How many bad batches have you really had?

I'm a brand new brewer and most of what I read is about sanitition, sanitation, sanitation. So I'm good n paranoid and have taken all the proper precautions with both of my batches thus far. I will always take the proper steps to ensure sanitation, but I'm purely curious...how many bad batches of beer have you more experienced brewers really had...maybe a percentage? I'm not talking faint little off flavors, I'm talking crazy wild yeast infected undrinkable puke brew!

In five years of brewing I've had 1 batch spoil on me. I've brewed probably around 55 - 60 batches. And the one that went south wasn't a function of poor sanitation as it was me waiting too long to bottle it. It was a low ABV (2%) Kvass with very little hops. And that low of alcohol just doesn't keep as long as others. That and hardly having any hops in it didn't help (hops help keep out bad bacteria).

1 batch of beer that I wouldn't serve to others.. It's moderately drinkable now, after conditioning 2+ months.. 1 batch of apfelwein that I dumped... I've probably brewed 30+ batches..

One extract kit I made last year was not so pleasant. I have tried one bottle every month for over a year, and it still has a real nasty 'metallic' taste. I don't think it was my copper wort chiller either.

I've had three dumps out of 80+ batches in the last 4 years. Burned one (don't ask), I used old weak yeast in one, and I had a bad packet of notty in one.

The first batch I ever made has been my only crummy one. The beer itself wasn't bad, but I used carb tablets that came with a kit...needless to say the entire batch turned out completely flat.

in 3 years I have had zero bad brews. my motto is clean,clean,clean...then sanitze.

On my second brew I got a little crazy and tried making a lemon ale using zested lemons. Well, on top of other mistakes I probably made, the zest quantity or quality destroyed the flavor of this beer. It tasted like JOY dishsoap with alcohol in it. It's still sitting in a keg for the past 6 months with the hopes of it calming down, but I doubt it. I'm going to check it again soon and then dump if no improvement.

I've had two infected batches in 10 years of brewing. They weren't undrinkable, but I wouldn't serve them to friends. That was also before I used StarSan. Back then I used bleach per Mr. Papazian.

I've had two that I over-sparged and got a lot of tannins. That is not pleasant. I also had one beer that I put bad yeast in, the starter smelled bad but I didn't have any other yeast so I went with it. Bad call; bad yeast=bad beer. I also tried a sour mash once and lets just say that was the worst smelling thing ever. I did taste it, unfortunately. I don't think I had the best approach on the sour mash so I can believe others have done this with more success.

4 bad batches in a little over 13 years. Two of those were green apple flavored (a kolsh and a brown ale), a wheat that ended up a little sour, and I had a pilsner that I used bad yeast in and it tasted awful.

nothing has ever been "infected" and gotten moldy/slimy/weird or anything. my problems have been with fermentation temps or length and yeast (except that wheat... not sure what happened to it.)

No infections in three or four years. But plenty of crappy beer - underattenuated, waaaay unbalanced, weird flavors, etc, etc

Sort of like Mountain Biking. If you don't come home cut and/or bruised, you didn't try hard enough. If all my batches always come out great, I haven't been experimenting enough.

One moderately undrinkable and one slightly undrinkable in 23 batches. i think lack of patience was the culprit both times. Have to learn the hard way

I had two bad batches probably about a year after I started brewing. I decided it was coming from a transfer hose that didn't dry and got mold in it or in a bottling spiggot. Back then I used to sanatize with Idophor but did not really do a good job of cleaning or drying my hoses.

I now soak everything in bleach constantly. I have a cooler that is always filled with bleach water. If a hose or spigot is not in use, it is submerged. If a bucket is empty of beer, it is filled with bleach water until the next use.

I've brewed 17 batches in 6 months and haven't had a failure. I use only baking soda for sanitization, it's cheap, rinse free and works great!!!

0 and I use bleach and vinegar to sanitize GASP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over three years, around 50 batches, no bad ones yet (knock on wood).

Shoot, you guys are much better brewers than me. I honestly don't remember my early years all that well (1998-2003) but I definitely had more bad batches than you guys are talking about, not to mention the average/poor quality of the beer, at least in first year. I'd guess I had 5-10 bad batches/infections in my first 50 batches. Once I started using StarSan that really dropped off.

Since I picked things up again in 2007 I've had a couple of bad batches, maybe 2 out of 30? Although only a few were really BAD, I've still dumped quite a bit of beer. I'm pretty picky about the beer I drink. Even now that my brewing and process has come so far, I still dump probably 15-20% of the beer I brew. If the beer I make isn't up to the quality of beer that I would buy, I usually dump it.

I just dumped 20 gallons a few weeks ago, a dry stout which was a little too astringent and a Rauchbier that had some fermentation off flavors from a higher temp ferment. I have 10 gallons of mild that I'm considering dumping. It's a pretty clean beer, but it's just not as malty as I wanted. I just don't have any qualms about dumping beer I don't like drinking.

no dumpers here, 1 oxidized, 1 got a funky flavor from scented dish soap and 1 bad recipe. I drank them all happily though. I liked blending my oxidized batch with other brews.

I've had a couple bad batches flavor-wise and only one infection. All three were related to mistakes in process or decisions that I made.

However, I am very diligent about my sanitation and doing a lot of research before I try anything out so I do my best to produce the best beer possible. While statistically you could probably get away with slacking off on sanitation, processes, etc. and still have most batches turn out ok but the first really bad batch or the first infection you see will really make you regret spending the time and money to produce five gallons of something disappointing.

I've had four batches that I thought were really awful, in 8 years of brewing. Of those 4, there were 2 that other people seemed to really like..

Of the two that really, truly sucked, one involved a botched mash that led to a cloudy nasty beer, and one was just kind of a goofy idea I had involving a bottle of maple syrup. Both were still drinkable -- just not really enjoyable.

I have yet to run into anything that I could attribute to anything growing in my brew, though...

So far I've only had one batch that I considered undrinkable. I was trying to make a CDA with a huge OG before I properly understood how to use yeast.

Like ksbrain said, no undrinkable brews. Unique tasting beers yes, undrinkable, no. The problem was ooolllddd Mr. Beer ingredients. I did have my first (and only) batch of graff that I dumped, after four liters...

my first kit (coopers Australian lager) I considered undrinkable. not one of those beers got dumped though, my bmc friends loved them. At a new BOP place that opened up down the street I made a SN celebration ale clone that was total sh#t. undrinkable doesn't even describe it, might be good on a salad though - taste like vinegar.

Two years 25+ batches, only one problematic brew an attempt @ a Maibock (BB kit w/lager yeast). I'm not sure what happened, it didn't want to finish, 8 weeks in the primary @ 50 degrees and still going strong. I ended up with two cases of gushers.

I've been brewing for 4 years now and just had my first bad batch. It still may be savable so I'm aging it. But the only reason it is bad is my fault. It was a water issue which I had full control over. I've brewed consistently over my first two years and didn't start keeping track until two years ago when I started brewing almost every other weekend, so I'd say I'm around 60 - 70 batches and there has only been one that has been bad and it was my fault.

I've had a few dumpers, some recipe problems, other just brewer stupidity.

Dumped two porters because I found the Molasses I added was way way too strong. Unfortunately, I brewed a second batch of the recipe before I realized how strong that molasses flavor was. Stupid brewer for not waiting on the rebrew.

I dumped an IPA that I'd dry hopped. Unfortunately the hops were just too old for a dryhop, and the flavor was really really bad. Stupid brewer for using them!

Finally, I really oxidized a keg when I forgot to purge the headspace before putting it in the cooler. After a few weeks, it was just undrinkable.

Oh yeah, I made a Date syrup adjunct + extract experiment, took awhile to finish that 5 gal. batch...I'm still interested in a barley/date beer, Egyptian/Middle Eastern, maybe in my next life.

over 1.5 years:

one infection
one ESB was excellent at the beginning then got really....stale? anyway, it got bad as i got near the end of the keg.
current ESB blew from the beginning, used some pretty old hops......my bad.

maybe 2-3 others that i didn't care for but other people liked.


man....i make some crap beer.....

Jawbox0 said:

Finally, I really oxidized a keg when I forgot to purge the headspace before putting it in the cooler. After a few weeks, it was just undrinkable.

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Really? So far I have kegged just one batch and also forgot to purge the headspace... it's been in the keg for about 2 months now and still tastes great, perhaps just a bit overcarbonated, but that has nothing to do with purging I guess.

My first all grain batch was a disaster. I had a bunch of friends over and I wasn't keeping track of time (mash time and hop addition times were off and I forgot the adjuncts). Then I let it ferment a little warm. It was horrible! Dumped it after a couple pints.

Then I did an experimental porter where I split it up with different flavor additions. The orange chocolate porter was just nasty.

I have never had an infected one, just some that I don't really care for that much

Never had an infection. Some that weren't so good, but other people liked. I'm about a year in now.

Just had my first infection 2 batches ago. It was an experimental Rye Pale Ale.
I've also brewed a couple batches I didn't care for... The main one being a blueberry wheat with 4 lbs of fresh blueberries. Tasted more like blueberry wine.

Out of 54 batches, I have had three that had to be poured out. This was due to infections, or bad fermentation.

Also, I have had a couple that I simply did not like. Those, I bottled and gave away as gifts. There was nothing really "wrong" with those batches, they just did not come out the way I wanted and I did not like them. I generally have 40 or 50 gallons kegged, so I don't drink the beer I don't really like.

The people I gave them to professed to LOVE them.

To each his own...

I had a Pilsener that fermented too high once. I tried to drink it but about half way through I just gave up and pitched it. It gave terrible hangovers (fusels) and it had an awful fruitiness to it. I had a Stout I made about 6 years ago that was crazy. It was kind of a Imperial Chocolate Oatmeal monstrosity. I never threw it out and I didn't touch it for 3 years. I drink a bottle every couple of weeks. It's really starting to get good now.

There are no bad batches, only underconditioned or unblended batches.

I've had a couple of bad batches that I think we're related to dirty kegs. They came out with an acrid flavor that bordered on metallic taste. That was back in the 90's when I used diluted chlorine to sanitize.

PBW and Starsan are a god send.