What a difference a week makes

[Pauldonnelly]

I tasted my first homebrew last week it was horrible so poured it down sink, kept 6 bottles just tasted one tonight god I'm gutted pouring it away ,so patience is needed ,I'm still a newbie at this game so it's a lesson learnt

 

[Slid]

Hi Paul,

The main problem with holding the interest of a new hobby brewer is reconciling the difference between the promises on the can with the reality of the brewing process carried out in the home. It takes six weeks, not six days, to produce anything good from a kit.

Stay with it is my advice and get yourself a Stout kit (Coopers, Wilko etc, on offer at Tesco at the current time). Even if you don't realise that you like Stout Porter beers, you will after you have made one.

 

[MartinHaworth]

Waiting is the hardest thing when setting out. I started brewing about 9 months ago, and looking back I started drinking each batch too soon.

It's frustrating at times that some beers take longer to condition. I'm drinking Festival Golden Stag, which is great after 1 month conditioning - but around Christmas Festival Landlord took 3 months to come good.

What I think that this forum has helped me learn, is that if it tastes rough, put it away for another month!

Best wishes

Martin

 

[Hopping_Mad]

Ditto the above comments.

I'm currently drinking a very cheap MasterPint pale ale kit, one which I was prepared to chuck after 6 weeks, but experience told me to just keep and keep trying at intervals. After 10 weeks it was adequate enough not to throw. After 3 months, I'm sort of vaguely enjoying the odd bottle.

I'm now wondering if I keep the bulk of the batch for 6 months if it will be awesome? :lol: I suspect not as cheap kits have cheaper ingredients, but I'll drink it now!

Quality and time are your friends when it comes to brewing!

As long as you are learning from your mistakes, as we all did...

 

[TitanicStruggle]

It doesn't help for newbies that some instructions on kits suggest they're drinkable after a week of bottling (Coopers :whistle:), maybe sometimes they are but not always

 

[Pauldonnelly]

Your right titanic if it wasn't for this forum I would of followed can instructions and beer would of really tasted poor , time and patience is the key

 

[ManseMasher]

My taste buds are shot - I can't normally tell the difference between tea and coffee! The advice above though is golden - time and patience pays dividends. My first ever brew (blowing the cobwebs off now) was from Boots. It was f+++++g awful. I actually stopped brewing beer because of it, and went on to hedgerow wine. It wasn't until I found this site, and in particular clibits' vast amount of knowledge, that I did another beer. Still not a kit - jumped straight in to AG. My neighbour now regularly asks if a brew is ready because I use him as my taster! He never gets one though before 6 weeks - I stick rigidly to 2 + 2 + 2!!

 

[Cwrw666]

You will also find that some types of beer are really quite nice much sooner than other types. In my experience bitters seem to need quite a few weeks in the bottle before they're good to drink, whereas stouts can be drunk almost as soon as they've developed some fizz, though of course they also improve with time.

 

[Wilfy]

I tasted my AG citra smash for the first time last night. It has chill haze but has only been in the bottle 9 days. Absolutely chuffed to bits with the taste.

 

[ManseMasher]

It's like the okeycokey - 'that's what it's all about!'