Cooking with a failed beer

JollyToper · 03-01-2010, 12:20 PM

I brewed a Scottish 70/ and had trouble with temp control. In Arizona I usually have to keep the temp down and this was the first I had to worry about keeping it up. Anyway, it got too cool and the yeast dropped out pretty early. OG was 1.038 and it finished 1.018 (53% attentuation). I got 77% on my 80/ using a slightly larger version of the same recipe so I know it can do better.

Anyway, the point of this thread is that I've tried to restart it to no avail and have decided to use it as a cooking beer. I figure it has very little hop character and should be a nice marinade. I've got plenty of good beer stocked up so don't feel compelled to choke down 5 gallons of this one.

Has anyone done the same with a batch that didn't make it?

JT

**hope2perc** · 03-01-2010, 01:04 PM

I have a brown ale that got an infection in the secondary. I bottled it anyway. After a year or so, it's not that bad. But mostly I love to use it for beer batter shrimp. Yummmmm. Hmm, might have to buy some shrimp!

jfowler1 · 03-01-2010, 02:23 PM

My second batch was a sweet stout that I mashed way too high. Adding lactose put the final gravity around 1.028. It is barely drinkable, but fantastic in chili. The sugar in the beer melds really well with the acid in the tomatoes. The Scottish 70 might be good in a cheddar and ale soup.

Ragutis · 03-01-2010, 02:35 PM

I cooked a Coq a la Bier using a less than perfect dark beer I made and it came out great. Remember to add a little sweet to counter the hops' bitterness when cooking with beer.

aksea102 · 03-01-2010, 10:43 PM

My first batch (a wort scorched APA) has been used in chili, stew, pizza crust and beer can chicken!

jbambuti · 03-01-2010, 11:24 PM

I have an off batch English IPA that I've been waiting on since August. Tasted one the other day and, while much better is still not good enough to insert into the pipeline. Someone else on this forum suggested that it could be used in the water pan of my smoker. When the snow relinquishes the smoker, I'm going to give that a try. Or, I'll have people over for pulled pork, let them get drunk on the good stuff, then serve the off beer to them. Some of my friends wouldn't know the difference.