The bottling is now complete. I have 16 regular 12 oz. bottles, 1 22 oz. bomber, and 2 20 oz. soda bottles. I tasted the flat, warm beer before I bottled. Unfortunately, I have a strange feeling it got infected. It had a slight sour apple taste to it. Perhaps that’s just the way it tastes before being ready and maybe I’m too worried. After the bottling was done, the Mr. Beer keg smelled like a gueuze, nice and funky with the thick layer of yeast on the bottom. I imagine that’s normal. Regardless of whether or not it got infected, I’ve got some hope for this beer. The last 2 bottles got a lot of sediment coming from the bottom of the keg. I wonder if those will come out differently.
The instructions say to carbonate at least 7 days, but to allow them to sit for 2-3 weeks for optimal flavor. The bottles are in the same place I stored the keg while fermenting (on top of my fridge). It should be about 70 degrees up there all the time. I’m thinking I’ll leave th em up there for 2 weeks or so and then put a couple in the fridge to try (I may even try one after a week) and the rest in my “cellar” (aka the pantry) which is about 60 degrees because it gets no heat and it’s in the corner of the house. I’ll let them age there as I decide when to drink and who to give them to (I already have one person who wants to try it and I’ll probably give some to my boss).
It might just need to age for a while. According to “How to Homebrew”, you might be tasting Acetaldehyde. “A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin; it is an intermediate compound in the formation of alcohol.”
It could be that the fermentation temp was too high, or the wort wasn’t aerated enough. The best thing to do at this point is just let it condition for at least three weeks and then taste it again. (I know it can be hard to wait that long, but patience is key to home brewing – which is something I just wrote about today over at my site.)
I figured that’s what I was tasting. The fermentation was done on top of my fridge (mainly because I had no other place to stick the thing besides a cold pantry). The room temp in my place is about 68 (the pantry was about 60 and I was told that’s too cold).
I’m going to try it after a week, just because I don’t know if I can wait 3. I’ll let the rest condition for 3 weeks at room temp and then try it again. At that point, if it’s good, I’ll put the rest in my pantry to “age”.
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