Infected, to dump or not to dump???

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skeeordye11

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I've got a beer with a blanket of fur on the top of the liquid so I'm pretty sure I've got an infection. Not sure how? It was a stuck fermentation that I racked over onto a cake from a beer that was fine. I guess it had to be the tubing or racking cane? Time for some replacements I guess. Back to the question, if you've ever had an infection, did you go ahead and bottle it or sadly pour it down the drain?
 
If the fermenter isn't going to be used soon, there's little point in dumping it. Just my opinion. Even if it does taste okay, if I detected any sort of off-flavor even close in magnitude to a subtle hop taste, then I would dump it. Not worth the time to bottle something you're probably not going to drink.
 
I'm gonna rack it to secondary and let it hang out and see what it does. Then I can also taste it after some more time and I'm not sick. We'll see what it does. Either way I probably need to place another order and brew it up agian.
 
I'm too lazy to link it but there is an entire thread devoted to never dumping your beer - time heals all things, even beer. I recently had an infected batch that tasted like satans used ****** water but I bottled anyone. I'll forget about the bottles for about a month and see if anything improved. if not I'll still keep them until I absolutely need to use the bottles. don't dump.
 
I'm too lazy to link it but there is an entire thread devoted to never dumping your beer - time heals all things, even beer. I recently had an infected batch that tasted like satans used ****** water but I bottled anyone. I'll forget about the bottles for about a month and see if anything improved. if not I'll still keep them until I absolutely need to use the bottles. don't dump.

If they don't clean up you can always give them to that annoying friend or neighbor to discourage them from constantly mooching your beer.
 
If they don't clean up you can always give them to that annoying friend or neighbor to discourage them from constantly mooching your beer.

Hahaha, thats funny as hell. Unfortunately I tend to follow the homebrewers code, always offer a beer (I guess that would be a beer though). If they dont like it offer them a different one and drink it yourself. I guess its just always nice to have a neighbor or a friend to drink with. And when you offer that first beer give em a small one, some people dont like all beer.
 
Not all infections taste bad. It can be infected but still be drinkable, although with a different taste than the one you were going for.
 
Hahaha, thats funny as hell. Unfortunately I tend to follow the homebrewers code, always offer a beer (I guess that would be a beer though). If they dont like it offer them a different one and drink it yourself. I guess its just always nice to have a neighbor or a friend to drink with. And when you offer that first beer give em a small one, some people dont like all beer.

There's a statute of limitations to the homebrewer's code. If all I have is one batch bottled and ready to go, you can only have so many. I think all I've had out of my current batch is 5 and there are only 8 left. Also, if I have given you a bottle or two and you haven't emptied them in a month or two or aren't crazy about them, give them back.

Might sound a little harsh, but dangit I want to enjoy the fruits of my labor too! The remaining 8 are currently stashed away deep into a closet where no one can find them.
 
Even if it does taste okay, if I detected any sort of off-flavor even close in magnitude to a subtle hop taste, then I would dump it.


*GASP*

This is just so wrong. Taste at week 1 <> Taste at week 2 <> Taste at week 3...

amercuric, take this down before Revvy sees it!
 
I had a contaminated beer only once. I tasted it when racking to secondary. It was smelling like vomit and tasting the same. The moment I had it in my mouth I knew it was contaminated because I had already spit it out. Even if your sick you will taste the contamination. Otherwise, keep it!
 
Well today it looks as though I left the majority of the funk behind. There is a very thin film on the surface of the beer, but as long as it tastes somewhat drinkable I'll probably just try to rack from under the film to the bottling bucket and bottle it up. Even if I end up losing a couple gallons, 3 gallons of drinkable homebrew is better than 5 gallons of waste.
 
You had asked about how it got infected; is there a chance that what got you sick also got the beer sick? I'm just curious if some germies work that way.
 

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