New brewer in PA

[Polifemo]

First time posting here. From central PA, where, if you've got to buy a case, you might as well get something good, like Victory, Troegs, or Appalachian.

Just tonighy, I tried my own homebrew for the first time. It's only been in the bottle for five days, but I couldn't wait to take a sample, for scientific purposes only. It's Williams Brewing's West Coast Ale and it's pretty darn good. Malt is caramelly and Cascade hops are beautiful and effusive. How should it change over the coming weeks?

What a rewarding hobby. Very excited for my next batch.

 

[McKBrew]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on a success first brew. If it's good at five days, it will only get better. Expect the cascades to mellow a bit, but still provide some nice citrusy flavor.

 

[deharris]

Great to hear from another brewer in PA. It's great to try beers at various stages. I can't predict how your beer will change over time, but usually bad flavors mellow or disappear and good flavors and aromas become more pronounced. Beer is good.

 

[Special Ed]

Welcome from another central PA homebrewer!

 

[coyote]

welcome, from a born and raised central PA boy (now living in SW PA)

I'm new to this hobby as well (four brews under my belt).

 

[Evets]

Welcome and congrats from Lancaster County.

 

[Vagrant]

There's quite a few PA homebrewers. I'm originally from NW PA, a town called Warren. I'd be there now if the job market wasnt so bad.. Welcome to HBT and may you continue to reap the rewards of home brewing =)

To answer your question, the conditioning really depends on the brew. In my experience, every brew has only gotten better over time maturing at about 2 - 4 weeks (again depending on the brew). Just keep cracking one a week until it's phenomenal and throw them all in your fridge.

I had a stout that I brewed while I lived in Hawaii. I dont know if it's Japanese or Hawaiian or where it gets it's roots, but they call Soy Sauce "Shoyu" there. For the first 3 weeks, every bottle I cracked tasted EXACTLY like Soy Sauce, it was disgusting. When the fourth week rolled around, it was the best Stout I've ever drank. I took some into work where we had a few other guys that got into homebrewing at the same time and that brew was the all time best between us =)

So it just goes to show, bottle conditioning can make a world of difference.

 

[FireBrewer]

Welcome!

 

[Polifemo]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. This seems to be a very collegial space.
McKBrew: The Cascade hops are assertive, and seem to stand apart from the caramelly malt backdrop. Maybe some softening and melding will occur.
deharris: Beer is very, very good.
nobes341: have you thought of making a stir fry sauce out of young stout? No, but seriously, is there an area here about cooking with beer?
Just ordered my second kit from Northern Brewer. Thinking through how brewing works, my wife suggested that we keep something fermenting all the time. I'm a happy man.
Thanks to all. . .