Time = Good Beer

[tenbrew]

I've read plenty of threads where homebrew experts have advised us new brewers to let the bottles sit undisturbed. I have to admit, I always read that thinking, "Sure, but that won't fix my earliest attempts where I really screwed up. That advice is for other people."

My first brew about 6 months ago was a belgian strong ale extract kit. I didn't use a starter. I fermented for 2 weeks at 84 degrees. I bottled and left them for another 2 weeks at the same temperature. I did a lot of things wrong, like many do when they first start out.

It produced something that was quite frankly hard to drink, even for someone as passionate about beer than I am. My palate became quiet sensitive to the esters and the sweetness, so I decided to move on to a new brew (which I also screwed up for all of the same reasons) intending but never getting around to throwing these away. Fast forward 6 months. It's bottling night and as I crack open my first beer, I realize I mistakenly have refrigerated one of my first brews. It's not impressive compared to my more recent brews, but the degree to which it has improved is AMAZING!

It has gone from something I would have poured down the drain, to something quite drinkable. Mild flavor characteristics with no ethers and very little sweetness. So as many wise brewers have said before me, if it doesn't taste good give it more time. RDWHAHB.

 

[stvo]

Time heals all of life's and beers problems

 

[pdxal]

Better/well made beers don't need as much time, but please pass along the patience mantra to others on here.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Time heals all of life's and beers problems

Well.... most problems.

 

[daksin]

Fusel, on the other hand, never goes away. Just ask my 90F fermented first batch! I would drink a bottle when ever I needed to use the excuse "but I have a headache!" Pretty ****, even as first batches go.

 

[homebrewdad]

Yep. Time can't fix all issues, and it can't make great beer from crap, but it can make a lot of mistakes drinkable, and drinkable ones into decent-good.

 

[cheezydemon3]

My first beer fermented too hot. BANANA beer, I dubbed it.

6 months warm and the banana went away.

No reason to be temp careless, knowing that it might heal, but nice to know that it might heal even if the odd mishap occurs.

Yep. Time can't fix all issues, and it can't make great beer from crap, but it can make a lot of mistakes drinkable, and drinkable ones into decent-good.

You are basically right, but, if like in my case, it is a good beer masked by the banana monster, it can still be fantastic (and was) once that off flavor gets cleaned up.

 

[homebrewdad]

You are basically right, but, if like in my case, it is a good beer masked by the banana monster, it can still be fantastic (and was) once that off flavor gets cleaned up.

Funky off flavors have a way of going away with time, especially if they are temperature related.

Other issues, like oxidation/comtamination/bad recipe/serious fusels will never get better.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Funky off flavors have a way of going away with time, especially if they are temperature related.

Other issues, like oxidation/comtamination/bad recipe/serious fusels will never get better.

Agreed!

 

[Clonefan94]

Same thing happened with my first beer, A Brewers Best Amber Ale. I was in a rush, I had my kegging system all set up and ready to go while the beer was fermenting, but didn't think about fermenting being an exothermic process. Then, impatience led me to not listen to wiser people and go ahead and keg as soon as I could, force carb and start drinking. Ugh, not very good. I'd taste a little bit every day, to see if it would get any better and no, it didn't. Then The next week I brewed a wheat beer, then a Cream Ale and I was able to pass the time, concentrating on those and proper fermentation temps. I was still doing my tasting for a little bit, literally a sip or so every couple days, but then kind of gave up on it, when the wheat and cream ale were ready. Being I took a lot more care, and read about better techniques while brewing extracts, these two were ready and quite tasty, within a month.

So, needless to say, the Amber Ale was shoved aside, as an afterthought. It became more of a "Well, no reason to clean the keg so early, I'll just wait until the next brew is ready to be kegged, then just dump it during cleaning. Well, that day finally came. I only had 3 kegs at the time and I had a Porter I was just going to keg, and let sit for a while in that keg. I decided to take one last taste, before dumping it, so I pulled a glass. At that point, I wished I hadn't been taking sips every day earlier in it's life. It tasted quite good at that point and I wished I hadn't killed half a keg, basically wasting it by taking a drink, then dumping the other 1/2 glass. I decided to do the right thing and let the porter sit, until I had finished the Amber, that turned into a decent beer. It wasn't great by any means, but I was surprised at how much a little time (about 2 months) had kind of evened things out.