Just bottled my first batch last night...

[longbbc]

Hello everyone, I had a couple of questions.

I just bottled my first batch last night. It was a Boston Lager Clone:

steeped grains (.5lb pale and .5lb of crystal 40L)
extract (pale 1.75qt and adjunt .25qt)
Hallertau bittering (1.5oz)
Hallertau finishing (1oz) & irish moss
saflager yeast

Did not use hydrometer to find OG so felt no need for FG.

I don't have much time so it sat in primary fermentor for 24 days. (bad?)
Bottling of course didn't go as planned and ended up siphoning beer from bottling bucket to bottles which created a fair amount of oxygen in the beer.(bad?)

My real question is; tasting the green beer there was no sweetness to it at all. It looked nice and clean and smelt tasty but was very bitter and wasn't sure if there is any chance of sweetening while conditioning?

Thanks

Longbbc

 

[cg2112]

24 days in the fermenter is not bad at all. If anything, you'll have cleaner beer.
Siphoning beer from the bucket to the bottles isn't bad, but you should really use a bottling cane, or push your tube all the way to the bottom of the bottle to avoid introducing oxygen (which is good for fermenting, bad for conditioning).

When you taste your beer green, it only give you a vague idea of what the beer is going to taste like. There are lots of changes during conditioning.

 

[SledgeH]

I'm fairly new to brewing, having just started in April (but I'm already 60 gallons in now). resist the urge to drink this too early. There were a couple of batches that I'd thought would be undrinkable. But a couple months later are significantly less bitter and a lot smoother.

 

[longbbc]

Thanks for the replies. Despite the warnings, I couldn't wait even close to 3 weeks ......i tried a bottle after a week and a half. I was pleasantly surprised. There was definitely a sweetness that I didn't taste before. I then tried a couple last night. The beer has a nice bitter-hoppy-sweet order. Like I said I didnt take the og or fg so I don't know the % of alcohol but it sure felt like it is high.

Thanks