First batch in bottles, some questions

[Wiesty]

Hey everyone,
So I just bottled my first extract beer which was a pumpkin porter. The final gravity was 1.020 (should have been 1.018 on the high end), but I couldn't get it down anymore after a week of raising the temps and trying to get the yeast back into action.
The beer has a bit of a sugary/sour/alcohol flavour, so I'm not sure what that could be. It also appears black when in a fermenter, but gets quite a bit lighter when put into a glass.
I will give this a couple weeks in bottles. The sampling at bottling wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. Just kinda lifeless for a porter.

 

[Kee]

Hey everyone,
So I just bottled my first extract beer which was a pumpkin porter. The final gravity was 1.020 (should have been 1.018 on the high end), but I couldn't get it down anymore after a week of raising the temps and trying to get the yeast back into action.
The beer has a bit of a sugary/sour/alcohol flavour, so I'm not sure what that could be. It also appears black when in a fermenter, but gets quite a bit lighter when put into a glass.
I will give this a couple weeks in bottles. The sampling at bottling wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. Just kinda lifeless for a porter.

I am not sure what your question is, except for maybe the tasting notes. (What was the OG)? The sweetness is from a slight under-attenuation. A slight bitterness and hot alcohol taste is normal for a green beer. A little aging should help.

I don't know what level of carbonation you are shooting for, how much priming sugar you used, but since you did not reach expected final gravity remember that each gravity point of fermentation in the bottle can add 1/2 volume of carbonation.

 

[ol-hazza]

it all sounds pretty normal to me.
with your gravity do you know about temperature calibration? check out this calculator. http://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/
the flavour with change somewhat over time and with carbonation, my most recent porter was best about 2 months after bottling.

 

[Wiesty]

I used 3.35 oz of corn sugar I believe. Do I have potential bottle bombs?

 

[ol-hazza]

That sounds about perfect for a porter

 

[Wiesty]

Sorry haha,
I guess I didn't even ask a question. What I meant to ask....
Is the beer at the end of fermenting a good indication as to how it will taste eventually? As I said, this wasn't bad, but I wouldn't want to drink a whole pint of it right now.
My beer started at 1.053 and got down to 1.020. It should have been 1.014 to 1.018. Is that going to make a huge difference?

 

[kh54s10]

Your FG was close enough. I can't be sure of a reading only 2 points on my hydrometer.

The color will always look darker in the fermenter. More mass to look through.

Beers often change significantly after aging.

This one may take a month or more conditioning. Bigger beers take longer.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Wiesty]

Well according to a abv calculator, my 1.053 to 1.020 should only yield about 4.3% abv. This is gonna be a light porter.