tasting? opening the fermenter?

[Silviakitty]

This might be a weird couple of questions and they're only vaguely connected, but I figured i might as well ask 'em at the same time.

I have no doubt that the fermentation of my beer is not done. I am however _insanely_ curious as to how the taste will change day by day. Is this normal behavior? Is it possible in any way that it would be helpful in telling how the brewing process is going, or will it just be the waste of time?

My second question is a clarification as much as anything else. The Mr Beer kit drills it into your head that opening the fermenter is the worst thing you can do; it might as well read 'every time you open your fermenter, a kitten DIES!'. Basically it says that if you open the fermenter at all, the beer _will_ be ruined. At least that's the impression it gave. Now, after doing a bit of reading, most other sources say it's a lot tougher than that to ruin a new batch of beer. I was wondering what the consensus was (if there is one).

Thanks again for the newbie help...

 

[ohiobrewtus]

This might be a weird couple of questions and they're only vaguely connected, but I figured i might as well ask 'em at the same time.

I have no doubt that the fermentation of my beer is not done. I am however _insanely_ curious as to how the taste will change day by day. Is this normal behavior? Is it possible in any way that it would be helpful in telling how the brewing process is going, or will it just be the waste of time?

My second question is a clarification as much as anything else. The Mr Beer kit drills it into your head that opening the fermenter is the worst thing you can do; it might as well read 'every time you open your fermenter, a kitten DIES!'. Basically it says that if you open the fermenter at all, the beer _will_ be ruined. At least that's the impression it gave. Now, after doing a bit of reading, most other sources say it's a lot tougher than that to ruin a new batch of beer. I was wondering what the consensus was (if there is one).

Thanks again for the newbie help...

The consensus is that there is no consensus. If you want to open the lid once or twice you'll be fine, IMO. Don't worry though, after you have a few brews under your belt you won't even think about it.

Once it goes in the fermenter I don't even look at it for 7 days. I was the same way with my first few batches of beer, but eventually the novelty wears off.

 

[blacklab]

go ahead and taste away, just make sure whatever you use to sample is sanitized properly. There is a layer of co2 on top of the beer which will keep the nasties out, so you will be fine if you quickly take a sample every couple days.

however, patience will yield the best results...it's still real green and it won't taste good at this point.

 

[cheezydemon]

Patience miss kitty! Do you have a hydrometer? If so, it is customary to take a sample when you think fermentation is done. With a mr beer kit, if you take more than a couple samples, there won't be anything left!

Also, even if it tastes good at this point, you are still wasting it by drinking it now, because it will taste 3X better in 4 weeks.

 

[WortMonger]

I wouldn't open it, let it go as long as it needs to per instructions. Waiting is the key component with beer. Next is to buy a carboy and a clean bucket and move up to extract kits. Mr. Beer is a fun toy and gets a lot of people into brewing, but doesn't really make good beer ("ok beer" at the least). Lots of people get curious and stick their nose in the fermenter and other bad things that can cause infection, and they ruin the whole batch. Others wait and test the beer when everything says it should be done, and they typically get to drink their whole batch.

 

[Germey]

Every time you use a Mr. Beer kit, a Kitten will DIE!
Sorry.
Are you using the Mr. still, or was that just your introduction? I am not familiar with the kit, so I can't say for certain that there won't be problems opening it, but there is nothing intrinsically wrong with opening a fermenter and taking a sample. You will actually need to do this in order to take hydrometer samples if you are tracking the progress of fermentation.
You do need to be careful not to contaminate it, but, since the yeast is already the major player, it is somewhat difficult to infect at this point. Just make sure everything is clean and food grade.
I don't think there is any specific knowledge to be gained by tasting (other than beer tastes better when mature) but I admire your curiosity and fully encourage you to follow through on it.
There are cheap and easy solutions for taking samples in a sanitary manner...
http://morebeer.com/view_product/6356/102223
Cheers.

 

[Silviakitty]

Patience it is. I'll just settle for petting the keg every once in a while.

I don't have a hydrometer yet, but I may be heading to the local home brew store today so I'll see what I can see there.


...maybe I should leave my credit card at home. I feel an obsession coming on...

 

[Silviakitty]

Every time you use a Mr. Beer kit, a Kitten will DIE!
Sorry.
Are you using the Mr. still, or was that just your introduction?
There are cheap and easy solutions for taking samples in a sanitary manner...
http://morebeer.com/view_product/6356/102223
Cheers.

As for if I'm using the kit still...yup. I'm a brandnewbie, just started Sunday. That may change soon enough, though, as I tend to get roped into hobbies hardcore.

I appreciate the link. I'm an info junkie, so every little bit helps.

 

[cheezydemon]

Give in to the dark side! It will fill your fridge......but not with a mr beer! With just one 6 gallon bucket you can make a real batch. Think it over. If you do manage to make a great beer in the mini keg, it will be soon missed!

 

[Germey]

Petting the keg...
Hardcore hobbyist...
Beer fan...
Credit card...
If my wife says it's OK, can I date you?

 

[IvanTheTerrible]

Petting the keg...
Hardcore hobbyist...
Beer fan...
Credit card...
If my wife says it's OK, can I date you?

LMAO!!!!! Now THAT'S funny!

 

[Silviakitty]

Petting the keg...
Hardcore hobbyist...
Beer fan...
Credit card...
If my wife says it's OK, can I date you?

Okay, but you have to bring the hops and the liquid yeast.

 

[splat]

If he wants to take a sample why not just pour one out the tap on the front of Mr. Beer. I realize it will suck in a small amount of air through the top during pouring, but wouldnt that be better than taking the whole top off? Dont let them give you too hard of time about Mr Beer, I started that way and my buddies all liked my beer out of there. Ive moved on to 5 gal extract+ steeping grains, and you will to. Dont know if I will ever go all grain batches, but who knows....Good luck with the new hobby.

 

[BlindLemonLars]

...maybe I should leave my credit card at home. I feel an obsession coming on...

You don't know the half of it...but you will soon enough.

 

[AZWyatt]

If he wants to take a sample why not just pour one out the tap on the front of Mr. Beer. I realize it will suck in a small amount of air through the top during pouring, but wouldnt that be better than taking the whole top off? Dont let them give you too hard of time about Mr Beer, I started that way and my buddies all liked my beer out of there. Ive moved on to 5 gal extract+ steeping grains, and you will to. Dont know if I will ever go all grain batches, but who knows....Good luck with the new hobby.

+1^, but it would be a good idea to sanitize the outside of the lid first.

Once you move to 5-gallon batches, you can do what they call a satellite fermenter. That means that you take about a six-ounce sample with a sanitized cup after you pitched your yeast and before you shut the lid on the fermenter, put the sample in a bottle that's laying around, stick a wadded-up paper towel in there and you can take hydrometer readings (and sips) from that. It'll go bad after four days or so, but if you really wanted to you could do a couple of satellite fermenters, just so you have another one to taste when the first one goes bad! I suppose you could do all this when you're still using a Mr. Beer fermenter, but it will have a higher impact on your yield than if you were doing a 5-gallon batch.

I can tell you what it tastes like, though: take the taste of the freshly-brewed wort, then progressively add carbonation, delete sweetness and add alcohol to that flavor. I think it tastes great at about 2-3 days after fermentation starts--sweet maltiness with high carbonation, kinda like if you took a normal beer and mixed it with candy . I always steal sips from my satellite fermenters.

 

[WortMonger]

I agree that if you are to sample it take it from the tap and then sanitize the tap afterwords so it doesn't get nasty for when you are wanting to drink it. I'd still go with petting it until it is done though, lol. Here is what I use to take samples while fermenting, and nothing goes in like air because it is under pressure.

I didn't have a picture of it with the sampling spigot and line attached, but it goes where the penny and wing nut are. I really need to take a picture of that sometime. Maybe when I do my big write-up.

 

[jca]

Why bother opening it if it's a Mr. Beer? Just drain some from the value on the side. For the carboy, I use a sanitized wine thief to grab a sample.