Tasting Uncarbonated Beer

First q: Was the saved uncarbonated beer primed with sugar?
If so, then yes, a lot of the sweetness you'll get will get gone.

You'll also see changes from the carbonation itself, carbonic acid will sharpen the beer up, hop bitterness will pop more, hop aroma will drift away from "flowery" to the sharper tones like herbs, spice, citrus, etc. The body will pick up and seem less dense. In all, the beer will feel more lively and you'll understand why we spend so much time and energy on trying to capture it!

 

When I bottled my first beer it was a Stout kit. I was not happy with the flavor of the un-carbinated brew. I let the beer sit for a month then thought,"What am I going to do with 2 cases of crapy beer?" I thought I would have a after work party with my co workers. The beer was very good and I was sad that we demolished my whole batch. In my opinion beer always tastes better carbinated and even better after 8 weeks. Be patient Grasshopper!

 

“In my opinion beer always tastes better carbonated and even better after 8 weeks.”

+1 to that.

Cheers!

 

Ever leave a portion of great beer out overnight and taste it after it loses carbonation?

To answer your question: your beer will likely change significantly for the better after carbing.

 

some beers i make (many ales) test pretty good before carbing, you do get a pretty good idea what the beer will taste like. some beers (lagers) always taste awful until theyre carbed. this freaks me out every time. even though i know the beer will taste better in a week, i always worry that it wont. do as i say, not as i do.

 

for a dunkelweizen, a lot of the banana flavor is generated by the carbonation pushing the flavor into your nose as you inhale and sip. remember that sense of smell and taste are very related. this is one area where i feel beer outperforms wine... the carbonation aiding in the flavor profile. i always find that undercarbonated beers, even if they taste good, still suffer a bit because the aroma is not as present. dont worry, be patient, you will be rewarded.

 

“I just hope the flavor pops more as well.”

The flavors will indeed ‘pop’ more in your carbonated beer. The CO2 coming out of solution in your beer (the bubbles rising in the glass) carry the flavors and aromatics of the beer. An interesting exercise to see how carbonation can impact flavor/aroma is to taste a hoppy beer that is served on regular draft and on cask. I once had a chance to drink two Troegs Nugget Nectar beers side by side where one was served on cask (low level of carbonation) and the other of regular draft (a higher level of carbonation). The draft Nugget Nectar had vibrant and expressive flavor/aroma from the late hops. The cask Nugget Nectar had a muted flavor/aroma but had a nice creamy mouthfeel.

Cheers!

 

The beer will be different carbonated. I find the effect is more pronounced in some styles vs. others.

For me, wheat based beers are lame pre carb but really come alive post carb.
Stouts and porters the difference is not so far apart.

 

Kind of like saying "I let some ice cream sit out until it melted and went to room temperature and it didn't taste as good."

 

Wow. I’m shocked that the post carbonation flavor is so unanimously favored amongst responses so far. I actually have preferred pre carb flavors on 95% of my homebrew to date. To each their own, I suppose!

 

How long was your beer in the fermenter? What yeast did you use?

I have used WLP300 for a few hefes and dunkels. The one time I got a really strong banana flavor was on a hefe that I fermented relatively warm (~75). This flavor was only really present when the beer was pretty green (2 weeks in the fermenter and ~5 days in the bottle).

Your beer will definitely taste better after some time in the bottle. This doesn't have anything to do with the carbonation, really. Just the beer aging and the yeast doing what they do. I always save a few bottles from every batch to drink 6+ months later. These are inevitably better than the fresh beers. If only I had the patience to let them all sit.. (Some styles do not benefit from aging so ymmv.)

 

FYI, in this thread, others report that that yeast doesn't give much clove or banana. I'm sure your beer will be delicious, though.

 

Then why don't you just drink all of it that way?

 

Well, mainly because I'm trying to get better at making carbonated beer lol. That and I want to share...and, as noted, most people seem to enjoy a little effervescence.

By the way, it's not that my final product is bad, it's just that my expectations go through the roof when I taste it at bottling. Then a couple weeks later, I'm let down, that's all. Just figured some other brewers would share that experience.