The saddest day ever for my brewery...

TheDutchman · 11-19-2009, 06:05 AM

So, I decided after two years of home brewing it was time to brew a couple special beers as Christmas gifts for some of my closest friends. After some thought, I decided on two: an imperial coffee/chocolate oatmeal stout (similar to Founder's Breakfast Stout) and Pliny (the Bastid). I brewed the stout first to give it some time to age before Christmas. Everything went smooth. It's aging in bottles for a few weeks already.
Next I brewed Pliny. The brew went great. Fermentation went great. Dry hopping went great -- twice. Tonight I tried to bottle it. To understand tonight, we must first understand a couple other key bits of information:
-Whole leaf hops are a real #$$%^^& to get into a carboy
-Vinnie says, "These hoppy beers oxidize sooo easily."
Genius solution methinks! Dry hop in a corny keg! Purge O2 with CO2 and we're golden. WRONG!
I learned tonight that their is no good way to remove beer from a corny when its also full of hops that keep breaking the siphon (and full of both whole and pellet hops, so regular dispensing was a no go).
So now I have 4.5 gallons of massively oxidized Pliny in my bottling bucket on the counter -- hops included. I had to dump the last three gallons in from the keg. This will be my first dumped batch...and it tastes awesome right now

NO PLINY FOR CHRISTMAS.

(and really no time to rebrew before then)

Sorry, I had to vent to people who'd understand the tragedy here.

**samc** · 11-19-2009, 06:29 AM

Don't dump it. Put it in a corny, carb/chill & drink.

Kegs are great for dry hopping, next time use a bag for them.

shek · 11-19-2009, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDutchman

...and it tastes awesome right now

If it tastes awesome, I stay the course and see what happens. Unless you don't have room in your pipeline, go ahead and keg or bottle and wait. I've got two kegs of mildly infected beer that are actually starting to grow on me; sometimes things just have a way of working out...

**Zen_Brew** · 11-19-2009, 07:13 AM

Agreed if it tastes awesome right now carb it up. Worst case scenario if you start tasting oxidation creeping in you just drink it quickly. I realize it may or may not make it till Christmas, and that is sad, but certainly no cause for dumping if it tastes great now.

Lessons learned for next time maybe dry hop with whole hops in a hop bag in the keg. Tie the bag off to the top of the dip tube.

skeeordye11 · 11-19-2009, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shek

If it tastes awesome, I stay the course and see what happens. Unless you don't have room in your pipeline, go ahead and keg or bottle and wait. I've got two kegs of mildly infected beer that are actually starting to grow on me; sometimes things just have a way of working out...

+1 I also had 3 batches that I am certain got infected, but I decided to take a chance and keg or bottle all of them. The funkiness has subsided and I have even given them to friends and taken them to club meetings and no one has even questioned if something was wrong with the beer. You can always dump later, but you should never dump out beer.

TheDutchman · 11-19-2009, 02:39 PM

You have all given me hope. Thanks. I'll keg it. Maybe I can serve it to the family at Thanksgiving.

MattHollingsworth · 11-19-2009, 03:12 PM

Yeah, just drink it faster! Oxidation effects the beer over time. If you drink it quick enough you'll be fine!

**IrregularPulse** · 11-19-2009, 03:23 PM

+1 to everyone.
"it tastes awesome right now" and Dumping don't exactly go in the same paragraph.

**david_42** · 11-19-2009, 04:55 PM

You might look into a Sure Screen. I got one a couple years ago after having problems with a blackberry cider. It's a fine wire tube that goes over the end of the outlet tube.

Alternately, put your dry hops in a bag next time.

**humann_brewing** · 11-19-2009, 05:06 PM

Hurrry, drink it up

I would not dump a beer like that though, that beers takes a lot of time, effort, money and some more time... don't dump it