BeerBorg

How long is one a beginner? I've been brewing for about one year, but feel I'm still a rookie. I put together a recipe of my own to use up some ingredients that I've had for awhile. I'm sure everything was still good, I just wanted to clean house. I am an extract brewer, BTW. The bulk of the brew was 3 lbs of Bavarian Wheat DME. I wanted to take another stab at a cherry wheat so I used up what I had and bought another 4 oz bottle. The last time I tried cherry flavoring I used 2 oz in a 2 gallon batch. This time I went for 6 oz. I know it sounds crazy, but there wasn't any cherry taste at all the first time around. I just tasted the first bottle from this......No cherry taste! What gives? A little side note. I bottled this brew on Sunday morning. Whenever I bottle I use at least one plastic bottle( from my first days with Mr Beer). That "tester" was rock hard on Tueday night. Of course I had to chill one and try it the next night. No cherry taste whatsoever. I'm going to let the rest sit through their usual time cycle. Does anyone have any thoughts?

When did you add the cherry flavoring?

I took Karate lessons years ago. In the style I studied (Shorin-Ryu) the black belt was considered a beginner. It took an average of 4 years of study to achieve that. I think that could be true of anything. I have been brewing since November of 2009 and consider myself an intermediate.

I suppose a beginner would be someone who is just learning how to sprinkle yeast on wort, learning how to bottle for the first time, learning how to use hops for bittering vs flavor vs aroma. I think once you have those things down you are probably an intermediate.

RickBeer wrote:When did you add the cherry flavoring?

+1

If you added it at the start, you probably lost most, if not all, of the flavor. If you added it after primary fermentation finished, you probably kept much of the flavor. If you added it at bottling, you probably kept most of the flavor.

This is an evolving craft that you will be learning for years to come. I have been brewing for over 7 years and I am still learning something on a weekly basis. Experimenting is the fun part of this hobby/craft. Be patient and ask lots of questions, there is a wealth of knowledge here and in many books. Keep brewing and listen to bpgreen, he is a very experienced extract brewer.

I started in 09 back at the old website MBF and to this day I still do extract and steeping grains. I am by no means a veteran or pro the way I see it.

As far as the cherry goes, I have made 2 cherry wheats. I added the first time right off the get go and nothing. The next time I waited until a few 4 or 5 days before bottling and it actually was pretty decent. Maybe a little more decent than I liked but my wife enjoyed it and she hates beer!