taste of "young" beer?

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pkpdogg

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Thanks to all of you for the help on my other thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/primary-vs-conditioning-what-do-under-time-constraint-85818/

I bottled the Cali Common after 16 days. The final gravity was spot on and it tasted pretty darn good. I popped open a bottle after one week (chilled for 30min in freezer) and although the carbonation was taking on nicely, the taste seemed a bit watered down and just ... not very complex.

My question is, can somebody describe what is typically referred to as the taste of "young" beer? I'm curious to hear about the changes I can expect. In addition, can somebody describe the taste difference between being chilled for an hour in the fridge versus the 24-48hr recommendations I've read about on HBT?

I'm going to apologize in advance, as I'll answer both of these questions myself when I take my 2-week tasting tonight ... but I'm just impatient! :p
 
I doubt both questions will really be answered tonight because two weeks is not going to be much different from one week. You might have more carb but the flavors of the beer will still be unidimensional and non-cohesive. With green beer you often get the flavors working against each other. Too much or too little maltiness, too much or too little hoppiness, too much or too little sweetness, a hot alcohol finishm plus other off flavors.

These flavors have little to do with the level of carbonation although substantial levels of carb can go a long way towards covering them up.

When a beer reaches its own level of perfection all of these disparate elements suddenly come together and work in concert. For me this time period is always at least three weeks in bottle although a lot of beers take considerably longer.

In the early stages of brewing it is okay to sample a beer or two to gauge this progression of flavor but, for me, it is just a waste of beer now and I wait until 3 weeks before I try my first from a batch.

Oh yeah, I always wait at least 24 hours in the fridge, preferably longer, because your beer needs cold time to absorb the CO2 into solution.
 
Honestly, the answer is anything that doesn't taste "right"....It's a simple as that.

There's no "scientific" description, and since every fermentation and every beer is in a sense different, as is every brewer's tastebuds...It's hard to catalogue anything.

That's why UNTIL a beer is 4-6 weeks old I don't recommend that a new brewer attempt to self diagnose a beer if they think something's wrong...take it to another brewer or if you are lucky a bjcp certified judge...

You kinda have to wait till you've given the beer a time to lose it's greeness before you can say whther or not there really is an off taste (like diacytl or DMS for example) a lot of those flavors will fade with age...

I have a couple blogs on the subject of what time does to beers...

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Of_Patience_and_Bottle_Conditioning/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/
 
Brew another batch because once you taste this beer at full carbonation it will go fast.:drunk:
 
Thanks for the feedback. This hobby sure is a serious test of patience!

A week after brewing the first batch, I bought another carboy and brewed a second (stout kit; now in secondary) just to keep my mind off the first one. Now I am constantly restraining myself from starting yet another one. I used to think you people were nuts for having so many batches in the pipeline ... now I know why. :D
 
Ravvy's blog is flawed and not very scientific. Never open a beer at room temp, especially if you intend to drink it (well it's OK if you want a gusher.) Sorry, but I prefer the truth over the propitiation of myths.
 
It really is a test of patience. I have a stout bottled, and it just keeps getting better and better each time I have one, but now I'm starting to run out!

I think for my next batch, I'll order another fermenter so I can get myself a pipeline going and maybe do two at once.
 
Ravvy's blog is flawed and not very scientific. Never open a beer at room temp, especially if you intend to drink it (well it's OK if you want a gusher.) Sorry, but I prefer the truth over the propitiation of myths.

I have NEVER mentioned ANYTHING about ROOM TEMPERATURE BEER, in any of my blogs...I recommend that you chill the beer down, I mention a minimum of 48 hours in the fridge and recommend a week..


Im fact I say it TWICE in the "unscientific blog"

After 3 weeks @ 70 is recommended (though most of us fail at this one-Me included) that you put your beer in the fridge for a full two weeks before drinking....this will help to make you beer crystal clear and tasty.....

At least new brewer, let them chill in the fridge for 48 hours before you knock them back.

A good experiment, for any brewer to do, is to pull a beer out on the 7th day in the bottle and chill it for 2...then taste it...make notes on the tastes and the level of carb. Do it again on the 14th day, the 21st and the 28th...you'll really see the difference. Then leave a bottle stashed away for 6 months...chill that and taste it...and go back and read your notes... You'll learn a heck of a lot about beer doing that.

The same with poindexter's video, maybe if you spent more time learning then trolling me you would realize it..
 
Yeah, it always tastes good at like 2 months in the bottle for me. You should brew multiple batches though. that way when one beer is truly ready, you can have the patience to leave the other batches that are green alone.
 
And then a video of 70 degree gusher. I don't want a flame war. I'm not a troll. I think you know a lot and can't admit when your wrong. You insinuated that I'm full of crap. My feelings are hurt. I'll get over it and so will you. I tried to resolve this in PM and you ignored me. :crying:
 
Ravvy's blog is flawed and not very scientific. Never open a beer at room temp, especially if you intend to drink it (well it's OK if you want a gusher.) Sorry, but I prefer the truth over the propitiation of myths.

Conroe,

You are doing a very poor job at trolling- but I must give you a nod for persistence. On what merits are you judging Revvy's blog to be flawed? You seem to miss a very crucial point in your crusade to 'prove' that a beer is fully carbed in 4 days. Carbonation might certainly be achieved given warm enough temps (or at least, a big fat head with no steady bubbles IN the beer), but you're still drinking green beer. Do what you want to your own beer, but you're doing your beer a great disservice by shaking the snot out of it (as you noted in an another thread).

If I want a yeasty beer, I'll drink a Hefe.
 
And then a video of 70 degree gusher.

Conroe...HE never says it either...and if you would quit trying to bait me, MAYBE you would realize that just because your beer has HEAD after 4 days it doesn't mean it's FULLY carbonated....TRUE carbonation is when the built up CO2 is reabsorbed into solution....Your 4 day old beer is EXACTLY what poindexter showed in the first beer he opened within the first week LOTS of head, some protein chains deveoloping into lacing, but no reabsorbtion, very little or no bubbles ACTUALLY IN THE SOLUTION...

Ad you don't take into any consideration the "greeness" of the beer. but if you like it, enjoy it...

And guess what...Poindexter IS A SCIENTIST!

You seem to have decided that you want to have a crusade against me..well HAVE FUN...

I'm going to keep helping new brewers make better beer.
 
It really is a test of patience. I have a stout bottled, and it just keeps getting better and better each time I have one, but now I'm starting to run out!

I think for my next batch, I'll order another fermenter so I can get myself a pipeline going and maybe do two at once.

My last stout was not even drinkable, in my opinion, until 6 weeks in the bottle. It has been bottled now for 10 and it is pretty good but I expect more improvement over the next month or two so I am taking it slow. I still have 1 3/4 cases left of that 5 gal batch.
 
If your getting gushers at room temperature, you've either over-carbonated or have a bottle infection. It has very little to do with the temperature. I drink most of my beers, even commercial ones, at room temperature and I've never once had a gusher.
 
And then a video of 70 degree gusher. I don't want a flame war. I'm not a troll. I think you know a lot and can't admit when your wrong. You insinuated that I'm full of crap. My feelings are hurt. I'll get over it and so will you. I tryed to resolve this in PM and you ignored me. :crying:

tried.

:off:
 
Ravvy's blog is flawed and not very scientific. Never open a beer at room temp, especially if you intend to drink it (well it's OK if you want a gusher.) Sorry, but I prefer the truth over the propitiation of myths.

What's propitation? :cross:
 
I am a total newb here but I finally have enough time to absorb all thissite has to offer and I will add that I wish I had come across this site before I had started trying my first batch. I brewed a fat tire clone and after one week the recipe said ber would be ready to drink. I kept thinking I had an infection or something because the beer was seemingly carbed but just tasted off. I went through countless off taste threads but could never pin it down. Now 5 weeks later the beer tastes wonderful and after reviewing some of the information I found here I understand it was just green. Too bad I drank or gave away most of it before it reached its prime. And all because it had a head and some bubbles.
 
I am a total newb here but I finally have enough time to absorb all thissite has to offer and I will add that I wish I had come across this site before I had started trying my first batch. I brewed a fat tire clone and after one week the recipe said ber would be ready to drink. I kept thinking I had an infection or something because the beer was seemingly carbed but just tasted off. I went through countless off taste threads but could never pin it down. Now 5 weeks later the beer tastes wonderful and after reviewing some of the information I found here I understand it was just green. Too bad I drank or gave away most of it before it reached its prime. And all because it had a head and some bubbles.

You learned a few important lessons here. 1. The directions lie about how long it takes for a beer to be good. 2. You need more patience. Though if you drank it based on lesson 1, then it is not necessarily lack of patience. 3. Brew a few batches so after one is ready to drink, more will be ready as your supply runs out. 4. Don't give away all that hard earned beer! Well, ok you can give some away to your buddies.

I find it rather satisfying to drink a beer that I made.
 
If your getting gushers at room temperature, you've either over-carbonated or have a bottle infection. It has very little to do with the temperature. I drink most of my beers, even commercial ones, at room temperature and I've never once had a gusher.

I agree. While I generally prefer most beer at cellar temps (50 degrees or so), I don't have any aversion to opening a beer at room temps. At most there's more "pop" when opening a warm beer, but no gusher. Well, I have to admit, one time I got a six-pack of Victory Prima Pils that was WAY overcarbonated. Opening around cellar temps it really foamed up, and even cold it had to be poured very carefully to avoid overflow. Not sure what that was about.

BTW, Regarding the oft-mentioned video: Can't say I've ever had a young beer cause a gusher, in fact quite the opposite. In my experience beer is flat (not to mention quite green) until at least two weeks in the bottle. Obviously more time is better for all of it to come together, depending on the complexity of the beer.

To the OP,
I think you answered your own question. While it really depends on the recipe, generally speaking, green beer will seem watered down and not very complex. It's like any recipe that takes time. If you just throw together a pot of chili (mmm... chili) and eat it right-away, sure it's chili, but the flavors haven't had time to meld. Now, simmer that chili all day and it's a whole different deal. Heck, reheated the next day it's usually better still. When the flavors have time to come together and work in concert, it's the difference between "meh..." and "DAMN!"

Chris
 
I agree. While I generally prefer most beer at cellar temps (50 degrees or so), I don't have any aversion to opening a beer at room temps. At most there's more "pop" when opening a warm beer, but no gusher.

I used to drink the beer right out of the fridge. Now when I get home I put a beer on the counter and let it warm a bit to 50-55F. Maybe it's because I brew low-grav beers, but they seem better balanced in flavor at celler temps.
 
You learned a few important lessons here. 1. The directions lie about how long it takes for a beer to be good. 2. You need more patience. Though if you drank it based on lesson 1, then it is not necessarily lack of patience. 3. Brew a few batches so after one is ready to drink, more will be ready as your supply runs out. 4. Don't give away all that hard earned beer! Well, ok you can give some away to your buddies.

I find it rather satisfying to drink a beer that I made.

Yeah, I did learn a few very important lessons. Patience is the biggest one, but its so hard with that first batch. I have been building up the pipeline so come the first of the year I will have a few varieties on hand. I am also making friends work for their beer or barter with empty bottles and assistance in bottling duties. I will probably have a few converted homebrewers by years end. It is definitely satisfying to drink your own beer. Even when its a little green.
 
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