Just bottled first brew

[2ducks]

This is fun! Bottled my first batch today, Bavarian hefe extract kit. Quick question, I,sampled a couple times as it was fermenting, when SG was at about 1.018 it tasted great, like a perfect hefe to me. When it finished at bottling time at 1.012, now it tastes a lot more hoppy. It's still very good, just almost like a mild IPA rather than a hefe. Will some f that possibly correct itself in the next couple of weeks while it carbonates?

It's possible this is my fault too, while I really liked it a couple days before it finished it was very heavy on the yeast so I did a mild cold crash. Put the fermenter in an ice bath and slowly brought the temp down to 43-44F before bottling. It dropped a fair amount of yeast, not a TON, but some. Maybe that's the reason for the change in flavor?

 

[Pantherjon]

It could be...Now it is going to take a bit longer for you to get carbonation with the cold crashing settling the yeast..Hopefully you will still have enough active yeast for carbing..Also, the 'hoppy' taste should diminish as the beer ages and matures in the bottles..

 

[mgortel]

Make sure you give it plenty of time to carbonate.....wen I used to bottle I always went 3 weeks .....you could try one after 2 weeks....put it in fridge for 24 hours then try it so see where it stands if you get impatient!

 

[kh54s10]

I have found that some beers taste dramatically different between bottling day and when they are fully carbonated. Some of the hop flavor and aroma will fade with time. It will also be different after fully bottle conditioned. Keep the bottles at room temperature for at least 2 weeks, cool one for a day or two and try it. If it is well carbonated you can start drinking them. I would suggest letting most of the bottles go for 3 weeks before chilling them. Even if good at 2 weeks they are still likely to be better at 3 or longer.

 

[flars]

Don't worry about having enough yeast to bottle carbonate. A lager after a month long cold crash still has the yeast for bottle carbonation.

A lot of the flavor of a Hefe is from the yeast. Hefes like other wheat beers are hazy. The yeast in the bottle also goes into the glass for the flavor.

 

[kristiismean]

I think it will be fine as well. I never cold crash before bottling. but it might need more time. If it seems to hoppy, those flavors diminish pretty quickly. major difference between 2 weeks and 6 weeks. If it does not taste good to you, put it somewhere dark, and try it again in a few weeks / month.

 

[GHBWNY]

The yeast in the bottle also goes into the glass for the flavor.

This.