Tasting at bottling?

[williepete]

I am bottling my IPA tommorow and was wondering if I taste it now before it carbs would that give me a good indicator of the flavor of the finished beer?

 

[Jtk78]

I think it's a good idea, especially as a beginner, to taste the beer at different stages of the process. Just understand things can change with carbonation and serving temperature.

 

[Jtk78]

Sorry, double post

 

[North_of_60]

I always have a taste of my beer when I bottle or keg it. I don’t think it’s a real good indication of what the cooled, carbonated and aged beer will taste like. Sometimes the sample tastes really good, other times it tastes alright, other times it’s “I hope this improves.”

 

[kh54s10]

I taste it too, but sometime the carbonated beer is quite a bit different. I have tasted a couple and thought "this one is not going to be so good". When carbonated and cooled they were quite good.

 

[RM-MN]

Always taste the beer before it is bottles. It give you a hint of how the beer will taste when finished if the beer is good and will tell you instantly if your beer has an bacterial infection that will never improve. If your beer tastes terrible, don't waste time bottling it.

 

[chickypad]

Definitely agree with the others - taste it! IME especially with IPA's you can get a pretty good idea what it's going to taste like. Don't worry if it seems a bit under-bittered, the carbonation does affect that.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

Taste it but don't freak out if it isn't what you expect, as said above it is more for you to get to understand the differences as the beer goes through the stages of production.

 

[williepete]

Ok bottled it...... First I didn't taste to caught up on bottling and the fact that the bottling canes I attempted to use would keep a syphon Second how bad is it that I had to pour into the bottles? Third because I don't have a gravity checker have no numbers

 

[williepete]

Wouldn't*

 

[davidabcd]

Ok bottled it...... First I didn't taste to caught up on bottling and the fact that the bottling canes I attempted to use would keep a syphon Second how bad is it that I had to pour into the bottles? Third because I don't have a gravity checker have no numbers

The usual advice: make sure your beer is finished fermenting. You can skip (not advised though) taking readings if you leave it in the fermenter long enough. How long was yours in the fermenter?
I massacred a beer with air on one of my first batches and it was still good. So pouring into bottles is not fatal. It will be okay. Just don't leave it for too long on the shelf (drink them).

 

[williepete]

In the fermenter for two weeks there had been no bubbles or activity since I dry hopped a week ago

 

[williepete]

So with the extra oxygen should I cold crash before three weeks like kit says?

 

[VirginiaHops1]

Doesn't hurt to taste it, but I've found with my batches it's not a real good indicator of what it'll taste like after it's carbed and conditioned.

 

[davidabcd]

So with the extra oxygen should I cold crash before three weeks like kit says?

Two weeks is usually good--can't say 100% that it is done without gravity checks. Don't use lack of bubbles as a reliable indicator of completed fermentation.
I do three weeks because I don't like opening the fermenter any more than necessary.
I don't cold crash so that's a question for someone who does. However, I wouldn't think the extra oxygen infusion at bottling would alter the recipe.
Good luck.

 

[ncbrewer]

Second how bad is it that I had to pour into the bottles?

I haven't done that, so can't be sure. But it's always recommended to transfer without aerating, so I would drink the beer quickly. Probably just give them two weeks in the bottle before starting to drink them - maybe 10 days. Oxidation gets worse with age.

Do some dry runs siphoning to make sure your next batch works better. I have to put two cable ties on the tube where it goes over the cane to make it an air tight connection.

 

[ncbrewer]

So with the extra oxygen should I cold crash before three weeks like kit says?

These are bottled, right? What cold crashing are you considering?

 

[williepete]

I was just wondering if the extra oxygen would get me bottle bombs

 

[beermanpete]

I was just wondering if the extra oxygen would get me bottle bombs

No. Bottle bombs come from bottling before fermentation is finished or too much priming sugar.

 

[ncbrewer]

OK - I guess you're talking about refrigerating once the bottles are carb'd up. It's normally considered a plus to refrigerate after they are carb'd. If you have the capability, go ahead. It should slow down the oxidation. I've never heard of oxygen causing bottle bombs, or not, so I couldn't say.

 

[bleme]

I based my bottling setup on this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/bottling-tips-for-the-homebrewer.94812/

It takes a lot of the hassle out of bottling, allowing me to fill one handed, eliminate siphoning and containing all the mess in the dishwasher.

 

[kh54s10]

Your beers are oxidized. It will take some time for them to get really bad. I would chill a bottle at one week and check the progress. Then chill another at 2 weeks. If you have good taste and good carbonation I would chill some for drinking. I would wait on chilling the rest until you determine that the flavor and carbonation is stable. If you reach that by week three I would probably chill all the rest and drink them fairly quickly. It you detect the flavor of wet cardboard encroaching, drink faster.

 

[williepete]

Ok so it's sitting at one week bottled. I just checked bottles is yeast rafts common in bottles? When I bottled had no issues with any infection and it smelled awesome.

 

[Gameface]

Regardless of if it gives you an accurate indication of what the beer will taste like, what it absolutely will do is give you a frame of reference over time of what beer tastes like at that point compared to what it tastes like after carbing and all that.

I taste my O.G. hydro sample, I taste my F.G. sample and I taste my finished beer. It's not always super informative for that beer, but over time I think there are flavors that stand out more at different times and I can begin to gauge if I've achieved some of the flavors I want and/or avoided some that I don't.

 

[kh54s10]

Ok so it's sitting at one week bottled. I just checked bottles is yeast rafts common in bottles? When I bottled had no issues with any infection and it smelled awesome.

Can't say that I have ever checked my bottles at one week. But I would imagine that since you are really doing a mini fermentation that you could get a small krausen in the bottles. I would only worry if it never goes away.