I made a terrible homebrew

[anemic]

A homebrew mentor of mine who kegs, supplied me with hundreds of his dusty bottles (nice buddy eh!) and one case of PET's...which had been used for...root beer. The day prior I had purchased a case of PET's. Paying about $30 (incl caps) for bottles of air makes me like a fool without his money. However it's money well spent if you need to have PET bottles (for boating in this case).

The new PET bottles produced a very fine American wheat beer.

For my second wheat beer recipe I used steeping grains for added flavor, and less hops (lower AA% and less pellets as well). I used the case of USED ex-root beer bottles for some of this recipe, and glass for the balance.

I reconditioned the "root beer" bottles in a sink of bleach water for a week, till that root beer smells were gone (or so it seemed...). Rinsed. Sanitized.

That beer is a throwout while the stuff in the glass is not bad at all. The root beer bottles produced a root beer flavor which is still me 14 hours later. A NASTY root beer flavor. I don't think time will heal this one. I think it's really a pour out. Decanting into a glass doesn't help. Could I donate it to the homeless? Compost? Sadness!!!!

 

[ChshreCat]

Could I donate it to the homeless? Compost? Sadness!!!!

Know any fratboys nearby?

I've read quite a few threads about root beer and it's penetration into plastics and how impossible it is to get rid of.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Yes, rootbeer supplies are to be dedicated to rootbeer only. Lesson learned. +2 on frat guys, Tell them it's a specialty brew and they'll brag to their idiot friends while drinking your abomination.

 

[slomo]

Instead of dumping it or giving it to frat girls, try using it as an after drunk drink...i.e. see if the taste improves after you have had several good HB's in your belly

 

[Arneba28]

Sounds very familiar to my Apfelwien in Pepsi 2 liters...ugh...I feel your pain

 

[ChshreCat]

Instead of dumping it or giving it to frat girls, try using it as an after drunk drink...i.e. see if the taste improves after you have had several good HB's in your belly

Man, I remember doing that. Buying a couple cases of Schmitt or Rainier or something and a six pack of the good stuff. Get a few of the good ones in you to get a buzz going then you don't notice how bad the other crap tastes. Of course, at the time, we thought the "good stuff" was something like Henry's or Lowenbrau.

 

[anemic]

In followup...I have another data point to share.

this recipe was ~Wheat Beer using 1# of steeping grains (1/2# carapils, 1/2# caravienne), 5# Pils Light DME, 1 oz hersbrucker 60 min 1/2 oz saaz 15 mins
11 days in primary then bottled it.
Perhaps I should have either waited a couple more days, or done at least a brief secondary. However it took just over 3 weeks (25 days) to fully condition. En route to fully conditioned, it tasted all manner of rubber tire and what not. It really had me second guessing myself.

Then, boom it was done, and it became awesome when it was done.

That was the glass bottle version. The root beer contaminated PET bottle version? Forever bad.

 

[ChshreCat]

I wonder if they'd be good for boiling brats in or something like that.

 

[davesrose]

Rootbeer wheat beer would be pretty skanky.....but maybe those rootbeer bottles make for good "rootbeer stouts"

 

[HoppyDaze]

use it to for boiling bratworst ...boil for 7 minutes then on the grill for another 7-10 minutes...delicious.

Or yeah, drink it when your drunk and a buzz enhancer