What should it taste like? (before bottling)

[ncoutroulis]

I'm ready to bottle my first brew, a Belgian Mustache Pale Ale. I just did my final ABV reading and took a taste. Flat, or course, but the flavor was also flat— a bit bitter, but not in the hoppy, bitter kind of way. Almost void of any real flavor or character...

So, just wondering what it's actually supposed to taste like (knowing that each type of beer will be different, of course)

Thanks

 

[Subdivisions]

It's 'green' beer it'll taste a little off. Best thing to do is let it carb for 3 weeks then put a couple in the fridge for a few days and try them. They should taste much improved at that point and will get better over the following weeks.

The bitterness is something you'll get in a young beer before the flavors round out

 

[bragona71]

It's 'green' beer it'll taste a little off. Best thing to do is let it carb for 3 weeks then put a couple in the fridge for a few days and try them. They should taste much improved at that point and will get better over the following weeks.

The bitterness is something you'll get in a young beer before the flavors round out

+1 but im impatient and would start tasting a bottle every week until they its as good as its going to get

 

[stpug]

Generally speaking, the taste out of the fermenter is similar to how it will taste once carbed and conditioned. NOW, that's not to say it won't get better, but you should be tasting the flavors you'll always taste "in the ballpark". Bitterness can mellow if your beer is still cloudy/yeasty since a noticeable amount will settle with the yeast, and this can have the effect of allowing the other characteristics to shine through a little more. But, in the end, it's not going to change drastically from what it tastes like out of the fermenter.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Keep in mind, carbonation adds a lot of "brightness" to a beer.

Besides, you really have little to loose by bottling, waiting AT LEAST two weeks at 70F then a day or two in the fridge.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Patience, grasshopper.

 

[JohnSand]

I have never been able to judge a finished beer by tasting it flat. I've even tried mixing with bland light beer to test carb it. Wait, and you will be surprised. If you try in three weeks and it's not good, keep waiting. Many of my early brews took a month, some two months, before they were ready.