Ever brew a beer you 'hated'..........

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Yesfan

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.....but wondered if you can make it better the next go around?

My second batch in this hobby was a nut brown extract recipe from NB. I have 8 beers of that left, and I'm to the point of making myself drink it. It has a very sharp bite in the aftertaste. The instructions called for 2 weeks fermentation, 2 weeks bottle condition. I let it set in primary for 3 weeks, and waited 3 weeks after bottling before drinking.

When I brewed this beer, I was still using the swamp cooler method. About half way through the fermentation period, I landed my mom's freezer and a digital temp controller for it, so I moved it there and set the temp to 62F. Before, the (ambient) temp was around 68F. Is the higher temp at the beginning the reason for the sharp aftertaste? This kit came with Nottingham dry yeast, if that matters.

I'd like to brew this again and see if I get a different result. But then again, I'm just wondering if this is a brown ale recipe I should just pass up if I've had something better, like the Caribou Slobber.

Have any of you had a similar experience? If so, did you retry a recipe or move on to better?
 
Yes. I've forced them down, but not any more. I came to the (duh) conclusion once that I would never drink another one that wasn't good. And take my word on it, I don't.

I won't get into details, because some people here get peeved when you talk about dumping beer, but I dispatch non-ideal beers quickly.
 
I can see why they would, but at the same time why? It's your beer.

My younger brother was supposed to take a sixer back home with him after Christmas (guess he's smarter than I thought). I may give this beer away at work or something.

You don't have to go into details, but would you brew that particular beer again? If so, why?
 
You don't have to go into details, but would you brew that particular beer again? If so, why?

Yea, sure. Sometimes I just messed it up somehow. Infections, too hoppy for style, etc. I'd make those again but do a better job of it.

I've made some experimental beers (toss lots of different grains into it) where the idea just didn't work out. Those of course have special NEVER BREW AGAIN notes in them :)

I've made 20 gallons of berliner weisse that I couldn't drink. Nothing wrong with it. It just sat in kegs for 6 months and I realized I would never drink it. Same with an oud bruin I just couldn't muster the energy to bottle. Too long in the keg and zero interest in drinking the last half of it.

Same with 10g of mead I made. That was an expensive one to waste so I gave it to a friend who recycles beer into essence of beer.

The list goes on. See, it's pissing you off right now. I told ya.
 
LOL, did you get to try the "essence of beer" post recycling and, if so, how was it?

Not from what I donated, but something else. I don't drink the hard stuff, but my neighbor said it was the best scotch he's ever tasted (and believe me he would know). I think it was supposed to be whiskey, but honestly I don't know the difference. I still have a bottle of it. It's powerful stuff that.
 
Absolutely. Can't even remember what it was I was trying to make; I think a harvest ale with spices. I normally follow the "age it and see what happens" - I do still have some - but I needed bottles so some got dumped. I know ... homebrewing sin.
 
this year's Christmas Cranberry Ale was god awful.

i'm waiting a little while longer to see if it improves.

if not, it gets dumped... fortunately for me, it's only a gallon
 
A saison I made last year. The flavor profile was good, friends like it, and I normally love saisons. Only I over carbonated it and it totally ruined it for me. I gagged a few down and gave the rest away. I will be remaking it next month.
 
Yes. I've forced them down, but not any more. I came to the (duh) conclusion once that I would never drink another one that wasn't good. And take my word on it, I don't.

I won't get into details, because some people here get peeved when you talk about dumping beer, but I dispatch non-ideal beers quickly.

My motto is "Life is too short to drink bad beer"!

I've only had a couple of dumpers, thank goodness! One was infected (band-aid beer). One was just a beer that wasn't bad, it just wasn't all that great and we weren't drinking it.

Back when I bottled, I gave 1.5 cases of Cooper's from a kit away to a friend who liked it. That was probably my worst beer ever, besides the infected batch. She eventually drank it all and returned the bottles. But now that I keg exclusively, if the beer isn't going to be consumed happily, I'd have no problem with dumping it.

Time does NOT heal all.
 
After bottling, I'll sample them once a week after I think their ready. Some of the beers are good immediately, some improve and some don't.

If I need bottles for newer beers in the pipeline I simply keep six bottles of my worst prior beer and dump the rest.

This way I don't give up "hope" that the beer will improve.

The six packs get dumped if they don't improve after a reasonable aging period for the beer in question.

So, yes, I have brewed sub par beer, but I've never hated the beer, I give it a chance to improve. I also learn that I need to improve my process next time and if I don't have the equipment to do so then I need to acquire that equipment or it's futile trying to brew the same beer with the same conditions.
 
Yes about to years ago when I first started with Mr. Bear I made a west coast pale ale. It was not good. Well luckily it was only 2 gallons. So far since then I have not made one that bad.

Roger
 
My motto is "Life is too short to drink bad beer"!


I agree, Yooper! After all, isn't that why we brew our own in the first place? While it sucks to dump a beer that I put so much time and effort into, if I want to drink bad beer, there are plenty of bad commercial brews that I can just pick up at the store.

My worst ones were a raspberry wheat that tasted like Alka-Seltzer with a hint of raspberry flavoring in it, and a Kolsch that everyone else loved but I didn't like much at all.
 
I brewed the NB Nut Brown kit and it was very good.

I have also been lucky I guess and 34 batches done with none that I have not liked. I have brewed several brown ales with slightly different recipes. They were all very good, some better than others.

So far I have not brewed the same recipe more than once.

I am also working on a pale ale recipe trying to perfect it. 4 tries, all different, all great and getting closer to what I am looking for.
 
My 2nd Mr. Beer was called "Diablo IPA", and it had no business making the IPA claim. It had zero hop character, and I suppose it was fairly bitter. Expecting an IPA, this really was a disappointment. In fact, that was what finally decided me to start with 5 gal. extract kits.
I didn't hate that beer, but it was a disappointment with every gulp.
 
I guess I have been lucky. I have had a few that weren't great at first try so I put them in the shed for 6 months and they turned into completely different beers. (Either that or SWMBO is sneaking out there while I'm asleep and actually swapping them for different beers.)

I reckon if one doesn't age out ok to drink I'll make marinades or steak in ale pie with it rather than just chuck it though.
 
I gave away most of a smokey porter I brewed several months ago. I drank maybe 3 and decided it was the worst thing I ever made. 2 out of the 5 people who got bottles asked for more beer...I was more than happy to oblige and give them the rest.
 
I brewed an American IPA a while back that ended up sitting in primary for about 3 1/2 months. There was a wicked kick on the back end from what I assume to be autolysis, I couldn't even drink it. That being said, my buddy thought it was great so he ended up with about 2 cases of the stuff haha :rockin:
 
Yes. I've forced them down, but not any more. I came to the (duh) conclusion once that I would never drink another one that wasn't good. And take my word on it, I don't.

I won't get into details, because some people here get peeved when you talk about dumping beer, but I dispatch non-ideal beers quickly.

You're 100% inside my head Passedpawn. I couldn't have said it better. I didn't get into this to force down bad beer. I got into it to MAKE fantastic beers that I couldn't get commercially in my area.:mug:
 
I think it's funny a lot of us have a friend(s) that think our 'bad beers' are one of the best they have drank. I gave some of my brown ale to a couple of buds and they loved it. They are either trying not to hurt our feelings, or they just don't have any palette.
 
I think it's funny a lot of us have a friend(s) that think our 'bad beers' are one of the best they have drank. I gave some of my brown ale to a couple of buds and they loved it. They are either trying not to hurt our feelings, or they just don't have any palette.

haha, it's true. I have a beer disposal service named Scot. I made a Houblon Chouffe clone that was actually pretty good, but I just never wanted a high-ABV beer. I gave him 2 cases and it was astonishing how fast he got those bottles back to me.
 
passedpawn said:
haha, it's true. I have a beer disposal service named Scot. I made a Houblon Chouffe clone that was actually pretty good, but I just never wanted a high-ABV beer. I gave him 2 cases and it was astonishing how fast he got those bottles back to me.

Not to hijack but could post the recipe for the Houblon or PM me?
 
OMG! this thread is about me today..brewed a Nut Brown Ale.messed up on the hops..tasted it before carboy and was extremely bitter/hoppy. Some like hoppy beer, I don't will see in 5 weeks after first taste from the bottle. If I don't like it, I may give itall away or dump it. As Yooper said," life is too short to drink bad beer."
 
i used to have an alcoholic buddy that would drink anything with alcohol in it, so he was my bad beer / bad wine disposal but now i just pour it out ,i think out of a hundred batches i have choked down about four batches and poured three down the drain.
 
i used to have an alcoholic buddy that would drink anything with alcohol in it, so he was my bad beer / bad wine disposal but now i just pour it out ,i think out of a hundred batches i have choked down about four batches and poured three down the drain.

Enabling an alcoholic! :cool:

At least the beer wasn't wasted. :drunk:
 
I made a Belgian Tripple that I didnt care for, gave one to a friend who is much more experienced as a brewer and he raved to everyone about how I nailed the style.

That convinced me that I just don't like triples and I've never brewed another one.
 
I made a Belgian Tripple that I didnt care for, gave one to a friend who is much more experienced as a brewer and he raved to everyone about how I nailed the style.

That convinced me that I just don't like triples and I've never brewed another one.

I thought the same way about Tripels. Brewed one a few years ago. Body was good, but I didn't care for the flavor. Decided never again after it took over a year to finish the last bottle.

My yeast starter is ready for the Velvet Rooster. I hope I don't regret by my change of heart.
 
I've only dumped a few. My second beer ever I got ambitions and tried to brew a Belgian Quad that even a year later was undrinkably solventy. I only drank a few bottles to see as it was aging and ended up dumping almost 2 cases. I had another two that were decent at first, but I horribly oxidized them, and by the last 1/2 case or so were undrinkable, so those got dumped. And then I had a spiced cider that was ill conceived, poorly executed, and awful. That got dumped. Beyond that, I've had a few less than stellar but drinkable beers. Those I usually drink. Not something I'd share with others, but not terrible.
 
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