Aging and effect on bittereness / smoothness

Our German Amber was kegged about a week ago, and right off the bat I noticed the bitterness lingered for some time in the aftertaste.

But today, it has rounded out / smoothed out substantially from a week ago. Making it a much better balanced beer than what it was initially. The bitter aftertaste has abated a lot, and now is much more enjoyable to consume.

Is this typical?

Residual yeast has some bitter flavors.  Perhaps that is dropping out at serving temperatures.

And oxidation will also take its toll.

That was my first thought when I read this. Hop fade can be a result of the beginnings of O2 pickup somewhere.

Of course it could just be maturing beer and may level off once it reaches a certain optimum point.

I rule out O2 pickup issues due to our kegs, and our kegging process. My guess is simply the maturing of the flavors…and it tastes better now than at first. Smoother, less harsh bitter after taste.

It has not lost any of the malt & hop nose.

I agree with this.

20 years experience should guide you.

And it does. But just like the women I have known, each beer is unique in its own way.

So what does your experience say about this?

My experience tells me that the majority of my beers improve dramatically after about a couple of weeks in the keg. I do keg pretty quickly after fermentation completes so its extra time that others may not need.

It seems this beer rapidly improved after 7 days in the keg. But it was cold crashed for about 7 days prior to being kegged.

My brewing partner / part owner of Bel Air Brewing, says this is his new favorite beer. He is a rookie, having never brewed anything except coffee before this!

This is of course because of your instrumentation and quantification of said measurements.

You would be 100% correct. You have great perception, and are to be commended!

Bel Air Brewing works in concert with Bel Air Labs…a Phase 4 Bio Lab. The lab has one Asian employed, from Manchuria. No, I am not joking.

What does having one Asian from Manchuria have to do with anything? Ha! You crack me up!

We call her…“The Asian Persuasion”. Manchuria not so far from Wuhan, about 1800 miles.

What I am saying is if you can’t take a measurement, therefore you can not diagnose a problem, or in this case claim you don’t have one to begin with. This is one of my most infuriating things I see commonly. 
You could say, it’s fine to me if I do have a problem, but it doesn’t matter to me. You can’t argue that.
However to say you don’t have a problem, not being able to measure, or even know what a “problem” is. I can’t take as an argument.

For full clarity, I am not even suggesting this is the problem in this case, but to deny, is the problem.

So there is a problem because his beer tastes better after a week?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I did not state there was any problem at all. Only that the level of lingering bitter aftertaste (on the far back of the tongue) has abated after a week of aging in the keg. This is a marked improvement in balance, and overall flavor profile. Note that it was not bad at first, quite drinkable. But much better now.

Yes…been brewing since 1990. But it is not in my recent memory having such a rapid improvement in taste, after 7 days.

The post was to seek responses from others to see if this is atypical.

The full report from our Phase 4 Bio Lab has not come back yet…still waiting.

So it’s 30 years experience? Congrats

Thank you very much! But we took a 9 year vacation. Now hard at work again, brewing like mad men.

No, the problem (as I see it) see that he claims the changes he prefers aren’t due to oxidation, yet he has no way to know that.