I caved in...

[wjohnsen]

Ditto that. I call it quality control.

 

[BadDeacon]

i think you should try every brew you make one, two and three weeks out to see how they evolve. You didn't cave, you're just diligent in your quality control

+1

 

[Yooper]

I just always see a lot of posts that recommend leaving it in the bottle without touching it for 3 weeks. The sarcastic quotes are for people that are super serious and super against tasting before 3 weeks. What happened to the "relax" part of homebrewing?

Beats me! If I had to wait three weeks for my beer to have the "magic", I'd quit brewing!
Thanks for the reply- I was really a bit in the dark.

 

[meadowstream]

I am one of those who has found 3-4 weeks at room temp to be best. Generally, my beer seems to get better for the first 6 weeks at room temperature while bottle conditioning, but the difference between weeks 4 to 6 are not as dramatic as between weeks 2 to 4.

 

[PhelanKA7]

Beats me! If I had to wait three weeks for my beer to have the "magic", I'd quit brewing!
Thanks for the reply- I was really a bit in the dark.

I know that Revvy has a tendency to reference a video when people bring up bottle conditioned beer not tasting right. I don't have the link but it basically is a guy showing the difference between 1,2, and 3 weeks in the bottle. I believe that is where the three week group think thing comes from.

 

[meadowstream]

I know that Revvy has a tendency to reference a video when people bring up bottle conditioned beer not tasting right. I don't have the link but it basically is a guy showing the difference between 1,2, and 3 weeks in the bottle. I believe that is where the three week group think thing comes from.

Empirically, I think most people find their bottle conditioned beers' improvement curve starts to flatten around 3 weeks. I have not seen the video you referenced and don't think groupthink accounts for the 3 week consensus (such as it is.)

 

[PhelanKA7]

Empirically, I think most people find their bottle conditioned beers' improvement curve starts to flatten around 3 weeks. I have not seen the video you referenced and don't think groupthink accounts for the 3 week consensus (such as it is.)

I agree to a certain extent but personally I'm generally satisfied with carbonation at two weeks and about one week or less for low abv wheat beers. And then I have beers that just aren't worth opening up for a month or more. I think three weeks is a gross over-generalization and isn't really helpful for anyone.

I think from Revvy and others' perspectives that tout the "three week rule" is that it is something to tell people posting threads without doing a search for why their beer tastes like crap after two days in the bottle.