First Brew question Mellowing?

[Bleedsblue]

Ok so I recently brewed my first beer. It is a Imperial Blonde Ale from Brewers Best. It has been bottled for about a week now. I cracked open a bottle after 5 days. It had a nice head and finishes nice, but that first drink is harsh. Very off putting. So I guess my question is will that mellow out after awhile, or did I do something wrong?

It was in primary for about a week and then I transferred to my carboy by siphoning and it sat there for about 2 weeks before it stopped blowing co2. What I am afraid of is that some material transferred into my car boy from primary and that it might be causing the harshness.

Any advice or thoughts are welcomed.

Cheers.

 

[Mojzis]

First you're drinking way too early. You should drink after three weeks in the bottle at approximately 70. Keep in mind lower or higher isn't bad. The time it takes depends on the amount of yeast in the bottle, strength of the beer, temp, etc. The flavor you may be sensing might just from being "green" or too young.

Next, a lot of "harsh" flavors are caused by high fermentation temperatures. What yeast strain was used and at what temperatures did you ferment at? Was this an extract kit? The material from your carboy will have nothing to do with off flavors in 99% of cases.

 

[BlackGoat]

the harshness is more than likely just because you are drinking your beer way too early, its very green. Most recommend that you don't start opening them until about 3 weeks after bottling and keeping them in the fridge for a few days before you try one. Even then, they tend to get better beyond that, for most beers I think that the sweet spot is usually about 5-8 weeks after bottling. Why did you rack the beer to a secondary? Also, what temperature did you ferment at? If you ferment too warm, you can get some strong off-flavors in your beer that can come off as harsh.

 

[twistr25]

To add to Mojzis, it's best to wait at least 10 days before transferring to a secondary vessel. Make sure the gravity is stable first and give the beer some time to clean up after itself. Patience will improve your beer almost as much as proper temps. If by "blowing CO2", you mean airlock activity, that really doesn't tell you anything. Only way to confirm anything is with your hydrometer.

 

[unionrdr]

Being an imperial,it would've needed more than 1 week in primary. Never rack a beer anywhere till it's at a stable FG. Then you can secondary if you like. but it'll clear just as well in primary. After FG is reached,give it another 3-7 days to clean up by products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then rack to bottling bucket & prime.

 

[Bleedsblue]

To answer a few questions. It was an extract kit. The instructions said to transfer 5-7 days, and I don't really know what I am doing Temp was about 180ish if I remember correctly. i don't have my stuff in front of me.

Thanks for all the answers guys.

 

[BlackGoat]

To answer a few questions. It was an extract kit. The instructions said to transfer 5-7 days, and I don't really know what I am doing Temp was about 180ish if I remember correctly. i don't have my stuff in front of me.

Thanks for all the answers guys.

well welcome to homebrewing! Don't let us overwhelm you with details. Wish we could put all the people who write those instructions into a room and force them to revise them per basic homebrewing knowledge - its not your fault that those instructions are crap. Anyway, hopefully you didn't ferment at 180, by that we mean what temperature was the beer at when it was in the primary fermenter, hopefully somewhere in the 62-70 degree range. :cross:

 

[Mojzis]

180-ish? Do you mean 80? 80 would be way too high...

As a general rule, don't follow the fermentation instructions on kits. There is no real need to transfer to another fermentor. I do it sometimes if I want to wash the yeast and avoid dry hops and or gelatin. Other than that or long ageing, there is no real reason.

 

[twistr25]

Directions with the ingredients are typically crap. Most here do a minimum of two weeks in primary, a lot do 3. Maybe a majority no longer secondary regularly, but do for certain styles. Definitely not necessary. I hope you mean 80 degrees, which in any case is still way high. Upper 60s are a good range for most yeasts to ferment well. If you can't get it down in the air, use a rubbermaid container, place your FV in it and toss in some frozen water bottles, i.e a swamp cooler. Works great and very cheap.

 

[Bleedsblue]

Yeah Im sorry fermentation was 65-70 ish. Sorry not 180.

Thanks for all the answers. To me it is sounding like I was just too excited to give it a spin

 

[BlackGoat]

we've all been there! patience patience patience. Use this as an opportunity to "build your bottle collection" by drinking some solid craft brew. Or... you can drink it for "research purposes". Whatever you need to justify it.