Are your gravity and taste samples good?

I don't ever sample before 2 weeks, and usually I have to let the sample sit for several minutes to let the particulates settle out first.

If you don't let it settle, it can have an adverse effect on flavor. Once settled, it usually gives me a good idea of how it will turn out.

 

For homebrew, just let it sit another week on the yeast so all the fermentation by-products can be metabolized down. The rough edges usually fade after another week or two of maturation. Personally, I've never been "wowed!" by any sample of home or commercial brew. It's not because it isn't good beer, it's just because it's not drinking ready yet. A little maturation, cold crashing, and carbonation go a hell of a long way.

 

I think I can usually tell if I am going to like a beer from the fg sample. However, I'm generally going to like it more when carbed.

 

Carbon dioxide has a lot to do with our perception of taste. the gas adds a metallic bite and the the bubbles help to bring the aroma of wort and hops to our nose.

so yes, warm, flat beer does not in fact taste very good and only mildly resembles the finished product. shouldn't be a big surprise.

that, and a few weeks of maturing always helps too.
Cheers.

 

To add to what I posted, after the settlement, the sample does taste good.

 

I do taste my beer by lick the Hydrometer , with out carbonation maturation and right temperature it's usually very bitter.

 

Most people pretend they are good. They don't have to be and most of the time they're pretty lousy. I wouldn't want a pint of it. I guess the contrary is true if you're sampling a sample that's been age on oak for 6 months or a sour.

 

I do sometimes feel like I could enjoy them as is, uncarbonated. I generally sample my kegs a few times before they are fully carbonated and enjoy the beer. Perhaps this reflects that I also like English styles that use lower levels of carbonation, but it is not style dependent. But I don't serve them to others until they are fully carbed.

 

I feel like the smell of the samples after 2+ weeks is usually a little closer to the final product than the flavor is. Carbonation is the biggest missing factor, as others have pointed out.

 

I wouldn't say they're 'good', but they give me a good indication of what my beer could be in the next few weeks. I just try to imagine the sample cold and carbonated, and not as yeasty.

 

My IIPA last weekend sampled prior to bottling tasted fantastic, albeit flat. I like nitro APA/IPA's, so it didn't bother me too much... Yum.

 

I drain pour hydrometer samples. I give them a careful whiff first, though.

 

I always taste at various intervals...and generally drink whatever I pull. Since I only work with a couple of yeast strains -- and only brew a handful of styles I've been working on for the past 5 years or so -- I think the samples give me a pretty good idea of what to expect in the finished beer. After years of work, the recipes and processes are pretty well dialed in, and the samples are more or less free of any unexpected flavors. In that sense, I suppose I consider them "good."

 

How often does anyone taste the hydro sample and then do something to change the recipe of the beer based on the hydro sample?

 

I tasted the hydro sample on a recent experiment using unmashed dehusked Carafa in a Tmave Pivo and the changed the recipe on paper, as the percentage seemed too high. Still waiting to see if the base malts emerge more after 9+ weeks, as this yeast tends to need that long to truly "work through" any specialty-grain tastes, but I can say with pretty good confidence that my recipe changed based on that sample.