Here is another lesson on never pouring out your batch until it’s aged. I bottled my first batch about 3 weeks ago, knowing that there was a good chance that I had screwed it up but figured why not, I’ve already put in all the work and it can’t hurt to see how it came out.
To back up a little bit, while I was brewing (my first extract batch)I didn’t pay much attention to the amount of water I was adding to the wort after my boil. I dumped the whole thing into the bucket and then read the next line of instructions, add water to reach five gallons. Well my bucket wasn’t marked and I made the assumption that the bucket was about five gallons so I filled it to pretty much the top. Well not only did I not cool the batch before transferring it but my bucket isn’t 5 gallons, but 7 gallons so I’ve probably added way too much water. Then to top it off, I forgot to take the initial reading so I have no idea what it the OG was.
After a week in the primary (had a good amount of activity for the first few days) I transferred it to the secondary which was only 6 gallons and what a shock, I couldn’t fit everything in it. I decided instead of wasting it I would just bottle it (I’m more aware of the potential of bottle bombs now and would not recommend it unless you’re certain fermentation has stopped). Put everything back in the chest freezer and waited. Christmas came and I was excited to try one of the extra bottles, I had just enough to share with the beer drinkers in my family. I pulled out one of the bottles, put it in the fridge and let it sit for a couple days to get good and cold. Once it was ready, I pulled it out, poured it into a glass (absolutely no head should have been my first red flag), brought it to my lips and took a good sip… then quickly decided I was not going to swallow that horrible crap (insert joke here). It was bad, all water and almost no taste, I would have used a BMC to wash out my mouth it was so bad. I quickly poured out my glass and decided that Christmas homebrews were not in my future. I did decide to let the rest sit a little longer.
I’ve now had the rest of the batch bottled for about three weeks and figured I’d give it a whirl again (both the batch out of the secondary and the original extra bottles). Tried them both and they weren’t too bad (don’t get me wrong, they weren’t great by any means, but not bad). I was able to enjoy finishing each and look forward drinking the others. Still not a beer I’m going to be sharing with too many people but absolutely one that I will grab while brewing the next few batches.
Long story short, if your beer sucks, let it sit, it will probably get better.
To back up a little bit, while I was brewing (my first extract batch)I didn’t pay much attention to the amount of water I was adding to the wort after my boil. I dumped the whole thing into the bucket and then read the next line of instructions, add water to reach five gallons. Well my bucket wasn’t marked and I made the assumption that the bucket was about five gallons so I filled it to pretty much the top. Well not only did I not cool the batch before transferring it but my bucket isn’t 5 gallons, but 7 gallons so I’ve probably added way too much water. Then to top it off, I forgot to take the initial reading so I have no idea what it the OG was.
After a week in the primary (had a good amount of activity for the first few days) I transferred it to the secondary which was only 6 gallons and what a shock, I couldn’t fit everything in it. I decided instead of wasting it I would just bottle it (I’m more aware of the potential of bottle bombs now and would not recommend it unless you’re certain fermentation has stopped). Put everything back in the chest freezer and waited. Christmas came and I was excited to try one of the extra bottles, I had just enough to share with the beer drinkers in my family. I pulled out one of the bottles, put it in the fridge and let it sit for a couple days to get good and cold. Once it was ready, I pulled it out, poured it into a glass (absolutely no head should have been my first red flag), brought it to my lips and took a good sip… then quickly decided I was not going to swallow that horrible crap (insert joke here). It was bad, all water and almost no taste, I would have used a BMC to wash out my mouth it was so bad. I quickly poured out my glass and decided that Christmas homebrews were not in my future. I did decide to let the rest sit a little longer.
I’ve now had the rest of the batch bottled for about three weeks and figured I’d give it a whirl again (both the batch out of the secondary and the original extra bottles). Tried them both and they weren’t too bad (don’t get me wrong, they weren’t great by any means, but not bad). I was able to enjoy finishing each and look forward drinking the others. Still not a beer I’m going to be sharing with too many people but absolutely one that I will grab while brewing the next few batches.
Long story short, if your beer sucks, let it sit, it will probably get better.
