So i just finished a batch of home brew. Although I'm not a total novice, it has been 2 years since my last home brew. I made a Pliny clone. I took a little taste prior to bottle conditioning and I though it was going to be good. It was hoppy and sweet, which is what I really like in an IIPA. Exactly 7 days after bottle conditioning, I had my first taste. Not good!!! No sweetness, no malt backbone, and the hops had a weird aftertaste. Obviously after a two year hiatus from home brewing, I need more practice. However, I'm wondering if I tried it to soon? Should I let it sit another week? What do you all think? In general, how long do you all bottle condition an IIPA?
When your first taste at the time of bottling is good but then goes backward to when you taste your first bottle-conditioned beer is not a good trend. Extra conditioning time for an IPA/IIPA always provides taste benefits that are worth the wait, so you have nothing to lost by waiting longer. If you don't like the taste right now, it makes no sense to do anything but wait. I've brewed the Pliny clone, and because of impatience it is difficult to wait long before enjoying the beer, so I'm sure that I started drinking them 10-14 days after bottling. But I probably took at least two months before I drank the last one, and I enjoyed it much more.
Welcome back to the obsession! Most heavily hopped beers are good to go right after they carb up. I think they're at their absolute best when they are 6 to 7 weeks old. You should be drinking something that is at least shaping up to be a good beer right now. To pinpoint your problems it wouldn't hurt to post a recipe, some gravity readings, processes, as well as the best description you can come up with for that weird aftertaste you had mentioned. @Mothergoose03 makes some good points. One of them is that if the beer doesn't taste good now, it might shape up in the next few weeks and maybe over the next few months. Maybe you could have dry hopped a little harder to make the beer tasty now. If there isn't a smooth hop there now, you may have something really drinkable at the 2 to 3 month mark.
(a) what did you use to prime? (b) what did you use to sanitize the bottles, and did you use a brush?
