Dumpers

[AlexKay]

1. Dunkelweizen. My first batch ever, and I used tap water. Mistake. Beer was undrinkable from tannin extraction astringency.
47. Bohemian Pilsner. I went way, way high on my OG, and the beer just tasted overpowering. I suppose I could've drunk it, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it, so I didn't.
65. Fennel pollen stout. When using spices, figure out the amount you need, and then use a fifth of that. This one was a total licorice bomb.
66. Kartoffelbier. I let the mash go for four hours because I just couldn't get anything to extract from the potatoes. Turns out I extracted way too much in the way of potato flavors. <Shudder>. The only batch I've ever dumped before fermentation.
76. Fennel pollen stout. Actually used a fifth of that. Still too much licorice. Undrinkable.
89. Gruit. Turns out I just don't like the taste of yarrow and sweet gale. Like, really don't like.
114. Date porter. This one was just kind of blah; you couldn't taste the added date syrup at all. I suppose I could have stomached this one, but by this point my standards had gone up.
124. Kartoffelbier. You'd think I'd have learned. Nope. This time I used potato flakes instead of cooked potatoes, and this time I fermented the batch. The result was a like a bog-standard light lager, just not as good tasting.
125. Quinoabier. Similar to the second kartoffelbier, this just ended up as a bland, bad lager.
132. Banana stout. I used concentrated banana juice, which ended up contributing sugar and absolutely no flavor. The result was a totally unexceptional stout, and I supposed I could've drunk it, but I didn't.
154. Cherry Gose. This just ... didn't work. It wasn't vile, but it wasn't good.
165. Apricot Rauchbier. If lichtenhainer is drinkable (it is, though it's not for everyone), shouldn't this be ok? No.
178. Ryewine. Used a ton of rye and boiled it down to a gravity of 1.145. Fermented well (yay, Nottingham) and tasted delicious, but poured like motor oil. I'd never really noticed the viscosity of rye, but when it is RYE you can't miss it. Considered serving it as an ice cream topping. Dumped it instead.
186. Peated porter. My first (and last) time trying peat malt. Not for me, nope.
221. Coffee stout. Too much coffee. Remember ... figure out the amount you need, and then use a fifth of that.
223. Forbidden rice lager. The rice has a beautiful purple color. The beer was muddy brown. A mediocre lager with an unappetizing appearance.
227. Pineapple weisse. The tartness and acidity I expected to get from the pineapple failed to materialize, completely.
272. Blonde. Came out very dark; I'm still not entirely sure why. It wasn't terrible tasting, but it had nothing to recommend it.
278. Lavender saison. Felt like breaking into Grandma's house and gobbling her pillow sachets. Note to self: use a fifth of that.

 

[passedpawn]

awesome post.

 

[Kickass]

I love the level of experimentation. Something tells me I’d still have drank about half of those.

My only dumper in 15 years was a Christmas beer with way too much clove. I brewed a second 5 gallon batch of the same beer with no clove, blended the two and it was still disgusting. So I guess that was two dumpers. Lesson learned when brewing with spices.

 

[Rish]

Thanks for this post. Interesting read plus I learned some things. Never heard of lichtenhainer, which sounds like something I'd like to try.
Cheers!

 

[AlexKay]

I love the level of experimentation. Something tells me I’d still have drank about half of those.

My only dumper in 15 years was a Christmas beer with way too much clove. I brewed a second 5 gallon batch of the same beer with no clove, blended the two and it was still disgusting. So I guess that was two dumpers. Lesson learned when brewing with spices.

Only 6 or 7 were truly undrinkable; the others were just bad beers. I do like to experiment, but going back over these reminds me that my failures are nearly all HSV, fruit, or alternative grain, which I suppose makes sense. Let my brewing serve as a warning to others…

 

[AlexKay]

Thanks for this post. Interesting read plus I learned some things. Never heard of lichtenhainer, which sounds like something I'd like to try.
Cheers!

I only made one Lichtenhainer. I used a Grodziskie recipe, but then fermented with Philly Sour. It won a medal. I wonder if that’s because the judges had never had one either, and didn’t know what to do with it.

 

[Sailingeric]

I like to say there are no bad beers but beers I would not drink again, but I have had one that I poured out, a funky saison that that harvested the yeast from a story bought bottle. The first three kegs were great but by the 4th batch the funk had over powered the base yeast and it tastes like how I picture a wet cat peed blanket taste.

 

[JAReeves]

Other than infections (3' stout fountains in the driveway?), I have only dumped my failed spice/xmas beers. Nothing like alcoholic Yankee Candle in a glass. FML.

 

[pvtpublic]

I had a Sahti that I forgot about. I found it a year later and it tasted like a sahti that I poured on a musty basement floor, then drank through a moldy paper straw.
The next was a beer I made with peat malt. This requires no further explanation.
And the last one was a maibock that I decocted....poorly. I just couldn't get it past 1028. I mixed it with a Kölsch and it tasted great, but the Kölsch was so good on its own that it wasn't worth the mix.

 

[matt_m]

I probably dumped 20 or 25 gallons of a hazy IPA this year. One of the kegs a friend who's pretty picky hit pretty hard at a get together but to me it had an off flavor by then.. Some of it I learned is it just isn't going to be great for several weeks but I've been tweaking my process including going to no boil, tweaking the recipe, being fast about kegging after fermentation is complete so it doesn't sit on the dry hop long, and using sulfites as a preservative at kegging. Last keg of the year I knew it was getting old but it was quite drinkable and my brother happily took home a growler that finished off the keg. I did so many brew days of that beer, looking back I didn't have much variety so this year I hope to be a little more diverse, but brew that beer well a couple times.

 

[Kickass]

dumped 20 or 25 gallons of a hazy IPA

Dang, that’s a lot of hops. I get cranky over a couple bucks, I probably would have been forced to find a new favorite style.

 

[matt_m]

Cheaper than cars, boats, motorcycles, etc though.

 

[jrgtr42]

Seems to be a theme of failed peat beers. I had one of those myself - the idea was a smoked dark IPA - used a pound plus of peat malt. Undrinkable. |I found a couple bottles 2 years later, and the peat had faded enough that it was almost drinkable as a smoked porter - the hops were gone also.
One of these years I should revisit the plan with appropriate smoke...

 

[Kickass]

Cheaper than cars, boats, motorcycles, etc though.

Very true.

 

[pvtpublic]

Cheaper than cars, boats, motorcycles, etc though.

Not hookers and blow though, those add up.

 

[Old Medic]

I haven't had to dump one yet, but only done about 40 batches. Had a couple that were iffy on flavor, but still better than a Budlight.
Had one in a plastic bucket that had what looked like mold on it, but My buddy said rack it off, cold crash and try it... it was fine.

 

[Miraculix]

Awesome post .

Made me giggle.

Most of my dumpers had something to do with failed temperature control plus the resulting hangover of death or infections.

But I had the occasional gruit tryout that combined that with the unexpected unpleasantness from herb xyz.

But I'd have never discovered ground ivy ale without it, so at least that's a plus.

 

[hottpeper13]

I (we) had 2 -15 gal barrels get a pelical so I found a friend with a purifier and we ended up with 5 gal of purified rye wine.

 

[aceluby]

All of my dumpers have been trying to make an NA beer. First was a recipe I designed and it was sweet and bitter. Used 1/3 the hops the second time, same result. 3rd time I used the 2nd runnings of another beer, but again used WAY too many hops and was way too yeasty. 4th time I did the same and used 1/3rd the hops again (and less yeast) and while closer, it was still overpoweringly bitter. Now I'm on a break from trying to make this style, but will do it again and only do a whirlpool addition. At least with the second runnings these mistakes only cost a few dollars each.

 

[greywolf]

I dumped a beer kit billed as “ our most popular for 10 years”. Pure grapefruit rind. Choked one down every day for a week and dumped it in the backyard.

 

[BrewZer]

Before you dump a beer, remember: if it's not absolutely vile, smelly, full of chunks, biologically suspect or otherwise undrinkable, beer makes a wonderful cooking medium.

Try a brown ale around a pork butt sometime if you don't believe me.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

One reason I quit brewing was that I had several infections in a row back in the early 2000's. Now I wonder if it was because I used buckets to brew and didn't know scratches harbored bugs.

 

[Squirrels]

The shed beer. It turns out that 50 degree temperature swings results in really bad beer.

It was a saison. It ended up tasting like metallic mango. Just weird.

 

[tdf]

1. Steam Beer. Very early on, extract recipe. I waay underpitched it and then struggled to keep it at a reasonable temperature. Tasted and smelled like straight acetone.
2. Galaxy American Wheat. I had not ground wheat on my own mill before and the efficiency was horrible. That was fine though. What was not fine was that batch of galaxy. Cat pee, rotten fruit, and grapefruit pith
3. English Brown. It was actually fine, I enjoyed quite a few pints but it sat around long enough that I dumped it.
4. Pale Ale with home grown Comet hops. Some people really hate the flavor of Comet. It turns out I am one of them.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I've only had one dumper out of a stitch over 500 batches. It was a lawnmower blonde. I brewed it in the summer and couldn't get the temp down to pitching temps, so I left it overnight before pitching like I had several times before. Overnight turned into 3 weeks. I pitched anyway hoping for the best. Well... it soured. I had about half the keg before I just couldn't stomach any more.

 

[Cameronl]

metallic mango

Metallic Mango is the name of my deathmetal Strawberry Alarm Clock cover band.

 

[AZ Maverick]

I guess that I have been lucky.
I have been brewing beer for almost 30 years and I have never had to dump a batch.
But then again, I have only ever brewed simple ales and lagers (English and German styles) - not much to go wrong.

 

[Worf]

I guess that I have been lucky.
I have been brewing beer for almost 30 years and I have never had to dump a batch.
But then again, I have only ever brewed simple ales and lagers (English and German styles) - not much to go wrong.

Maybe it's the desert? Although I've been at it for 12 yrs, in 5 states... Ive never had to dump a batch. As matter of fact, reading the two forums I joined once coming to AZ (Casa Grande/Coolidge) 3yrs ago I feel truly blessed. If I counted all the serious issues I've had brewing on one hand, I'd have fingers left over.

 

[Christoff]

I ate lavender ice cream once upon a time that tasted like chewing on pot pourri. Never again will I think lavender as an edible item is a good idea.

Batch:

3 - 2-row smash. Fist sip at bottling tasted exactly like the subtle rotten meat bite I ate in Costa Rica and promptly spent 6 days puking at 85 psi. It got dumped immediately.

7 - fennel and black tea hef. I think the tea steeped waaay too long. Still curious about this one though

8 - mango hef. Tasted watered down but I kept it. Actually got better with time. I tried to hold on but my brewing got better so I passed it up every time I hit the fridge. Just had my first bottle bomb so down the drain they went.

11 - bud light replica lager with kveik. I used old, repitched kveik yeast that I didn’t do a starter with. This was purely as an experimentation. (I made bud light for as a gift for a friend and didn’t want 5 gallons of it so I play with a few). I now know what sweaty goat tastes like.

15 - nut brown. This beer was good but I messed up on bottle day and mistakingly doubled the priming sugar and missed the sugar in my wit. Needless to say the nut brown turned into geisers. This wasn’t an intentional dump, but I had to open three to get a full beer. My 22 oz bottles would hit 2.5 feet at peak explosion. It was quite the sight, and also very sad.