i read that you lose 10 degrees when you transfer water to your tun and then another 5-10 over the hour. i heated the original water to 170...too hot?

Not necessarily too hot. Depending on the amount and the temperature of your grains and the mash temp you are shooting for, 170 could be right on or even too low. It is best to use a spreadsheet or software to help figure your strike water temperature. After a while, you'll probably be able to do without anything but your brain as far as figuring your strike temp.

I generally shoot for a mash temp somewhere from 152 to 156, depending on type of beer. Read up on a few recipes (there are plenty on this site) to figure what temp you should be shooting for.

You should get a better insulated mash tun if you are losing that much heat over an hour. It shouldn't be more than about 2 degrees, less loss is better.

P.S. I wouldn't worry too much about replies that seem less than nice. Most people on this forum are actually friendly, helpful people. Sometimes playful ribbing/sarcasm comes off as somebody being an a$$hat. This may or not be the case here , but just sayin'...

 

[cheezydemon3]

Alright!

Sorry if it sounded harsh.........but 10000 or however many members, and I have never seen anything like this posted under announcements.

If some good natured ribbing wasn't in order, then take my apologies and go phuck yourself.

 

[LittleHoudini]

lolol fair enough. i didnt actually see that it was in this section i thought it was just a general...board...obviously i was wrong lol. but i still got all the info i wanted because whats the best homebrew site on the web? thats right. homebrewtalk.com.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Absolutely!!

And welcome.

No joke, I can't guarantee duplicate results, but........

LET ME ANNONCE THAT:

I posted a thread asking about people's favorite MP3 players, and I got a PM from a member insisting on mailing me one of his old ones. He never replied to my thank you, so I won't emberrass him by announcing his userneame here.

And actually, azscoob, really cool guy, is mailing me a disk with some cool things burned to it for halloween.

It would be cool without the awesome gifts, but tangeable proof of the circulating helpful awesomeness is never a bad thing.

Sorry I am the self appointed hazer!lol.

Good job dishing it back at me.

 

[IrregularPulse]

haha I just came in to say I just realized it was in the announcements and feed back section as well. I see Cheezy beat me to it in a more amusing way

 

[cheezydemon3]

haha I just came in to say I just realized it was in the announcements and feed back section as well. I see Cheezy beat me to it in a more amusing way

Lol, cheers IP!