Do you ever dump beer just because of taste?

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tpitman

tpitman

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I've got a brown ale I brewed (extract) based on two other batches, with this one as a compromise between the two (one too mild, the other a bit too "roasty"). The one difference is I used so-called fresh hops instead of the pellets I usually use, and I'm not so sure the hops were that fresh. A bit over-carbonated for the style, but it's got a bit of a taste to it that kind of sucks.
I've also got about a case and a half of a Coopers Stout kit that ain't exactly Guinness or Murphy's. Kind of a sour taste to it.
Neither of these are undrinkable, but at what point do you consider dumping beer if you're not really enjoying it? Seems kind of sacrilegious, but it's come to a point to where I'm drinking it because it's there, not because it's particularly good. The stout is about three months old, and the flavor isn't changing, so I'm guessing this is it. The brown ale hasn't changed either. The two batches I'd brewed before this were decent, so I'm wondering if it was the hops that might be a contributing factor.
Drink my way through them or cut my losses?
 
I've dumped a few that just weren't that spectacular. Nothing really wrong, just not what I was hoping for. Some people consider it sacrilege to dump any beer. In my opinion, if you don't really care for it and don't have friends that want to drink it, dump it.
 
I'd keep it at least until you have a need for more bottles. Also keep a couple to try a year from now. Otherwise I have no problem with dumping a bad beer to make room for a potentially better one.
 
Don't want to irritate the beer gods, so I haven't dumped any batches so far.
 
While I agree dumping for taste is a beer crime, I plead guilty to having done it from time to time.

Back in the day, borderline beer would have been drunk up by my idiot friends before you could say 'Amber Bock'.

Nowadays, less than stellar beer can sit for months, and sometimes I just want to free up the keg or tap for something better.

I'll take my confession one step further, I'll sometimes dump perfectly good beer to make room for another batch if I find myself too heavily weighted toward one type of beer or another. For example, in the fall and winter I get the urge to brew batch after batch of big heavy winter beers. By March, I'm ready for something different and will clunk whatever's lingering to make room for something lighter.

While I agree it's a sin, I see it as more venial than mortal.
 
I am usually not in a hurry to dump a beer.... so, if I don't need the bottles/kegs or space, I let it ride for a while. But, I have absolutely no problem dumping a beer if I don't like it. I brew a lot, and I am not going to choke down something that tastes bad while I have good and great beer sitting there.
I think you need to ask yourself about your process though if you are getting several dumpers....It could be the hops (or amount of hops) but that seems unlikely to me.

Sanitation - Use PBW or Oxyclean to clean, Starsan to sanitize. Make sure you are taking apart things like spigots on buckets, bottle fillers, autosiphons, etc. Don't use bleach. Don't rinse your starsan (or iodophor) after sanitizing.

Fermentation temp - fermenting in lower 60's. High temps throw off flavors.

Healthy yeast - if liquid yeast, make a starter.

Water - if your water is really hard, and you are brewing extract, consider using Reverse Osmosis water - .39 cents a gallon from refill machines at grocery stores or walmart.

Just some other things to look at and consider, beyond the hops.
 
Last week I dumped the last case of a coopers stout I made a year ago when I didn't want to bother with an all grain brew day. I tried to use it in cooking and whatnot, but progress on disposing of it was a little slow, so down the sink it went.

It was not very good, and I overcarbed it to boot.

I figure that my liver has a limited capacity to deal with alcohol over my lifetime, and I don't want to waste even a little capacity on crappy beer.
 
I say take it the next time it's your turn to bring beer to a pickup game/tailgate, etc. Usually people aren't that picky as long as its not bad.
 
If I don't like it, I dump it. A total waste but you have to realize that it's not a failure. You're building experience, and sometimes things don't work out.
 
Nowadays, less than stellar beer can sit for months, and sometimes I just want to free up the keg or tap for something better
Click to expand...

This is usually the case with me. The beer doesn't taste all that good and I need the keg. I try to dump as little as possible. Sometimes I will fill up multiple growlers, or bottle some from the keg if I think it might get better.
 
Braufessor said:
I am usually not in a hurry to dump a beer.... so, if I don't need the bottles/kegs or space, I let it ride for a while. But, I have absolutely no problem dumping a beer if I don't like it. I brew a lot, and I am not going to choke down something that tastes bad while I have good and great beer sitting there.
I think you need to ask yourself about your process though if you are getting several dumpers....It could be the hops (or amount of hops) but that seems unlikely to me.

Sanitation - Use PBW or Oxyclean to clean, Starsan to sanitize. Make sure you are taking apart things like spigots on buckets, bottle fillers, autosiphons, etc. Don't use bleach. Don't rinse your starsan (or iodophor) after sanitizing.

Fermentation temp - fermenting in lower 60's. High temps throw off flavors.

Healthy yeast - if liquid yeast, make a starter.

Water - if your water is really hard, and you are brewing extract, consider using Reverse Osmosis water - .39 cents a gallon from refill machines at grocery stores or walmart.

Just some other things to look at and consider, beyond the hops.
Click to expand...

I figure the Coopers Stout is what it is, and I just don't like it. It's more drinkable than the brown ale.
The hops I got looked like they might have been a bit stale. Smelled good, but not as pungent as pellets. Figured one way or the other it was unlikely the cause of a bad taste, like you mention.

Sanitation, water, and whatnot is the same as always: B-Brite, Star-San, Nottingham yeast for the brown. Nevertheless, it might have been something got in there. It's just not been a problem up to now. I'd just previously made an American pale ale that came out great, and have a new batch sitting in a secondary as we speak, ready to bottle.
Anyway, thanks for all the responses. The brown is going down . . .
 
I take no shame in dumping batches that suck. It happens from time to time. I'm past the whole 'frat house' mentality that it's a crime to dump beer.

To be honest, I don't want to waste my time, or calories drinking crappy beer. Learning from my mistakes doesn't have to include choking down 5 gallons of something I don't like.
 
I've had no problems dumping in the past. I like good beer because I like the taste of it. If it's not something that I like the taste of, I might as well drink BMC...
 
paramecium said:
i've dumped a few that just weren't that spectacular. Nothing really wrong, just not what i was hoping for. Some people consider it sacrilege to dump any beer. In my opinion, if you don't really care for it and don't have friends that want to drink it, dump it.
Click to expand...

this^^^^
 
I have a ton of kegs so I don't usually need to free one up, but I would probably dump a subpar batch rather than keep it around. As it is, I made an untasty Altbier recently but I've just left it in the fridge for a few months and the pseudo lagering phase has really helped it out. Still not great though.
 
Ive dumped a beer. Usually what I'll do is let it sit, taste it. If I feel it will get better with time, I'll let it sit for a month or two and try it again. If it's still something I can't get down it gets dumped. Otherwise if I don't enjoy it, the growlers come out and it gets pawned off.
 
I dumped a batch of Hefeweizen last summer that had a bandaid flavor. Also dumped a batch of pseudo-lager that was un-drinkable. I figure, if I don't like it, I'm not gonna keep it around, especially if time won't fix it. Besides, I only have one liver, and I'm not going to waste it on crappy beer.
 
I am proud to say I have never brewed a beer that was bad enough to be dumped. I have a friend however that brewed roggenbier that was so incredibly foul that it was literally indescribable. We couldn't pin down a distinct off flavor. He dumped almost all 10 gallons.
 
I'm thinking of dumping the Helles I brewed over Thanksgiving. I used S-23 yeast and the damn thing is sooooooo fruity. Since then I've read about a lot of people having that problem with that yeast. I'll never use it again.
 
It's just food. Do you question yourself when you're tossing old leftovers into the trash? Beer isn't some mystical liquid, it's just food.

I don't know why some people are so vehemently opposed to ever dumping beer, but I guess when you see some of the reasons new brewers think they should dump a batch it's pretty easy to understand the knee jerk response to never dump anything. I've been doing this long enough to know what I want to drink 5 gallons of, and what I don't want to drink even 1 gallon of. My money, my skin off my nose.
 
If you've never dumped a batch due to bad flavor, you haven't brewed enough! :) Life is too short to drink bad beer. Destroy your liver wisely.
 
Yes. Infected kegs (2) years back and a batch which was just terribly oxidated last year.
 

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