The worst beer I've ever tasted...

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nefarious_1_

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Recently, a friend of mine told me someone he knew at work wanted to start homebrewing after tasting a few of the beers I made. I guess they really make it around :)
A few weeks passed and the other night my friend calls me up and told me to stop by so we can taste his friend's beer. It was a brown ale, a kit brew from what I understand, and we all agreed (myself and two friends, the brewer wasn't there) it was the most disgusting thing we've ever tasted.
First off, it didn't look like a brown ale at all. To me, it resembled the color, clarity, and consistency of iced tea. It was WAAAAAY undercarbonated and it smelled like canned peas! I'm not even kidding. The 3 of us all picked up on it at the same time and agreed on the smell. The taste was aweful. I felt like I was drinking the water from a can peas. There was absolutely no identifiable hops or malt taste: it was undrinkable.
I've never had an infection and I've only smelled faint DMS on one occassion, somewhat resembling vegetables but much more like corn. My initial reaction to the smell and taste was thinking that it was a severe DMS problem. However, after doing a bit of research I'm thinking it was an infection. Can anyone shed any light as to what the problem is? I looked in all my books and none of them talk about a "canned pea" resemblance. I'm sure he's going to be asking what I thought in a couple days and I'd like to give him some advice. He obviously needs to do some homework before his next batch...
 
Any medicinal/musty tastes? Could be he didn't boil long enough. It does sound like DMS and maybe an infection, although the smell of DMS is usually compared to canned corn...
 
You're right in thinking it's probably an infection. A lot of times it's more of a rotten vegetable taste. Without knowing his process, it's hard to tell where the problem came though but it's most definitely in sanitation. I'd suggest sitting in on making a batch with him and give him pointers throughout.
 
One other thought is if it came in a kit, and it was old...you can get that veggie taste. If he's got an infection...tell him to try making a starter about 5-7 days before pitch date. It'll give the yeast a much better fighting chance.
 
I wouldn't say medicinal, but the taste was a bit musty. I'm guessing he didn't steep long enough or at a very low temperature and he didn't boil long enough judging by the clarity, lack of body, and complete lack of any hops or malt flavor. Like I said, it resembled iced tea. That's probably just the beginning of the equation because that aroma must be from an infection...
 
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