To dump or not to dump

I brewed an all-Columbus IPA a few weeks ago. I was racking to a keg for secondary/dry-hopping and my auto-siphon cane broke on the first stroke, right in the middle of the 90* bend. I pushed the tube over the broken end of the cane and clamped it back on. I couldn't get an airtight seal and there was a persistent air bubble in the stream. I knew about the dangers of oxidizing but I thought I would be OK. The sample I took at the time tasted GREAT but I must have oxidized the **** out of it because it tastes terrible now. It borders on undrinkable.

Is it plausible that I ruined the beer by doing this? Is it going to condition out if I let it sit long enough or am I stuck with a keg full of undrinkable beer?

I have since bought a new auto-siphon.

Well, I can tell you this. When I tried out my 1/2" auto siphon the first time, I didn't realize that I didn't get a good seal. Started the siphon and introduced air like you couldn't believe, bubbles everywhere down the hose. Every so often, I'd lose the siphon and have to pump again, introducing even more air. I was absolutely certain that I'd ruined the batch beyond repair, but I was too committed at that point to change back to my 3/8 siphon.

Turned out to be one of the best beers I've ever made. Can't say as that's true for you, I wasn't there...but I'm a bit skeptical at how much air it takes to actually ruin a beer. (I *try* to avoid it, though.) I'd suggest letting it ride for a little while longer and try to drink the beer anyway, if you can.

It's always tough to dump a batch.
Jerry Baker ("America's Master Gardener") says to use beer on the lawn. As I recall he adds to beer, some dish soap, some ammonia and a can of coca-cola and sprays it on the lawn. Not sure how much of the beer has already gone to Mr. Baker ... nor how far you'd get using an entire keg. Ah, he is also credited with begining the craze in the early 1970's of talking to your plants with the publication of his second best-selling book, "Talk to Your Plants". Ol' Jerry was also the national spokesman for the Garden Weasel (now there's something for the resume').
I digress.

I am a relatively new brewer, so take the following with a grain of salt...

I had the same problem with a racking cane sometime around batch 3. Batch 1 was a dumper, batch 2 (Bell's Two-Hearted clone) was okay, and batch 3 (Terrapin Rye clone) was terrible. In all cases it could have been argued that the beer was oxidized, as from bubbles getting sucked in while racking, but I fixed all of that for batches 4 and 5 and guess what - the beer still sucks. Turns out my problem was my water - or so it now seems - so for batch 6 I got RO water and the necessary salts from my LHBS to make "good water" from scratch.

So i guess my point is that there are actually lots of things that can make your beer crappy..

MagicSmoker said:

So i guess my point is that there are actually lots of things that can make your beer crappy..

Click to expand...

and a lot of things that you THINK can make your beer crappy, but don't

OP: I wouldn't dump just yet, let it ride

at least with a keg, you didn't waste your time bottling a potential dumper

I've been tasting this beer off and on since I started this thread and it's gradually starting to get better. I think if I let it sit around long enough it might come around.

Oxidizing by only transferring to a keg? I dont think this is having an impact on your beer

Always give it time before dumping, time heals lots of beer issues.

Tried to insert a pic, maybe it will work. This is a beer that I was going to dump about 6 weeks ago. Primary tastes great but out of secondary It tasted awful. I was going to dump then and there but just put it in fridge to cold crash for an entire week. This isreallyjust because I didn't want to think about it. Now it's a very clear good tasting beer. Not my best but I didn't like the grain bill in the first place.