Euthanized three gallons of beer. Having a pity party.

My second batch was an extract porter brewed in March 2011. It had been bottle conditioning for 11 months. I don’t know if I over primed, it got an infection or what, but every bottle was a gusher. I tried burping each and every bottle, twice. I tried chilling it for 6 weeks, but every bottle was still a gusher, with giant raging foam bubbles. Plus, the flavor was off. I’ve only been brewing for a year and prior to that the only “good” beer I drank was AmberBock, so even after Stone, 21st Amendment, Bells, Oscar Blues etc., my palate is far from developed, but there was a distinct black licorice/medicinal flavor to it.

I finally came to the conclusion that it was not coming around and it was holding up too much of my “cellar” space. Sadly, I dumped it today. My only consolation is the fine home brewed pale ale I am drinking in remembrance.

So I ask, all those who stumble into this post, please raise a pint with me to the lost porter.

I will raise a few pints for you! 11 months is a long time to let something go, only to have it turn out bad. I probably would have started crying.

Raising one for you

A pint raised and a moment of silence in honor of the lost batch.

I am contemplating dumping a batch myself. A Scottish ale that turned out horrible. I just can't bring myself to do it. Sorry to here. 11 months is a lot of time to dump it.

Been there done that. Learned the hard way with an imperial pumpkin beer that tasted like I was licking cloves and chewing red hots. Also lost a Munich Helles rebrew. That pissed me off because of how long I tied up my fermenting freezer. I could have flipped 3-4 other beers in the time easy.

I feel for you, brewing brother. I have tossed two 5-gallon batches in the last year - a Dunkelweizen and an American Brown. Both completely undrinkable. The up side is learning valuable lessons from those mistakes. And have not thrown out another batch since.

All that being said, I raise one in honor of the lost porter.

I feel your pain!

I'm about to dump what remains of my very first batch, Garden Hose Hefe - aptly named because of the distinct green garden hose flavor imparted by my darned garden hose used for supplying my brewing water. I let it sit for five months hoping she would come around to no avail. It actually got worse!

Needless to say, the hose has been replaced with a white rv drinking water hose.

I have a chocolate stout in the fridge with the exact same problem. I feel your pain!

consider using a priming calculator instead of just the amount of corn sugar provided with kits, usually that is too much.

jholen said:

I feel your pain!

I'm about to dump what remains of my very first batch, Garden Hose Hefe - aptly named because of the distinct green garden hose flavor imparted by my darned garden hose used for supplying my brewing water. I let it sit for five months hoping she would come around to no avail. It actually got worse!

Needless to say, the hose has been replaced with a white rv drinking water hose.

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I'm sorry but this made me laugh out loud. Garden Hose Hefe is hilarious. Who knows, maybe there's a market for this amongst gardeners. Sorry that you had to dump it though. I considered dumping a tripel last year but choked down the harsh, boozy brine simply because I'm too stingy to throw away cheap alcohol.

drawdy10 said:

consider using a priming calculator instead of just the amount of corn sugar provided with kits, usually that is too much.

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It took me my first three brews to realize that the priming sugar provided is usually too much.

I think I'm going to dump my second batch. I've got nothing but gushers in my extract wheat beer. The taste is a combination of wine cooler and beer. I'm not a very big fan. I'll raise a glass of something drinkable for your batch.

amingo said:

I'm sorry but this made me laugh out loud. Garden Hose Hefe is hilarious. Who knows, maybe there's a market for this amongst gardeners. Sorry that you had to dump it though. I considered dumping a tripel last year but choked down the harsh, boozy brine simply because I'm too stingy to throw away cheap alcohol.

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Haha!

No harm done. Wife coined the name - so it makes me smile everytime I think of it. The Garden Hose IPA actually wasn't too bad, drinkable compared to the Hefe.

Sad - but it could be worse. I dumped 5 straight 5 gallon batches before I found my problem - the bottling bucket where I store my sanitizer.

You have my deepest condolences...good thing getting a new beer makes the passing of the old one less depressing.

I'll raise a glass of my own nasty stout that, while not infected, tastes pretty horrible. I think I may dump the rest as I'm simply getting sick of drinking it.

I also feel your pain. My latest Wheat beer came out horrid?! Not sure where I screwed up, but not good enough to take up bottle space.

I raise a glass and hang my head

bomberman said:

I'll raise a glass of my own nasty stout that, while not infected, tastes pretty horrible. I think I may dump the rest as I'm simply getting sick of drinking it.

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seamus18 said:

I also feel your pain. My latest Wheat beer came out horrid?! Not sure where I screwed up, but not good enough to take up bottle space.

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If it's drinkable at all, try cooking with it. There's a lot of stuff where you can replace water with beer and it becomes AMAZING, even with crap beer. Indian curries and bread come to mind.

I dump a keg of beer every couple of months just to make room for new stuff. After enough brewing it isn't a big deal. Not to me, anyway. A bitter and a berliner weisse hit the lawn last month. Bottles get emptied if I need them for something else too. The bigger beers (bottled) always get saved though because they age so nicely.

Never had to dump a batch - but I have a "big" SMaSH pale ale that is taking up space and not coming around.

I hoist my glass to you my friend...

Cheers!