Note for Beginners: First, brew something you know what it should taste like.

[Vedexent]

Seems obvious, in retrospect.

Broke open the first of my SMaSH batch today.

I expected it to be pretty green yet - it's only one week in, and I can't say I care very much for the way it turned out.

But ... it occurs to me that I'm not really that familiar with the Malt or the hops I used.

In short, I'm not sure if it's too green, whether I don't like the beer I made, or I don't like the recipe I made

It may be a combination of all of the above (especially the green part). But if it were a Weissbier, I'd know what it should taste like.

So ... advice to new brewers - at least brew what you know you like for your first brew

 

[tgolanos]

Judging by your signature, I'm going to assume you used Munich malt in this beer. Munich is more on the malty-side of the taste spectrum, so it's safe to assume you'll have a malty beer. I don't know anything about Mosaic hops, though. I never use them.

How long has it been bottle conditioning? If not very long, give it another week. Each time you crack one open, take note of the taste profile and see if it changes. If you end up not liking it, you at least know what Munich tastes like now.

 

[MaryB]

There are several websites that list malt flavor profiles. I use them when constructing a recipe. Sounds like you went for an IPA with a malty background. Mosaic can deliver these notes: Berry, Fruity, Herbal, Tropical, Citrus, Pine...

Describe your flavor and maybe we can figure out what may be wrong.

 

[Vedexent]

Thanks for the feedback

I hadn't expected Pine from Mosiac, but now that you mention it, I think that's the note I'm getting, with more of a bitter than I expected with a calculated IBU in the mid-30s (but IBU isn't everything when it comes to the perception of bitterness).

It also seemed to have much more ABV that I had expected/calculated.

I think I'm also getting a lingering alcohol "after-burn", which might be fusels - and that would make sense with my lack of climate control for this batch (corrected for the second batch, which is kept pretty steadily between 17-18C).

I guess the pleasant note is the astringency I tasted when I bottled it seems to be much muted.

It's been just over a week in the bottles. This was the first of "lets try one a week and makes notes on how the bottle conditioning evolves".

I didn't expect it to be good - not yet at least - but it occurred to me that I didn't really have a commercial recipe baseline beer to compare against; which might not have been the wisest choice for my first run at this.

But we'll see how it evolves

 

[PADave]

I'd be willing to bet, that in another week you'll have a different tasting beer.

 

[Vedexent]

I'd be willing to bet, that in another week you'll have a different tasting beer.

No bet - I'm not that much of a sucker

 

[Henbrew]

Great advice. I've been brewing for a little over a year and a half now but I started out making a lot of recipes without knowing what they would taste like once finished. Sticking with clone beers for your first few attempts is a great way to understand what malts/hops you may enjoy. I've been keeping my malts and hops pretty lately just so I can distinguish how each ingredient impacts the flavor of the beer.

 

[mongoose33]

I'm a little perplexed. Not an unusual state of affairs....

Shouldn't your criterion be whether you like the beer or not, and only secondarily whether it matches some style?

Last year I passed on a six-pack of my beers to a friend who's been brewing for 22 years....i wanted some feedback.

Well. I got it. As in rating sheets on each one. i appreciated the effort, but the first thing he wanted to know is the specific style against which he could judge the product.

All I wanted to know is if they were good....

I brew a SMASH beer out of Maris Otter and either Styrian Celeia or East Kent Goldings hops. I'm not really sure what style it belongs to (pale ale? something else?). All I know is i like it, and I've had several friends and family confess an affinity for it. They like it.

I understand that if you're trying to brew a specific style you can't tell if you matched it unless you know what that style is supposed to taste like, but I personally think trying to match styles is overrated. What matters IMO is how it tastes.

 

[Morrey]

Adding to the information Mongoose33 shared, Mosiac can be a great hop but I use it with care as a SMaSH hop. Marris Otter would be a good choice for the single malt in my opinion.

So how do you schedule your Mosaic hop additions? Ideally, you'd use a small amount for the First Wort Hop, then modest amounts toward the end of your boil. Personally, I totally skip any more boil additions and then go for post boil additions. If you do flameout or whirlpool additions this works beautifully with mosaic as does dry hopping at the end. I do them both. Excellent hop for SMaSH if used with some planned addition schedule.

 

[Vedexent]

I'm a little perplexed. Not an unusual state of affairs....

Shouldn't your criterion be whether you like the beer or not, and only secondarily whether it matches some style?

Last year I passed on a six-pack of my beers to a friend who's been brewing for 22 years....i wanted some feedback.

Well. I got it. As in rating sheets on each one. i appreciated the effort, but the first thing he wanted to know is the specific style against which he could judge the product.

All I wanted to know is if they were good....

I brew a SMASH beer out of Maris Otter and either Styrian Celeia or East Kent Goldings hops. I'm not really sure what style it belongs to (pale ale? something else?). All I know is i like it, and I've had several friends and family confess an affinity for it. They like it.

I understand that if you're trying to brew a specific style you can't tell if you matched it unless you know what that style is supposed to taste like, but I personally think trying to match styles is overrated. What matters IMO is how it tastes.

It's not really "do I match the style?".

It's - I don't like the beer right now, but since I'm a new brewer trying to dial in my process, and I'm trying out a recipe I don't know how it should taste, and it's still a very new/green batch - then I don't necessarily know why I don't like it.

Is it that my process needs adjusting? Do I just need more time (likely a strong component of this)? Or does the recipe just not fit my tastes?

If had tried a recipe where I at least could make a pretty good guess as to what the final taste profile should be, then I can eliminate one of those three right off the bat. Then over time, it will either improve (in which case it was more time than process), or not (in which case it's more process than time).

And you're 100% right about liking the taste over matching a style: If this was an amazing tasting beer, I wouldn't be worried about it at all; clearly the match of recipe/process/taste lined up. It's only because I don't like it right now that I'm unsure.

Ah well - live and learn.

Probably brew up an American Wheat this weekend. That at least I should be able to tell the difference on

 

[mongoose33]

It's not really "do I match the style?".

It's - I don't like the beer right now, but since I'm a new brewer trying to dial in my process, and I'm trying out a recipe I don't know how it should taste, and it's still a very new/green batch - then I don't necessarily know why I don't like it.

Is it that my process needs adjusting? Do I just need more time (likely a strong component of this)? Or does the recipe just not fit my tastes?

If had tried a recipe where I at least could make a pretty good guess as to what the final taste profile should be, then I can eliminate one of those three right off the bat. Then over time, it will either improve (in which case it was more time than process), or not (in which case it's more process than time).

And you're 100% right about liking the taste over matching a style: If this was an amazing tasting beer, I wouldn't be worried about it at all; clearly the match of recipe/process/taste lined up. It's only because I don't like it right now that I'm unsure.

Ah well - live and learn.

Probably brew up an American Wheat this weekend. That at least I should be able to tell the difference on

I have had beers that were not at all good at 2 weeks turn out to be great at 4 weeks.

It's too soon. In the immortal acronym of Charlie Papazian, RDWHAHB.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I'd say all isn't lost. Right now you don't know what part of the flavor you're perceiving comes from the hops and what comes from the malt, but if you stick with the same malt (or hops) for future batches you'll probably become able to identify the flavors that remain constant. Also, by the time you're tasting the second batch, the first one should be pretty well conditioned, so you'll be able to tell what part of the flavor is coming from immaturity and what part is just due to the particular ingredients.

 

[RM-MN]

I have had beers that were not at all good at 2 weeks turn out to be great at 4 weeks.

It's too soon. In the immortal acronym of Charlie Papazian, RDWHAHB.

This has happened to me but on a much grander scale. I had a batch taste so badly at bottling time I seriously considered dumping the whole thing. I still hated it at 3 weeks but since I had plenty of bottles on hand I left it. At 6 months I had an entirely different beer, enough better that I just bottled my 3rd batch of it.

 

[bajaedition]

This has happened to me but on a much grander scale. I had a batch taste so badly at bottling time I seriously considered dumping the whole thing. I still hated it at 3 weeks but since I had plenty of bottles on hand I left it. At 6 months I had an entirely different beer, enough better that I just bottled my 3rd batch of it.

which is why I always consider this to be a learning curve.

It seems we can always learn more

 

[NSMikeD]

I think its natural to rush to taste what we brewed two weeks ago, but the more I know about yeast, the more I am convinced yeast does it's best work after fermentation.

As a rule of thumb, I give my beers 6 weeks before tapping. 2 weeks in the fermentor and then 4 weeks in the keg to naturally carbonate and condition. I'm sure I'll end up adding another keg for beers I want to condition longer.

As for taste buds, our heads can play a lot of tricks on our palettes and that our taste buds are different. The process of researching ingredients, beer styles and brewing methods has made me aware that there is so much more happening on my palette that I missed before, and I am far more in tune with what I like and don't like. This is equating to making each beer I taste a more enjoyable experience.

Not sure what you are tasting right now? Good, never stop doubting. And remember this, so called experts have been embarrassingly fooled by something as trite as using different labels on the same beer.

+1 that there is always more to learn and experience.