What'll it taste like?

[hotbeer]

Just bottled my first brew. It's a Jalapeno Saison from Brooklyn Brew Shop. One gallon.

I got everything bottled and cleaned up then realized I didn't even taste it. I guess I could pop a top on a bottle and try it, but that seems like cheating.

One of my worries is it smelled sweet. But that was after I put in the priming sugar, agave nectar. Hopefully it won't be sweet in two weeks.

The ferment was four weeks. Not certain why it took so long. Temp was fairly steady 68°F though maybe it got colder when we had a cold spell. A few days ago it started clearing up and the steady bubbling finally stopped yesterday. Should I be scared? It didn't have any off notes to it's smell.

I do have a hydrometer, but didn't want to spare the 12 oz or so it would take to get two readings since the batch was just under a gallon. I think I'll get a refractometer if I do another.

I don't know that I have any real concerning questions. This is just mostly an introduction.

Any bets or opinions on if this will be a failure or success I'll never repeat?

 

[BrewZer]

I've brewed using agave nectar, but never primed with it. I guess it'll work if you used enough. How much did you put in your gallon, and how did you sanitize it before you added it?

 

[Phitz]

Patience is huge in this hobby. Give it a week to condition in the bottle and then sample one. A refractometer is a great idea for doing 1 gallon batches to reduce waste. Interesting first choice of brew. Welcome to the hobby and this forum!

 

[Barbarossa]

Aren't refractometers only good before you pitch the yeast in?

 

[hotbeer]

@BrewZer - The instructions called for 3 Tablespoons of agave nectar in a 1/2 cup of water. I thought that a little high so only used about 2 1/2 T, which still might be high. I brought that to a boil in my pot that was already sanitized. I then let that cool some then siphoned from the fermenter into it.

I stirred it a little slowly so as not to get air into it, but I'm not sure I needed too as I also had aimed the siphon hose to swirl the beer around the pot and it probably mixed well from that.

@Phitz - Patience is a virtue. Sometimes I don't have much. But with the ferment I must have, as even my son that's been brewing for a while told me to go ahead and bottle it before even three weeks. But he's 1,200 miles away and only I was able to see the bubbling, that to me was very active.

I like your idea of sneaking a taste at one week.

And what do y'all think about refractometers for checking if the ferment is complete. Seems like that will be most correct more often than not. After all, it's the relative value you are comparing between two or more samples. Not the actual value..... isn't it?

I'm thinking @Barbarossa was thinking more about checking for alcohol volume. But he'll have to add more about that.

 

[bracconiere]

But he'll have to add more about that.

hell i'll chime in with I'VE heard on the subject. so my second hand knowledge says because of alcohol present, when using a refractometer with finished beer, you need to punch it into a calculator to figure the actual specific gravity.

 

[Barbarossa]

I literally said, and meant literally ,that refractometers are not that good for finished beer. It's a tool for brewday.

 

[SanAequitas]

Refractometers are not accurate for measuring alcoholic substances, because the alcohol affects the refraction of the light. I had an apple cider that measured 1.032 on the refractometer, that was 1.002 on the hydrometer. 1.086 OG for that. And yes, these are actual values, relative to water, not between your readings. Water has a density of 1.000, and sugars make your liquid more dense, while alcohol has an SG of ~. 8, so more alcohol means a lower gravity reading.

So your numbers ARE ACTUAL values of density compared to water, but it's the RELATIVE difference between the numbers that give you an estimate of how much of the sugar was converted to alcohol (ABV).

You can use refractometers for later readings, but you MUST have your OG, and punch the numbers in a fancy formula to get a somewhat accurate result. And every meter is slightly different, so you need to compare several 'readings against known ones (hydrometer) to get an exact coefficient for your refract's formula. I find it easier to just use the hydrometer. And you don' t have to lose those 12oz, make that your sampler drink, or if you sanitized it, easy enough to pour it into one of the bottles or back into secondary.

 

[hotbeer]

Well that is where all of you are confusing me. I think we are talking about two different things.

My reference to refractometer in the OP was to tell when fermentation was no longer progressing. If lower temps not the cause then one can assume that all the alcohol that's going to be made has been made........ with if's and's or but's of course.

So in this case, just the same reading on the refractometer two times in a row a day or two apart will show you that no further fermentation to create alcohol is happening. Wouldn't even matter if the refractometer or hydrometer is calibrated for anything. You only are interested in the same reading as the previous.

Won't it?

Now for figuring out alcohol content, then yes, you have to have a OG and FG with a calibrated hydrometer or refractometer. Along with some cross your fingers since it's really estimates based on what's probably in your beer.