What should beer taste like at

[Omahawk]

... day 12?

I took my hydrometer reading tonight and went ahead and tasted it afterwards.

It started at 1.045, it was at 1.011 tonight.

It's the Northern Brewer EPA. It was plenty hoppy, had the right color, obviously had no carbonation. It was a shell of a Pale Ale, but the basic components were there with no complexity. I couldn't drink more than probably 2-3 oz of it, but wasn't sure what I should expect at this point.

 

[geopet]

I took my hydrometer reading tonight and went ahead an

... married her? I hope she was 1.018 otherwise her Pa may be awful upset with you.

After reading once you had submitted your full entry:

Just give it more time. Once it is bottled and conditioned for a period it'll turn out great. Day 12 with an uncarbed beer won't be all that satisfying.

 

[Omahawk]

... married her? I hope she was 1.018 otherwise her Pa may be awful upset with you.

yeah, I pushed some mystery combination of buttons and accidentally submitted my post early. I edited my post, but have no idea how to edit the thread title to make it more clear.

Unfortunately, it was a 1.011. That ain't legal (or right) anywhere.

 

[brian_g]

It's never good out of the fermentor. You may get a feel for some of the characteristic of your beer, but it never taste right at this point. I usually drink the whole hydrometer sample, but I can understand if you could only stand a sip or two.

 

[Omahawk]

It's never good out of the fermentor. You may get a feel for some of the characteristic of your beer, but it never taste right at this point. I usually drink the whole hydrometer sample, but I can understand if you could only stand a sip or two.

Good to know it's not unique in that sense. Out of pure duty, I felt it necessary to drink a good portion of the sample. I didn't enjoy it, but did it to avoid a flagrant beer foul.

 

[CABeerMaker]

At least now you know what flat green beer tastes like. After 30 batches I can taste my hydro sample at bottling and have a good idea of how the finished beer will taste. It just takes time for beer to taste good. If you can manage to keep a bottle and age it for a few months it will taste even better.

 

[fratermus]

It was a shell of a Pale Ale, but the basic components were there with no complexity.

That's a pretty good description.

Green beer is usually recognizable ("hey, that's going to be a pale ale!") but is rough, out of whack, unbalanced.

 

[Omahawk]

Day 24, still in the secondary, and it's starting to taste better. Almost like a EPA liquor at this point - guessing that those are some of the off tastes that mellow out in bottle conditioning. Cautiously optimistic that this is gonna be a good one.

 

[weirdboy]

It's never good out of the fermentor.

I think my best beers have been good enough that when I tasted them at bottling time I wanted to drink more even though they were uncarbed.

 

[pnj]

I think my best beers have been good enough that when I tasted them at bottling time I wanted to drink more even though they were uncarbed.

Same here. then once I bottle, they take a damm long time to get good again. I'm almost thinking of not bottling and just drinking strait from the secondary. Unless it's super hot outside, warm flat beer (good beer, not crap beer) doesn't bother me so much.

 

[r2eng]

The important thing is to taste it and note what it tastes like... after a few batches you will start being able to know what it will be when it's done and aged.

I always taste the hydro jar... from post-boil to keg.

 

[KillerKellers]

If im taking a sample for a reading, im tasting it.. I like being able to taste them from the start, and through the process to see how they change.

 

[Omahawk]

My "crappy-at-day-12" EPA is pretty good cold and carbonated at day 35. It's only been bottled for 8 days (too early, I know) but I couldn't resist opening one tonight. I was pretty impressed with my first brew, excited to see how much better it gets over the next two weeks.

 

[jamesnsw]

I think my best beers have been good enough that when I tasted them at bottling time I wanted to drink more even though they were uncarbed.

My ginger stout that won 3rd place at a homebrew comp was definitely good when I bottled it. I didn't clean enough bottles, but that was okay, because I had several housemates who were more than willing to drink entire pints of the flat beer... and it was sooo delicious. Mmm...