Tasting brew

[charley]

1st time brewer. Beers been in the carboy for 7 days. Just took a gravity reading. 1.020 down from 1.049. It smelled like beer, looked like beer, but tasted like ****. Should it taste anything like beer at this point? Help! Worried that it's not going to be ok

 

[rifraf]

It's amazing to me how different beer tastes each week, and especially once it's carbonated. Carbonation changes the flavor quite a bit.

That being said it shouldn't taste like ****. Can you describe it a little detailed?

 

[AJBrew710]

Give it some time...don't worry. It's going to taste pretty green in only 7 days. I've had fermenting samples taste pretty harsh but the final beer is great. Give it another week or two, bottle it, give it a couple more weeks. Then see if it still tastes like ****.

 

[charley]

It's amazing to me how different beer tastes each week, and especially once it's carbonated. Carbonation changes the flavor quite a bit.

That being said it shouldn't taste like ****. Can you describe it a little detailed?

Tasted sour. I guess that's the best way to describe it.

 

[Schecter]

Sour is no good.

Don't worry yet. Since you are a new brewer, you may just not know what green beer (young beer) tastes like. Let it ride and wait the alloted amount of time. If it actually does taste sour when bottling time comes, or perhaps vinegary, we may have a problem. Like the other members said, the flavor can change drastically in a short amount of time!

Until then, grab a six pack of your favorite commercial brew and relax.

Cheers

 

[charley]

I hope you're right! I don't know how to explain it but it didn't taste like good beer. I don't know if sour is the right word... But I was thinking that maybe I had the thief too low and I got some trub. It's not bubbling anymore so I think it's done. I followed the directions so I don't know what I could have done wrong... Oh well... I'll take your advice. Just picked up two bottles of Pliny. :muuuuuug:

 

[rifraf]

I hope you're right! I don't know how to explain it but it didn't taste like good beer. I don't know if sour is the right word... But I was thinking that maybe I had the thief too low and I got some trub. It's not bubbling anymore so I think it's done. I followed the directions so I don't know what I could have done wrong... Oh well... I'll take your advice. Just picked up two bottles of Pliny. :muuuuuug:

Give it at least another week or two. Bubbles aren't a good indicator of fermentation status.

Hopefully it clears up. To brewers, sour has a very specific connotation but as long as you sanitized well you should be ok.

 

[charley]

Give it at least another week or two. Bubbles aren't a good indicator of fermentation status.

Hopefully it clears up. To brewers, sour has a very specific connotation but as long as you sanitized well you should be ok.

Sour has a connotation that means it may be infected? I sanitized like crazy. :/

 

[rifraf]

Sour has a connotation that means it may be infected? I sanitized like crazy. :/

Yeah typically a sour beer has bacteria or wild yeast. If you were diligent with sanitation you'll probably be fine. Taste it when you bottle in at least another week and then let it carbonate for 3 weeks before trying it again. If it still has a sour, vinegar flavor than something got it in. It's likely that it's just fermentation flavors right now though.

 

[iambeer]

Sour is no good.

Don't worry yet. Since you are a new brewer, you may just not know what green beer (young beer) tastes like. Let it ride and wait the alloted amount of time. If it actually does taste sour when bottling time comes, or perhaps vinegary, we may have a problem. Like the other members said, the flavor can change drastically in a short amount of time!

Until then, grab a six pack of your favorite commercial brew and relax.

Cheers

Was going to say a similar thing. When you describe a taste, people will associate automatically.

Last week the taste of licorice meant scorched liquid malt extract.

People think sour means a type of bacteria growth. But it could be several things.

Wait another week and take a sample.

There's probably a lot of yeast in suspension making it taste sour. Are you taking care of the temperature?

 

[charley]

Was going to say a similar thing. When you describe a taste, people will associate automatically.

Last week the taste of licorice meant scorched liquid malt extract.

People think sour means a type of bacteria growth. But it could be several things.

Wait another week and take a sample.

There's probably a lot of yeast in suspension making it taste sour. Are you taking care of the temperature?

Temperature has been tricky. I've kept it hovering around 70-72... But it's 110 here right now and the room the beer is in, although cool, is facing west. I've been wondering if I've messed that part up

 

[16thNatural]

I keep my carboy in a water bath and add frozen ice bottles when needed. I find it easier to control and it wont fluctuate with the ambient temps. I also put sanitizer (star san) in the water so it will not get nasty.

 

[iambeer]

Temperature has been tricky. I've kept it hovering around 70-72... But it's 110 here right now and the room the beer is in, although cool, is facing west. I've been wondering if I've messed that part up

Well the two worst tastes in beer after a week IMHO is either high temperature or yeast suspended in unfinished beer. Either way another week will help. Unfortunately though if high temps is the problem, it will never be truly 'good'. summer time brewing is tough when you have no way to control the temp. In the old days Bavaria, summer time brewing was outlawed they didn't even know yeast existed but they knew good taste when it was lacking.

 

[bleme]

What good does worry do? It will either turn out great or it won't. It's not like you are going to throw it out or anything. Relax and let it ride. Good or bad, at least you will learn something.