What to do with horrible beer?

My husband and I made the worst batch of beer. We do okay. This one just failed in a big dramatic way. We already troubleshot how to avoid in the future. Best suggestions on what to do with the case and a half of really, really awful beer? We're trying a beer bread right now but I am not optimistic. Compost? Rocket experiments? Thanks.

What does it taste like? Many off flavors will go away with time. Of course I don't know what one will and wont but someone around here might. There is a sticky with a lot of examples of people undrinkable beer being drinkable (sometimes good) after a few months.

rather than start another thread, I figure I will just steal yours. I also just made up the worst ten gallons I have ever tasted in my life. It is foul, vile and really has no good points. I am all hoping that it gets better with time, but there ain't no way. It is doomed to be drank unhappily. I will just involve some friends and tell them to learn from my mistakes.

I would try time. I had a terrible wine, stopped drinking it for months and read somewhere in HBT about letting it age. I opened it up after 5 months went by, and it wasn't lollypop sweet any more, perfectly good wine!

Mr Wade E, that sir will be deleted by the mods quicker than I can post this here message sir. Good luck

Give it to a friend who drinks a lot of BMC. I did that with a Ginger beer I couldn't stomach and he thanked me for it.

Cooking. I made a red wine that is almost passable if it breaths for +30 minutes but it's awesome in sauces.

Try beer fried brats. And you can pick up a copy of "cooking with beer".

use it for cooking. (i.e. beer batter, etc)

Beside the standard cooking (batter, beer cheese soup, beer bread) you can open one and let it go flat and feed/water your houseplants. Sorry for the bad batch, it happens to most folks and one time or another.

Welcome to HBT!

I find that if you don't like the beer to drink then you wont like it in your food. When you cook with beer and wine the flavors get stronger, good and bad.

Brats in beer + Superbowl?

Nurmey said:

Sorry for the bad batch, it happens to most folks and one time or another.

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Agree with the others in that you should give it a few months or more. Like you we've all brewed some stinkers and time can help but sometimes it just doesn't. Worst case is that you dump it. Like Nurmey says, most of us have brewed a bad batch at one time or the other.

Good luck and welcome to the obsession!

Well if I weren't a US resident, I'd take Wade E's suggestion, but that's not allowed, so, cook with it.

Or, do you have pigs by any chance? If you happen to raise pigs, they'll love it, and quite frankly, there's not much on this earth funnier than a drunk pig.

I'll never forget when my granddad fed a couple of barrels of, middle of the hot summer heat, spoiled apples to 2 pigs. He put at least 80 gallons of REALLY foul (and fermented by mother nature) apples into the trough, couple hours later those pigs couldn't walk. Not that they seemed like they cared much, they'd lie there grunting and squealing contently, half heartedly try and get up, fall back over, and keep on enjoying themselves. A neighbor saw them and was like THOSE PIGS ARE DRUNK!!! And seemed somewhat offended somehow.

I can also remember my dad giving pigs beer straight from his can, I forget why he felt this was necessary.

So my vote is, drunk pigs.

Richabt said:

use it for cooking. (i.e. beer batter, etc)

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agree. i think if it's undrinkable, than use it for cooking. that way, it'll get used and not dumped.

yummybeer said:

agree. i think if it's undrinkable, than use it for cooking. that way, it'll get used and not dumped.

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Eh. If I had something that tasted bad (beer or whatever) the last thing I'd be thinking is, "gee, I think I'll add this bad tasting stuff to my food."

StunnedMonkey said:

Eh. If I had something that tasted bad (beer or whatever) the last thing I'd be thinking is, "gee, I think I'll add this bad tasting stuff to my food."

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I dunno, a lot of the stuff I cook with sucks on it's own but once you mix it and add heat, something marvelous happens. For instance, flour, eggs, and raw veal. I wouldn't want any of them as they are, but coat the veal in eggs and flour and then cook it and bam, schnitzel! Or think of vinegar, no one wants to drink vinegar, but how often is it used in your average kitchen?

StunnedMonkey said:

Eh. If I had something that tasted bad (beer or whatever) the last thing I'd be thinking is, "gee, I think I'll add this bad tasting stuff to my food."

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why do you think some people buy cheap crappy beer for cooking?
if you don't want it in your food, than i say set it outside in a bowl for deer or something like that to drink it. that would be kinda funny to see a drunk deer trying to walk.

If you have a smoker, use it in your water pan. I've got a bad batch that's been sitting for months. While better, it's still an effort to drink, especially given all of the good beer I have at the ready. When the weather warms up a bit, some of it is destined for the smoker. I figure the rest will come out toward the end of a barbecue party, so my drunk BMC friends can enjoy it.

yummybeer said:

why do you think some people buy cheap crappy beer for cooking?
if you don't want it in your food, than i say set it outside in a bowl for deer or something like that to drink it. that would be kinda funny to see a drunk deer trying to walk.

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I used to keep MGD64 around for cooking (and moochers).

Have you guys actually cooked with "bad beer" before? In most cases, I've found that the beer is a more subtle flavor. I'd hate to cook with a really great beer, as the qualities that make it a great beer will be overpowered by whatever meat or seasonings I'm cooking with it.

StunnedMonkey said:

Eh. If I had something that tasted bad (beer or whatever) the last thing I'd be thinking is, "gee, I think I'll add this bad tasting stuff to my food."

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Egg phucking Zactly.

WTF??

Sounds like the same people who buy "cooking wine" from the grocery store in the condiment aisle to cook with.

CRAP IN = CRAP OUT>

Grimster said:

Or think of vinegar, no one wants to drink vinegar, but how often is it used in your average kitchen?

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I dunno. Have you ever tasted really good aged balsamic vinegar? I could drink shots of that stuff.

StunnedMonkey said:

I dunno. Have you ever tasted really good aged balsamic vinegar? I could drink shots of that stuff.

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No I haven't, but now I am compelled to. Curiosity killed the cat.

I'm a bit disappointed that nobody has helped the OP with good suggestions for rocket experimentation. I want to see a beer rocket.

Give it to the homeless. They usually have lower standards.
(Im not joking, put in a milk jug or two liter soda bottle)

lowlife said:

Give it to the homeless. They usually have lower standards.
(Im not joking, put in a milk jug or two liter soda bottle)

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Finally! A way for me to blend benevolence and malevolence in one nice easy package!

Edit:- Thanks for the inspiration. Now I'm gonna pee out the flames on that hobo I just set on fire.

Flowers and vegetables and grasses all love beer no matter the taste.
It's full of nutrients plants can use.

Don't use on indoor plants. the fruit flies also love beer.

Grimster said:

No I haven't, but now I am compelled to. Curiosity killed the cat.

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I believe a form of vinegar was the original sports drink. The Roman legions used to drink it while marching.....

Get college kids to use it for beer pong.

We drank Brew City and Jacob's Best in college so whatever you brewed up can't be 1/2 as vile.

Maybe brew a strong fully flavored beer and blend them together, hoping the off flavors will be masked?

You still haven't told us what the bad flavors are. If we knew that it would go a long way in determining what you could do with it. For instance, if the beer is infected, just toss it. But if it's just oxidized I would think you could mask that by blending it. SG? OG? recipe used?

Give it to friends so that they think all of your homebrew sucks, and then they wont beg for more

Or cooking. Beer in ≠ beer flavor out. What kind of beer is it?

Whenever I suggest my guinness burgers to people they go "Eww, I don't like Guinness though." and I'm like "WTF, it doesn't taste like you're biting into a chunk of solid Guinness!"