I just dumped 5 gallons of beer down the drain

Well... I just decided to get back into brewing. It had been over a year and I decided to make an American Pale. After it was done in the primary I went to bottle it and it was SOUR! almost as sour as lemonade.

Not sure if this is what did it but I made a 5 gal batch and put it into my 5 gal carboy (whoops). After about 24 hrs it was bubbling out of the airlock and down the side. So I decided to craft a blow-off tube. Only thing is I struggled a lot getting the tube to fit in the stopper. I did sanitize the tube, but it wasn't going in. I grabbed a knife (that wasn't sanitized) and cut the end of the tube at an angle so I could slide it in to the stopper easier. I got it in and let the yeast do it's work.

That's about the only bad thing I can think of that I did wrong. This is not my first batch and I thought I was being extremely anal about sanitizing.

On the positive side... I'm not giving up. I'm only more determined to make a good batch of beer. I'll be trying again soon.

That makes me cry...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

I dumped most of my first batch. I bottled 2 liters of it though to see if those off flavors would age out

Weapon-X said:

Well... I just decided to get back into brewing. It had been over a year and I decided to make an American Pale. After it was done in the primary I went to bottle it and it was SOUR! almost as sour as lemonade.

Not sure if this is what did it but I made a 5 gal batch and put it into my 5 gal carboy (whoops). After about 24 hrs it was bubbling out of the airlock and down the side. So I decided to craft a blow-off tube. Only thing is I struggled a lot getting the tube to fit in the stopper. I did sanitize the tube, but it wasn't going in. I grabbed a knife (that wasn't sanitized) and cut the end of the tube at an angle so I could slide it in to the stopper easier. I got it in and let the yeast do it's work.

That's about the only bad thing I can think of that I did wrong. This is not my first batch and I thought I was being extremely anal about sanitizing.

On the positive side... I'm not giving up. I'm only more determined to make a good batch of beer. I'll be trying again soon.

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What was your timeline on this? 1-2-3 wks? Month or more? need more info.

RIP a perfectly good batch of beer. Moment of silence, please...



A good thing to keep in mind is that if you don't like how it tastes, wait 2 weeks then try it again. Still bad? Two more weeks. Still bad? Leave it in a closet and forget about it for a few months then try it again.

Beer needs time to be grear beer. Even if you infected your beer, chances are if you let it sit long enough it will lose the nasty flavor. Also, drinking infected beer won't make you sick.

This is making me cry a little.

Well, I had beer sitting for 1.5months in my closet and just carbed it in a keg, and it tastes vile.

No, time will not heal all things I may take the keg out and dump it in a week or so.

oh man. my friend had the same thing. when he went to bottle he tasted it and he said it was "very sour". he bottled it anyway, and after 3 weeks in the bottle (last night) he tried it, and this morning he sent me this email:

Welp. I don't know what to say about the porter...

I didn't get any sour taste. Now i'm just confused. I distinctly remember the taste your porter had, and, my beer had that smell when putting it into bottles. Ah, well, back to the drawing board.

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We'd need more details of your process (yeast type? pitching procedure?) to determine what made it go sour. Also would need to know your timeline.

I'm a big fan of Revvy's posts here, and I agree that time can fix a lot of problems with beer but not all of them. I've had batches that tasted like crap after 2 weeks, and still tasted like crap after many months. Others with issues have improved noticeably with time.

Verio said:

Well, I had beer sitting for 1.5months in my closet and just carbed it in a keg, and it tastes vile.

No, time will not heal all things I may take the keg out and dump it in a week or so.

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Obviously, you haven't waited long enough

Sourness from a bacterial infection will NOT go away with time. I guess you guys have a higher tolerance for bad tasting beer. I would have thrown it out too. Live and learn.

JonK331 said:

Sourness from a bacterial infection will NOT go away with time. I guess you guys have a higher tolerance for bad tasting beer. I would have thrown it out too. Live and learn.

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sure, but sometimes fermenting or just-fermented beer can taste sour

You could always pretend its supposed to be like that, at least thats what I do when mine don't quite turn out right.

JonK331 said:

Sourness from a bacterial infection will NOT go away with time . . . . .

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. . . . It just gets better

Ok... to answer several of you:

-I used white labs california ale yeast. I pitched it after the ice bath, after I added the wort with water in my fermenter and after I oxygenated.
-I stored the fermenter at 68 degrees for 9 days
-On day 2 I had to change from an airlock to a blow-off tube with some difficulty (this is where I'm suspicious of contamination)
-I didn't do a secondary. I went straight to bottling.

I've made batches that had a distinct, undesired after-tastes that were fruity or sour, but overall the batch still tasted like beer. In one case, after a few months of bottle conditioning the taste went away. This was different. It didn't tase like beer at all... it was face puckeringly sour. I don't think time would have solved this problem.

after 9 days it's supposed to taste like cat piss
I usually only drink it that young if I am constipated

certaut said:

after 9 days it's supposed to taste like cat piss
I usually only drink it that young if I am constipated

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This made me LOL, I know what you mean :cross:

The horror!! Bummer man, good on ya though for not getting ya down. 9 days is pretty quick though and I really doubt if many beers would be tasty after 9 days.

JonK331 said:

Sourness from a bacterial infection will NOT go away with time. I guess you guys have a higher tolerance for bad tasting beer. I would have thrown it out too. Live and learn.

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Homebrew has come a long way in recent years, but it appears not everyone is keeping up.

What do "young" beers taste like? Are they usually sour tasting, or bitter or how would one describe a young beer?

Obviously it's different for ech beer, but if anyone has any 'general characteristics' I would be appreciative.

I just read the title of this thread and the little voice in my head screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

So your're saying that it's supposed to me as sour as a lemon after 9 days? the instructions that came with the ingrediants said "allow to ferment for 7-10 days. rack to secondary (optional)". I really hope I didn't pour a good batch down the drain.

Nothing wrong with dumping a batch. Life is too short to drink sub-par beer. When you get a bit of experience, you know when a flaw will age out and when the batch is truly hosed.

Strong sourness is not a characteristic of young beer.

But after reading the initial posting, I simply cried for the lost beer. Sadly, some batches are not save-able.

Shiat man, have some patience. I've brewed 20 plus years and have never had "an infection", doubt if you had one here. You probably just dumped a good bucket of beer.

Oh, the humanity!

Yep, some patience was in order...sounds like OP dumped within just a week or so of brewing? He says brewed, ferment 9, then bottle, taste, and toss - really?!?!?!?! It was probably not even done fermenting yet!

I have a Belgian Wit I brewed on 2/28/10...it did not taste good right out of the gate...I believe I got my first infection with this batch...tossed it in a corny to rest, saw strange things, searched HBT, learned about pellicles, etc.

That Wit is still sitting in a corny (yes 11 months now) that I vent every time I happen to think about it. I tasted it again last week and you know what...it is pretty damn good and is now in the pipeline to be carbed up and tapped! I suppose I lucked out because sour and Wit go pretty well together.

I'm not digging on the OP because this is only a hobby and if you are not going to drink it and/or wait, then move on to the next batch - but for the sake of all things homebrew...next time, please, please give it more than a week!!!!

That time will heal all things is bull****. I had one good batch. After a year it still tasted like watered down wine. It was crap plain and simple. Sour beer is never going to taste good... not sure why you people like to make up myths.

I had a beer once that was purple, smelled like granny smith apples, and tasted like vomit (I spit it out, not sure why I tasted a purple beer). Needless to say, I will never regret dumping because, let's be honest, IT WAS PURPLE!!

This was the only batch I ever dumped.

What I learned? Sometimes, you just know a batch is beyond help. All the other batches definitely make up for the one lost batch. Just chalk it up to a learning experience.

sorry for your loss

really, its not that big of a deal.... seems on here everyone thinks that "it will get better with time". I dont buy that one bit honestly. now, 9 days is abit young, but sour tasting....hmmm.. I would have dumped it too.

For me, the few bucks that gets dumped I take it as a "learning experience". I'm not going to experiment with fruit and beer anytime soon. I'm dumping mine tomorrow.

PintOfBitter said:

Nothing wrong with dumping a batch. Life is too short to drink sub-par beer. When you get a bit of experience, you know when a flaw will age out and when the batch is truly hosed.

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Exactly.

All I can say is:

How boring would be the experience of beer if everyone dumped "subpar" "tasting" beer, at any stage of fermentation or experience.

Honestly, what a waste.

In most cases it seems time will heal but sour is probably the exception. Alot of the characteristics of bad tasting beer get cleaned up some. 9 days? i wouldnt have dumped it give it a month and try it. I would have at least still stuck it away and forgot about it and moved on an tried it after a while.

I have a batch of beer that i brewed and bottled a year in Feb. tried one the other night and it still tastes like rat p!$$. i agree that when a beer is infected you can't do anything. i will still keep the last 5 bottles until they are gone. i WILL NOT dump a beer.

The OP, IMHO, dumped way too soon. even if they thought it was "sour" they didn't even give it a chance. 6mo is too soon. but then again, i am the forever optimist. All beer is beer until proven otherwise

Ok. Thanks everyone for the input. I'd say the general consensus is that it probably wouldn't have gotten better, but I probably should have waited longer just to make sure. Lesson learned.

If you're not into sour/funk dump it. I don't have the tongue for those kind of beers and prefer my sour in the form of Key Lime Pie, not beer. I would of waited a little bit though, maybe a month tops to see if the sourness is lessening.

I almost dumped my Kolsch starter because it tasted and smelled acidic but someone on here said it's normal for some starters to smell sour (to a point) so I pitched it in. The Kolsch would be perfect had I bittered it with another 10 IBUS.

For 30 bucks and 9 days, whatever, dump it.
It's not like it was the last batch of beer ever, and now whatever it was in (primary, secondary, keg, bottle) can be used for a new creation which doesn't taste horrible.

"Wasting" beer is a high schoolers problem. Adults can generally afford more.

I would have probably dumped it too. Honestly, if it is (likely) to be sub par why keep it along and waste space. I mean, sure, it could technically turn into great beer like many of you have stated. But what are the chances of this? I have tasted my beers after a week and none have tasted sour....At any rate learn from this. I have always been a stickler for sanitation and I sometimes sanitize things more than I need to and lose my temper when my girlfriend doesn't sanitize things enough for my liking when brewing with me Yeah, I am annoying about it and probably don't need to sanitize to the degree that I do but I have never had an infection KNOCK ON WOOD!