opened my first brew today

[HH60gunner]

Well it's been 5 days in the bottle so I figured what the hell I'll try one. I put it in the fridge for a few hours and opened the sucker up. It gave a nice hiss, with a nice humidity cloud in the glass. However the hefeweizen is not quite ready yet. There was next to no carbonation in the brew at this point so I ended up dumping it. I'll probably wait 2-3 weeks or so before opening the next one since I'll be working some crazy hours for an upcoming exercise for the next few weeks.

 

[elkdog]

This will be the hardest 2 weeks of your brewing career (assuming it's 70 degrees or higher in your house, 3 weeks will be enough time), but sipping a good beer that you made can't be beat. I recommend brewing again as soon as you have time, to make sure you never have to wait that long for a beer again.

Congratulations on being a brewer!

 

[kuelhof]

I am with you...although I have tried to be as patient as humanly possible...I brewed my first batch in late February and it has been bottle for about 2.5 weeks now...I am going to throw a 6 pack in the fridge tomorrow and let it sit until Saturday. The rest I am going to slowly drink over the next few weeks/months. I am unable to brew until next month due to moving cross country and not wanting to transport a bucket full of fermenting beer!

 

[iron_city_ap]

I don't think there is anything wrong with digging into a couple a little early. You do need to see and learn how it is progressing. I have a Belgain White 2 weeks in the bottles so I decided to check in on it the other day. Its coming along nicely but looks like it will be probably another 2 weeks until its ready, compared to the usual 3 weeks most of my beers have required so far.

This is a great video that really helped me understand what is going on in the bottles generally and helped me to be more patient waiting for the beer to be ready. Its fun to 'follow' along in real time. Keep checking the beer and seeing for yourself....

 

[yokomo]

Thanks for the good video. It helps us beginners.

Paul

 

[ThirdGen]

Great video, thanks for posting that. It's nice to see how the carbonation changes over the course of bottle conditioning.

 

[LVBen]

I don't like that video. I wish somebody would make a better one about carbonation over time. Not only does he skip way too many days, but the video is misleading because based on what he is saying, he isn't chilling the beers before they are served until the last one. If he had chilled the previous beers, he would have better carbonation and less foam on them.

On his first beer, the CO2 hasn't dissolved, because CO2 dissolves better faster in liquids at colder temperatures. That is why most of the CO2 in the oceans is dissolved at the north and south poles. His first beer probably would've been great if instead of drinking it that day, he had put it in the fridge for 2 days and then drank it.

Day 11, day 15, day 16, and day 19 all have the same amount of carbonation/head... almost all of the CO2 was already generated ... his beers just needed fridge time...

 

[BendBrewer]

I tired my first AG batch after 5 days in the bottle, knowing it wouldn't be carbed.

The difference though is that I finished my sample. Despite the lack of carb, it was great!

 

[SwampassJ]

I bottled Last Tuesday and cracked my first on Friday. Gave a decent a hiss but zero carbonation in the beer and no head.

Sunday I popped one and it was decently carbonated with a small head.

Going to pop another tonight and see how it comes out.

 

[Minky]

Well it's been 5 days in the bottle so I figured what the hell I'll try one. I put it in the fridge for a few hours and opened the sucker up. It gave a nice hiss, with a nice humidity cloud in the glass. However the hefeweizen is not quite ready yet. There was next to no carbonation in the brew at this point so I ended up dumping it. I'll probably wait 2-3 weeks or so before opening the next one since I'll be working some crazy hours for an upcoming exercise for the next few weeks.

A few hours in the fridge is not long enough for the CO2 to be absorbed into the beer. That nice hiss you heard was mostly the CO2 that was hanging out in the headspace. Next one you try, leave it in the fridge overnight. That should be enough time at the lower temp to allow the CO2 to go into solution.

 

[Teromous]

Thanks for posting that video, I found it to be really informative.