Just dumped 2 cases

2nd batch I ever made--a Cooper's extract kit. Tasted like bandaids and had a gusher problem. I put it aside for 3 months then tried it this weekend and it had gotten much worse.

I'm guessing that the problem was that it was a partial boil and I didn't use sterile water for top up.....it was also an ancient kit that had been sitting on the LHBS's shelf for who knows how long.

Since going AG (full boils) I haven't had any problems like this. I would be more bummed if it weren't a kit and I needed the empty bottles anyway.

Oh well!

bummer man

This sounds like some type of contamination. Unless your water is really bad I would suspect maybe something else. Have your all grain boils been ok? band aid or medicinal smell and taste can be a number of things but this sounds like wild yeast to me..if it got much worse than thats my thought. However I would not rule out your washing techniques either..do you use bleach? and type of cleaning agent/ This can give a medicinal smell and taste as well if residual is on your equipment..

hope future brews are much better..I have only dumped one batch in my life time..this was simply becasue I experiment a bit too much and went over the edge and it just didn't turn out right..so sacraficed it to the ber gods.
J

maltMonkey said:

... I'm guessing that the problem was that it was a partial boil and I didn't use sterile water for top up. ...

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Yup! Usually that's a contamination issue or tannins extracted from the grain husks.

maltMonkey said:

...it was also an ancient kit that had been sitting on the LHBS's shelf for who knows how long. ...

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Probably less of a factor, but it probably didn't help.

I bet it had more to do with the ancient kit than the top-off water, especially if you used the ancient yeast from that kit.


TL

Yeah I mostly blame the age of the kit. I've always been pretty aggressive with my sanitation and haven't changed anything. I thought maybe the top up water might have been a culprit since it's the only batch I've ever done that wasn't a full boil. The batch I dumped was #2, and I just did batch #19 this weekend without any problems in the other 18 batches (although I haven't tasted the last 3 yet).

Lots of things it could have been, but... you know, life's too short to drink crappy beer.

the_bird said:

Lots of things it could have been, but... you know, life's too short to drink crappy beer.

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exactly.

FWIW - I still have my 2 cases of 'bad' medicinal taste beer in the garage. I try one every 2 or 3 weeks.

at bottling time, it was undrinkable. I wouldn't even call it beer.

2 months ago, I was able to make it through half of one, before I said "this suc**" and dumped it.

last month (the last one I tried) - I said "this is swill!" but was able to drink the whole bottle.

Maybe next year, I will decide it's ok. It'll never be a good beer though.

Sorry about your loss. I think mine was due to not rinising the bleach off enough - although it could have been bacterial as well. My switch to star-san has eneded this problem for me...

tranceamerica said:

...Maybe next year, I will decide it's ok. ...

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Note to self...no beer swaps with tranceamerica...

BierMuncher said:

Note to self...no beer swaps with tranceamerica...

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LOL - I wouldn't ask anyone to drink that swill. It's a path I must go alone...

Or you could just throw it out.

I throw out any beer I am not excited to drink, if I need the room. I am not going to drink mediocre beer just because it is beer.

tranceamerica said:

LOL - I wouldn't ask anyone to drink that swill. It's a path I must go alone...

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Been there. I'm still forcing myself to down some old extract CCA's just cuz it seems a shame to toss it.

BierMuncher said:

Been there. I'm still forcing myself to down some old extract CCA's just cuz it seems a shame to toss it.

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I just can't give up. And, I have hope for it one day. And, of course, if I can drink it, the buzz is good & the off aftertaste reminds me to sanitize better next time...:fro:

Ahhh the homebrewer's penance. Where we force ourselves to drink our bad batches as a valuable lesson to do better next time. We've all been there.

I brewed a 45 litre batch of "Band Aid" brew, and I have decided to "Distill" it via freezing. I am filling a 5 litre jug from the keg every day and putting it in the freezer, then extracting the alcohol by dumping it into anothe container.

When I am done with the 45 litre "distill" to probably 10 litres of 40 proof, I will take it to a mate that has a still and turn it into hooch.

I have never reached that extreme.

I have made not great beers but nothing that I could not drink at all.