Condemned beer now drinkable!

[cwiseman77]

I brewed a porter back in the summer and at every tasting so far has been undrinkable. It was far too sweet and fruity to the point I couldn't finish a glass. I haven't touched any in about 6 weeks and it has now been bottled for 3 months. Decided to crack a bottle tonight to stick some in a venison casserole and decided to taste some.

It's still quite fruity and sweet but it has definitely mellowed and is now drinkable...dare I say even quite nice. This is a really pleasant surprise because I has totally given up on it. Anyone ever had this experience?

I've had beers turn out delicious after just a couple of weeks conditioning but this one had taken 3 months!

 

[pittsy]

I've done a dark lager around 6 months back and it was **** at first and now is ok and a dunkel weizen around 8 weeks back that was bitter but is now nice , thought i'd messed that 1 as i made up the recipe .

 

[cwiseman77]

Such a pleasant surprise Maybe I am just impatient. I brewed a Weisbier a month after the porter it was beautiful after 2 weeks in the bottle, too good infact, SWMBO drank the majority of it, ignoring my lectures on conditioning etc... :x

That;s common with wheat beers though right? Best drunk young?

 

[pittsy]

sure is mate , as i sit here drinking a wheat beer that was bottled 11 days ago and its so good i could drink another

 

[PD]

never throw a brew away under 9 months !
Unless its gone badly off

 

[cwiseman77]

Hmm...think I may have to do a wheat like every second brew...just so I have something to drink whilst everything else conditions. Any suggestions for a nice extract recipe wheat beer? Last one I done was single hopped with Hersbrucker.

Was thinking maybe 200-250g of maris otter, wheat malt extract and tettnang hops. Reckon that would work? Could add some dark crystal and maybe a second hop at the end but thought maybe would just keep it simple.

 

[cwiseman77]

never throw a brew away under 9 months !
Unless its gone badly off

Good to know, because I have a pale ale that's a bit ropey too. At first taste was better than the porter so have high hopes for it now as it's a few weeks younger :party: :party:

 

[pittsy]

Hmm...think I may have to do a wheat like every second brew...just so I have something to drink whilst everything else conditions. Any suggestions for a nice extract recipe wheat beer? Last one I done was single hopped with Hersbrucker.

Was thinking maybe 200-250g of maris otter, wheat malt extract and tettnang hops. Reckon that would work? Could add some dark crystal and maybe a second hop at the end but thought maybe would just keep it simple.

A wheat beer recipe is , from 50 to 70% wheat (55 to 65% being most popular)
the rest either pale ale , or munich malt . you may add some caravienna/carahell/caramunich etc but keep it low like 5% max unless you are aiming for dunkel (dark) weizen and you might use darkwheat instead of pale wheat, carawheat/caramunich/munich1/11/111 etc but you need a strong banana yeast like wlp300 (wlp380 just not enough banana and the dark malts mask it too much)

So extract , i think dried malt wheat is 50% wheat 50% barley (not sure you'd have to check ) if so i think i'd just use that plus some cara malt but only around 150g/200g and hops are not wanted in the taste at all or aroma that why aroma hops are used like
Hersbrucker (haller+ mittle)
Tettenanger
saaz
perle , but perle is a little harsher than the others , tett can be a little too ,
But for me i have now almost stuck to the same recipe (little changes like caravienna instead of munich 11) and its the yeast that will change the profile the most .

Wheat yeast info,
This is what i have to say about white labs
wlp 300 the classic german yeast (weihenstephan) strong banana very nice but you need to love wheat to like/love this strain.
wlp320 American wheat beer , nice but no classic taste at all . crisp and pleasant .Even people who don't like classic german wheat beers may like this .
wlp356 Bavarian yeast , very nice and clean tasting , pleasant clove and maybe some vanilla depending on temp brewed .
wlp380 Lovely banana and clove with a creamy sort of vanilla present , poss the all round best yeast to please more people.

ferment at 18c if more clove and crispness wanted ,
ferment at 22c if more banana wanted (vanilla and clove in some yeasts will still be present).

hope this helps

 

[cwiseman77]

Very informative and helpful, especially the info about the yeast. Will do some research and plan a recipe. Thanks again :thumb: