brew losing flavour?

[DarloDave]

My Summer Lightning clone about 2 weeks old tasted really nice. It had a lovely citrusy and smooth taste to it..now its about a 4 weeks it seems to be really lacking in flavour..just tastes pretty bitter but very plain, tasteless..almost salty? Is this possible. OR is it just the fact thats the only thing I've drank for 2 weeks, so somehow psychologically I think its not as tasty as it once was cos I'm so used to it?

[DarloDave]

It's bottled so not possible. Is that not a bit quick for them to lose flavour? like 4 weeks bottled?

[DarloDave]

Ah right , thats a bit gash, just have to get drinking this batch a bit quicker and see what the next brew is like. cheers christopher.

[booldawg]

I often find that my bottled beer comes into its own between 3-5 months in the bottle. Any time before this it does get its flavour but lacks head retention. I think this is due to the time it takes for the nitrogen to slowly release itself during conditioning.

Grains such as wheat (torrified, flaked etc) are nitrogen rich hence their head forming properties.

[subsub]

I always over hop anything I'm going to bottle to avoid what you're experiencing B.

[DarloDave]

I get a cracking head after about a week in the bottle. I keep my bottles in my bedroom where its always really warm though.

[DarloDave]

I'm pretty sure it's oxidised, I've only got a couple of bottles left now thankfully.

[BarryNL]

Beer reaches its peak condition in around 1 weeks per 10 pts of gravity from the end of primary fermentation, after then it starts degrading, particularly hop flavours.

That might be a good guideline for how long to wait before drinking, but I certainly don't think beers "peak" at that time. Most of my beers - even those around 1.040 - keep improving for at least six months. I have an American IPA which I made a year ago and the hop aromas and flavours are now wonderful.

[clogwog]

My experience is similar to BarryNL.

My last two batches of APA, and a Bitter, were much better after about 3 to 4 months in the bottle.