Is tasting beer 4 days into fermentation any indication of how final beer will taste?

[eddiek85]

I have an ale that's should have a final gravity of 1.015. It's been four days and the gravity is already reading 1.016(from 1.065). This is using a brix meter and a brix calculator online.

I tasted the beer that I sampled from the spigot (about 1/3 cup) to get a gravity reading. It tasted way too sweet and I was just wondering if tasting it this soon is any indication of how sweet the final beer will taste.

Another unrelated question I had was about fermentation. Should I cold crash right when it hits final gravity? I haven't even gotten a chance to rack it into secondary, but I'm using buckets so I thought I'd just skip that step. Or should I continue to let it sit at fermenting temperatures despite having already reached final gravity from the recipe?

 

[SlitheryDee]

My feeling would be largely no, it isn't representative of what the final beer will taste like, especially with regard to sweetness. Just because you know your expected final gravity doesn't mean your beer is going to finish there. There may be a lot of sugars left for the yeast to convert.

I suppose if you are tasting early there are a few assumptions you can safely make about the final product. However sweet it tastes, the final product will be less sweet. However bitter and hoppy it tastes, the final product will be less so. However fruity/buttery it tastes due to yeast esters and diacetyl, the final product will be less so.

 

[dstockwell]

I would also say no. Flat beer doesn't taste anywhere near carbonated and ready to drink.

 

[Turkeyshot]

With some more time the sweetness should subside a little. But what grains did you use in your recipe? Was there a lot of crystal used or maybe some honey malt?

 

[GJOCONNELL]

No

 

[jabba11]

Ill add a no as well BUT it can give you some idea but its not worth paying any real attention too.

 

[Goolsbymd]

Also no, yeast need time to clean up off flavors if fermented correcrly

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

From personal experience, no. My latest NEIPA was so sweet asst that point I literally lost sleep worrying about it. It came out dry and dank and conditioned into a great beer.

 

[eddiek85]

Sorry, I am a bit confused because the book I was getting to recipes out of said to ferment until final gravity, but it seems that the general consensus is to not pay attention to FG and just allow it to sit for longer? OR to wait until gravity is stable for 3 days..

So, what happens if it goes lower than the FG for the recipe?

Also, after the gravity is stable for 3 days, should I cold crash for a few days and then put it directly into my keg, carbonate for 3 days and be able to drink it?

Sorry for the flurry of noob questions, but thanks a ton for the help! I feel like an expecting father.

 

[V-Fib]

The yeast are going to convert all available sugar they are capable of so you can end up with a lower final gravity. Things that will effect the type of sugars produced in wort depend on grain type and mash temperature. All the crystal type grains and lactose are all I can think of off the top of my head will leave sugar the yeast can't eat. A higher mash temperature will result in different enzyme making more complex sugar the yeast will leave behind also which will all lead to a higher final gravity.

In short yeast stop when they are done. If you bottle based of what a recipe said the yeast will continue to convert sugar into alcohol and CO2, bottle pressure will increase and potentially make some nice bottle bombs.

 

[eddiek85]

With some more time the sweetness should subside a little. But what grains did you use in your recipe? Was there a lot of crystal used or maybe some honey malt?

sorry I forgot to answer your question. I used a dead guy ale clone recipe that called for about 1/9th of the recipe to use 20srm crystal malt. Do you think this would create a significant honey flavor? It is kind of gross to be honest but I will let it sit there for another week and see if it changes.

 

[Anyhowe]

Absolutely. Just like wine, qualities are there at all stages. As you brew more and taste more you will be able to predict the future quite well. That said, for your first few beers you wont be able to taste the final product but without a doubt good beer taste good at all stages of the process.

 

[eddiek85]

Absolutely. Just like wine, qualities are there at all stages. As you brew more and taste more you will be able to predict the future quite well. That said, for your first few beers you wont be able to taste the final product but without a doubt good beer taste good at all stages of the process.

aw crap this is a bit concerning. lol... It doesn't taste too too bad it's just that initially it tastes like drinking honey water or something. The finish is pretty good though. We will see!

 

[Anyhowe]

aw crap this is a bit concerning. lol... It doesn't taste too too bad it's just that initially it tastes like drinking honey water or something. The finish is pretty good though. We will see!

Hmmmm, honey water sounds yummy. Don't confuse 'not liking it' or 'not what you were shooting for' with 'bad' or 'problems'. Brew on !!!!

 

[Mainer]

It can give you some clue in some ways. Like if there are fruity or spicy esters being produced, you can get some sense. Or if you used roasted malts or adjuncts, you'll taste the roasty flavor coming though. And you can get a sense of how dominant your hop profile is going to be.

But if it's the sweetness you're worried about, no, you can't really get a feel for that until fermentation is done.

 

[GHawk]

A consistent gravity reading over several days means it IS finished.
fermenting that is
Beer will need to clean up so give it a week minimum.
You can't rush beer.

 

[mainbutter]

I'll be a contrarian opinion and say that tasting before final serving is useful, or at least interesting. I love tasting wort before pitching yeast, and tasting flat beer on bottling day. I can't really predict a final product, but I have gotten a better understanding of analyzing flavor in my finished product.

The same goes for aging - I love experiencing a beer multiple times as it ages in a bottle.

I think those experiences do give me a better understanding of what is happening to my brews throughout the whole process and have influenced some of my brew day decisions.

 

[Barley_Bob]

I have an ale that's should have a final gravity of 1.015. It's been four days and the gravity is already reading 1.016(from 1.065). This is using a brix meter and a brix calculator online.

I tasted the beer that I sampled from the spigot (about 1/3 cup) to get a gravity reading. It tasted way too sweet and I was just wondering if tasting it this soon is any indication of how sweet the final beer will taste.

Another unrelated question I had was about fermentation. Should I cold crash right when it hits final gravity? I haven't even gotten a chance to rack it into secondary, but I'm using buckets so I thought I'd just skip that step. Or should I continue to let it sit at fermenting temperatures despite having already reached final gravity from the recipe?

An indication? Sure. An IPA (or whatever you're brewing) isn't going to taste like a saison. But it's going to be a very poor indication of quality!

Even though you've pretty much reached terminal gravity, chemical processes are still taking place in your young beer. And actually, this will always remain true. For example, when you bottle, the beer might be carbonated in 4 days, but the taste will still change quite a bit by 14 days. And that's for a finished beer!

The best thing you can do is be patient. I'm as guilty as anyone of testing too soon and losing sleep. But experience has shown me that time heals all (well, most).

What kind of beer are you brewing? Standard practice is to ferment in primary for two weeks, raising the temperature for a few days at the end (just to make sure it really is done). There's no reason to use a secondary, and cold crashing isn't necessary. Lots of folks still do cold crash, but you don't have to, and I for one think it's overrated.

You can also ferment longer that two weeks. It generally won't hurt anything, and it can help protect you a little from newbie mistakes. And some beers should be fermented longer than that.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

aw crap this is a bit concerning. lol... It doesn't taste too too bad it's just that initially it tastes like drinking honey water or something. The finish is pretty good though. We will see!

Don't stress - it will taste completely different when it's finished and carbonated. Once you've tasted enough fermenting beer you start to get an idea of what the finished beer will be like, so it can be useful, but the finished beer is always different than the fermenting beer. It also depends a bit on yeast - I often use US05 and find that it always tastes AWFUL at the four to six day ferment stage. It needs time to clean up after consuming all of the sugars. For a dead guy ale clone, you'd be looking at a clean ferment (the real thing is a lager) so you'll want to leave the ferment for at least two, preferably three weeks to clean up and condition. For some beer styles (like english and belgian ales and hefeweizens) you want to bottle/keg a lot sooner to try to keep some of the fermentation byproducts/flavours (eg. esters).

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

4 days into fermentation...Beer will taste like crap...Youll get the "kinda" taste of it hidden by yeast,hops, and unconditioned beer bad flavors...10 days will be more like the finished product

 

[Turkeyshot]

sorry I forgot to answer your question. I used a dead guy ale clone recipe that called for about 1/9th of the recipe to use 20srm crystal malt. Do you think this would create a significant honey flavor? It is kind of gross to be honest but I will let it sit there for another week and see if it changes.

No I don't think that is too much crystal malt. Especially for a Dead Guy clone, of which the original has a slightly malty/sweetness to it. I made a RIS a while back that when young tasted really sweet, but after a couple of months it tastes much better. Just give it some time, and if it still taste sweet cut back on the crystal a little on the next batch. Not everyone tastes things the same way, some people are more sensitive to certain flavors.

 

[luizffgarcia]

It depends on how you interpret it, will it taste like your final beer? No way. But with experience if you always try your beers at day 4 or 5 and then try them when they are ready to drink fully carbonated you will be able to trace a parallel between them, and eventually you will be able to get a good idea at day 4.

i only brew IPAs and since i am consistently doing what i just described, i can easily tell if the beer is going to turn out good or not at day 4 / 5. I cannot tell exactly how its going to taste, but i can tell if its gonna be good beer or not. Just my 2 cents from my experience

BTW, always leave your beer a few more days in the fermentor after FG is reached, the yeast needs time to cleanup byproducts of the fermentation.