Are your gravity and taste samples good?

I do taste the gravity reading sample, why not I won't put it back in. Most of the time I actually leave the hydrometer in the fermentation so I don't even have to waste beer with the sample. Only bad part about that is if the Hydrometer breaks all the beer is gone. I've never had that happen though.

I never taste it to try and taste beer. I taste it to get the flavors you have a hard time getting when it's finished. I like it because I can tell if I've added too much extract or a flavoring. I'll take notes of course on sample taste vs. end product. If it's a simple pale ale just for every day consumption I don't typically taste it.

I think for me it's more of a right of the creator. I take pride in tasting the product before it's finished, typically something only the brewer does. I do it because I can.

 

Not really recipe adjustments, but I have added gelatin to help get rid of some astringent tannin-ish character, which worked kind of sort. I also have warmed up some beers at this stage for a diacetyl rest. And once I decided a Berliner just needed more sour and gave I some fruit to help develop that some. A really good smell would have informed me of the diacetyl, but you only can detect astringency and appropriate sourness in the mouth.

 

With stuff like sours, stouts, etc, or brews in general that I plan on fruiting, oaking, nibbing, or doing other secondary additions/treaments to later I've used my samples to gauge what I wanted to do later on.

 

So true! 7/10 is all about the bubbles and the mouth feel.
I think the point of tasting is not " is it good" but is there something really going wrong. My last batch tasted fine at the kegging phase. I thought it was going to be really dry and over-hopped ... but instead i found it quite palatable.
I always taste along the way as it gives some insight into the direction of the slow and evolving process. It should always get better.. if it starts getting worse then don't hold out much hope for future improvement.