tasted first brew tonight

[oms1981]

Tonight I took a sample of my first batch for a gravity reading. It is a hefeweizen. I brewed it up 9 days ago. In the last few days airlock activity has slowed to a crawl so I decided it might not be a bad idea to take periodic readings to see if its winding down.

I took off the stopper and siphoned out my little sample. It smells very much like haacker pschor (sp?) which I was just drinking at the bar about an hour earlier so the smell was still fresh in my mind. I assumed this was a good sign. I took my reading and drank the sample. The flavor is decent but it is VERY light, like almost watery. It smells a lot stronger than it tastes.

Some details:

I used a 3.75 lbs can of Coopers Brewmaster Selection Wheat Beer, and 1 lbs Muntons Light DME boiled in 1.5 gal water for 30 min. Poured 3 gal cold water into carboy and added the wort. Topped off the headspace with cold water to bring it right around 5 gal. Shook the crap out of it. The temp was at 105 F. I put the carboy in the tub full of cold water. When it was at ~76 degrees F I shook again and pitched the yeast. It was White Labs WLP300 Hefe Yeast. I didn't use a starter and the fermentation started slow, about 32 hours. It fermented very vigorously for about 30 hours, and now after 9 days it is bubbling every 40-60 sec. Still some tiny bubbles coming up the inside glass, so its still doing something. The sample was taken off the very top, only put the hose in about an inch or so.

I'm fairly unhappy with the light flavor, I was hoping for a heavier wheat beer. But since its my very first attempt I'm not terribly concerned. Does anyone have any idea why it smells so good and tastes so watery? Does the fact that I skimmed right off the top have any affect?

 

[Dave the Brewer]

What was your OG? I'm sure someone has a better answer for you but I could guess. Its probably because you did a partial boil.

 

[Beerthoven]

Warm, uncarbonated beer tastes very different from cold, fully carbed beer. Once its been bottled for 3-4 weeks it will taste better.

 

[BierMuncher]

You just tasted beer at it's "thinnest" stage.

I always taste my beer at different stages. Not because I expect to taste a final product flavor, but because I want to know what it tastes like at different stages.

Rest assured, your beer will improve greatly with time, chill and CO2.

 

[krispy d]

^^ditto, the bubbles do a lot more for flavor than many would assume. other than that, keep good notes so you can make changes according to your tastes in the future.

 

[grasshopper1917]

Hey im driking a beer right now very similar. I Used the 3.75 coppers brewmaster wheat ale - I used a little more malt extract then you. Also the other big diff i just used the coppers yeast with the kit. A couple tips for the beer let it sit in the bottles for a while the flavor improves - also when pouring it pour have a glass and swirl the yeast all around in the remainder so it mixes with the beer and finish pouring your glass. I find the yeast adds alot to the flavor of this style - even if your a skeptik try one this way for fun - you may be surprised!