beer can die.

[yeasty]

lots of threads about what damage folks have done and still had a drinkable brew. what about the thread about what you have done that DECIDEDLY killed your brew ?

i'll go first.

i aerated about two gallons of beer as i transfered to the bottle bucket. (i forgot what i was doing...i usually bottle a batch and brew a batch on the same day). its been in the bottle over 3 weeks and still has a horrible off flavor that has not diminished over time (tastes like a bad wheat beer). this batch i fear is a goner.

next ?

 

[IrregularPulse]

nope, sorry you're the only one!

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Give your beer longer to age and see how it turns out in a few months.

Copy/paste post and link to follow...

 

[yeasty]

i have read the threads. i know time may help this one. however if you saw how frothy those first two gallons were and tasted what i have once a week for three weeks you would not have much hope.

AND the other point of the thread was to coax some actual mistakes that resulted in bad batches out of members. was hoping to see how far the envelope can be pushed on "mistakes". maybe there is already a thread on a subject.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I forgot what I was doing once just like you. Luckily, I did it the other way around and was trying to avoid getting oxygen into the transfer of cooled wort from BK to fermenter. No real harm done there, just took forever to start fermentation. It's surprising how easy it is to have a brain fart like that though!

 

[Revvy]

AND the other point of the thread was to coax some actual mistakes that resulted in bad batches out of members. was hoping to see how far the envelope can be pushed on "mistakes". maybe there is already a thread on a subject.

Sorry, but we don't go there here....we don't dwell on producing fear in the noobs about brewing....Besides, there's even threads on here by people who have intentionally tried to ruin there beer, and STILL the mofo survived....Becasue that's the truth of the matter...it is Really Really Rare that "Your beer can die. Despite what you may think....

This is the closest you'll get.....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/has-anyone-ever-messed-up-batch-96644/

But even then...Like I said there...

So all you new brewers lurking on this thread with nervous and baited breath (and I know this is probably getting a HUUUUGE amount of views by you Christmas Present Brewers)...I hope you realize that...

It is really UNLIKELY that the batch you just brewed with your BRAND NEW and sanitized equipment more than likely (99%) will not be infected.

And unless you did some crazy a$$ stuff like we did,.there is a greater than 90% chance you beer won't be RUINED.

AND if it tastes funny, there is AT LEAST a 50% chance (more than likely greater) that if you leave you beer alone in the bottles for a few months it will turn out anywhere from GREAT to surprisingly drinkable...(IF you dump your batch there is a 100% chance you will never know...so the odds are better if you leave it alone.)

And finally SOMETHING WILL INEVITABLY GO WRONG...and so what, you learn from it, you commiserate with your friends about it, you laugh about...and you move on!!!



And that's why we with experience tell you all NOT to worry...because the ODDS ARE IN YOUR FAVOR that everything REALLY IS FINE!

There's more proof that our beer is hardier than most noobs think it is...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

Like Ohio said...betcha in a few months your "dead" beer will taste just fine...if not you are one of the exceptions, and NOT the rule...

 

[yeasty]

information = power

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Sorry, but we don't go there here....

Oh come on revvy!! We can go there if we want! As Yeasty said:- Information = power.

Let's not plant a rose garden in a thistle bed without removing the thistles first. (Where the hell did that analogy come from? I have too much stuff in my ass that needs pulling out!)

 

[Revvy]

information = power

That's what we said...there's plenty of info on here that PROVES how hard it is to kill your beer.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

That's what we said...there's plenty of info on here that PROVES how hard it is to kill your beer.

But it's not IMPOSSIBLE to kill your beer. That seemed to be the point of the post. Oxidizing your beer is a really bad idea!

 

[yeasty]

dont get me wrong. this amber ale that prompted the post will age before i give up on it. it got me wondering about the tried and true ways to kill a perfectly good brew (and i mean un-drinkable dead)

 

[remilard]

That's what we said...there's plenty of info on here that PROVES how hard it is to kill your beer.

If you keep jumping on people who post a dissenting opinion, some may wonder if all of that info is painting an accurate story.

 

[llazy_llama]

I have too much stuff in my ass that needs pulling out!

Man, that sounds painful. Good luck with that.

 

[cytokine]

The question of what is drinkable becomes important here.

I have produced two batches (my first two) and I consider neither of them to be drinkable. Yet.

Time will heal both of them. Never mind the fact that I have already drunk most of my first batch. In retrospect it was undrinkable. I will likely never know how good it might have become because there are only three bombers left and they will probably go down before they become the rhapsodic liquid that so many on this forum rave about.

The second batch continues to improve every time I sample it. Would I choose it first over some of my favorite commercially available microbrews. Not a chance. Yet.

I have put the remaining dozen bombers on the bottom of a growing pile of cases that I am producing.

I am currently brewing a fair amount of beer (5 gallons a week) and yet the pipeline has not reached maturity. Hence, to date, all of what I have produced is undrinkable.

Is any of what I have produced dead? Probably not. Time will heal this beer. The graybeards on this forum have deemed that it will all become wonderful so onto the stack the new cases go.

I believe what I have read, that it is hard to kill your beer and that your beer will not die. Whether you think it is wonderful is up to you. However, it will be beer and it will be good. Whether you prefer it to all other beers is a personal matter, but it will be beer. It will be drinkable. It will not die.

Dancing Banana.

 

[llazy_llama]

Dancing Banana indeed.

My first batch sat in the bottles for a week before I decided to jump the gun and toss a bottle in the fridge. When I tasted it... well, imagine if club soda came in "beer flavored." Yeah, not so appealing. I pretty much did everything wrong that can possibly be done wrong, short of actually releasing bodily fluids into the fermentor.

Few weeks later, it tasted just fine. We've all read about infection, bottle bombs, broken carboys, autolysis, etc... How many of us have actually experienced them? I'm sure if we took a poll the numbers would be pretty small. I would also guess that most of the time they come during that "100th hour," when people are confortable enough in their process to get complacent and make big mistakes.

Remember, the most seasoned brewer amongst us has >60 years experience. The yeast have been doing their thing for around 5000 years now. They know their stuff. No need to make a big scare thread.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Maybe the thread title was a bad idea. No, oxidizing your beer will NOT kill it to the extent that it will actually die. However, it WILL be sufficiently nasty as to never be particularly drinkable.

 

[McNasty]

I had a beer that "soured". If I had to guess, I would blame my plastic bucket because it is very old and probably scratched. I decided to use it again in case it was just bad sanitation on my part. Sure enough, soured another batch. If I was smart, which I'm not, I would have replaced the bucket on my hunch. I've made other beers that turned out fine using other fermentation vessels, so I can't really blame any of my other equipment. I bought a 6 gallon better bottle with a brew happily fermenting away in it. Moral of the story is, it's better to replace cheap equipment than ruin another batch.

 

[cytokine]

Dancing Banana indeed.

My first batch sat in the bottles for a week before I decided to jump the gun and toss a bottle in the fridge. When I tasted it... well, imagine if club soda came in "beer flavored." Yeah, not so appealing. I pretty much did everything wrong that can possibly be done wrong, short of actually releasing bodily fluids into the fermentor.

Few weeks later, it tasted just fine.

I am still dwelling on the definition of 'just fine'.

My first two batches were bottled after a week (per kit instructions) and for 5 and 6 weeks they have been bottle conditioning. I still don't like them and I think what I'm tasting is "green". This raises the question of how much longer one must bottle condition to make up for violating the 1-2-3 rule.

However, in bottling my second batch, an American Pale Ale, I stirred the bottling sugar into it fairly vigorously and aerated the beer. Likely then I am mistaking greenness for oxidation.

Like you, I introduced no bodily fluids. I have lately been wondering how to personalize my beers. This might be over the line.

I stand by my Dancing Banana. I like the sentiment but find the emoticon distracting.

 

[llazy_llama]

I am still dwelling on the definition of 'just fine'.

My first two batches were bottled after a week (per kit instructions) and for 5 and 6 weeks they have been bottle conditioning. I still don't like them and I think what I'm tasting is "green". This raises the question of how much longer one must bottle condition to make up for violating the 1-2-3 rule.

However, in bottling my second batch, an American Pale Ale, I stirred the bottling sugar into it fairly vigorously and aerated the beer. Likely then I am mistaking greenness for oxidation.

Like you, I introduced no bodily fluids. I have lately been wondering how to personalize my beers. This might be over the line.

I stand by my Dancing Banana. I like the sentiment but find the emoticon distracting.

For me, "just fine," meant that it was my first batch, it was a Mr Beer kit, and I used that friggin "booster." It was technically beer, in the sense that Rosie O'Donnel is technically a woman.

 

[flyangler18]

Fact: oxidation flavors worsen with time. The usual maxim of 'time heals all' oft repeated here doesn't apply. If the off-flavors that you are experiencing are indeed oxidation due to aeration from a sloppy transfer, then you might have to chalk it up to a lost batch.

However, self-diagnosis of off-flavors is tricky business if you're not sufficiently versed in the language describing those flavors as opposed to the greenness of a young beer. There's no definitive answer here, because none of us here have sampled the beer in question (or are many of us BJCP judges); if you can get it to a BJCP judge in your area or even an LHBS that you trust, that might confirm your suspicions.

I'll leave the decision on this one up to you. If you feel compelled to dump, save a 6'er or so for evaluation a few months down the road.

Some comments,
Jason

 

[Dennis1979]

I ruined my first batch of beer. I did several things wrong so I am not sure which mistake to blame the most. I won't go into all the details but I will say that age did improve the flavor somewhat. It was drinkable and I would have been happy to slide one in now and then, but the real problem is that there was some sort of crazy alcohol in there or god knows what. I would drink one bottle (16oz) and all seemed normal at first but about 30 minutes later I felt like, well I can't explain it but not good. And it would give me headache for a day or longer that extreme doses of Advil and Tylenol couldn't even phase. I became scared to death to even take a sip of the stuff so I wrote it off to learning and poured it out.

Thankfully, I have learned a lot and all of my beer since then has been great but I almost gave up the homebrewing hobby before it really began. The basic problem was just lack of knowledge and having this site has made all the difference in getting it right subsequently.

Side note; now the mistakes I make are just stupid and at least I understand the consequences. For instance, I have a batch of Dortmunder going and recently when I went to take a gravity reading, I accidentally got about 2 drops of un-sanitized tap water in the bucket. I won't go into how this bonehead thing happened but the potential problem is compounded by the fact that my dog might, I say might, have drank from the source of that tap water. So if I'm going to get an infection, this ought to be the one.

Dennis

 

[yeasty]

Maybe the thread title was a bad idea. No, oxidizing your beer will NOT kill it to the extent that it will actually die. However, it WILL be sufficiently nasty as to never be particularly drinkable.

not asking about this batch in particular. i will judge for myself in a few more weeks. really i was expecting a few members would have stories about fatal mistakes they have made. i did not want to upset new brewers. or the forum at large. i KNOW there have to be a few stories about the grim reaper visiting a few batches.

i also was thinking of starting a thread about when waiting is NOT good for the home brewer and haste is a must.

like when chilling wort.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

not asking about this batch in particular. i will judge for myself in a few more weeks. really i was expecting a few members would have stories about fatal mistakes they have made. i did not want to upset new brewers. or the forum at large. i KNOW there have to be a few stories about the grim reaper visiting a few batches.

i also was thinking of starting a thread about when waiting is NOT good for the home brewer and haste is a must.

like when chilling wort.

I agree. Not all threads should be just about how everything will turn out fine. There are things we can do to really crap on our beer that should be pointed out.

 

[Schlenkerla]

not asking about this batch in particular. i will judge for myself in a few more weeks. really i was expecting a few members would have stories about fatal mistakes they have made. i did not want to upset new brewers. or the forum at large. i KNOW there have to be a few stories about the grim reaper visiting a few batches.

i also was thinking of starting a thread about when waiting is NOT good for the home brewer and haste is a must.

like when chilling wort.

I'm guessing you where thinking about DO's & DON'Ts

AKA - Rookie Mistakes.

 

[yeasty]

i am like the earlier poster who has been busy producing cases of beer that need to age. i dont want to think that i am producing case after case of crappy beer. i am eager to learn all i can about extract brewing before moving on to all grain. i am very curious about the tolerance of home brew for mistakes and what the results are. at around 40.00 a pop to brew a batch i need to get this perfect or i am not interested. i know it sounds bad but if i cant equal or better commercial brews i am out of this hobby.....i find i learn much much much more from my mistakes than from doing it right. if i have an off flavor i want to know why,,,if my beer could taste better i want to know how.

 

[yeasty]

I'm guessing you where thinking about DO's & DON'Ts

AKA - Rookie Mistakes.

no, i want to know the WHYs and HOWs

AKA - "higher learning"

 

[cytokine]

For me, "just fine," meant that it was my first batch, it was a Mr Beer kit, and I used that friggin "booster." It was technically beer, in the sense that Rosie O'Donnel is technically a woman.

My first batch was also from the Rosie O'Donnel school. The second, who knows.

FlyAngler is spot on about diagnosing off flavors. I know what good beer tastes like but have no experience with diagnosing what may have been my brewing mistakes.

This forum is exceedingly helpful. The more I read the better my technique has become. I am learning from what I believe are my mistakes and I am confident that batch #3 and onward will be good to very good.

 

[Dennis1979]

i am like the earlier poster who has been busy producing cases of beer that need to age. i dont want to think that i am producing case after case of crappy beer. i am eager to learn all i can about extract brewing before moving on to all grain. i am very curious about the tolerance of home brew for mistakes and what the results are. at around 40.00 a pop to brew a batch i need to get this perfect or i am not interested. i know it sounds bad but if i cant equal or better commercial brews i am out of this hobby.....i find i learn much much much more from my mistakes than from doing it right. if i have an off flavor i want to know why,,,if my beer could taste better i want to know how.

What I have learned, in my limited experience, is that you can brew great beer at home. Whether it is equal to commercial, as one threshold, or better, as another threshold, I think is for you to decide. But I have learned that you can definitely brew high quality beer at home with basic equipment. For instance, I recently brewed a brown ale that I just love. I'm really juiced about this one because it doesn't taste like anything commercial that I have ever had. It's different and as far as I know, there is only one place to get it and that's to make it. The other thing to consider, I am told, is that as you learn more about brewing, you are able to make changes to get closer to the taste you want and that, I know, can only come with time.

Dennis

 

[Schlenkerla]

no, i want to know the WHYs and HOWs

AKA - "higher learning"

I think that comes about of the "Don't do this." Like I learned this from a mistake. Now I do this... and so on...

Prime example. Moving to 6 gal batches. I wanted to yield 5 gallons so I tried getting as much beer out of primary/secondary as possible but I wound up getting alot of extra sediment. Now with six gallons I can leave some beer behind and not get the sediment but still get 5 gallons.

Not mention with 6 gallons doing AG if I have a bad mash I can boil down abit to get more original gravity without having to add DME.

I think the best fundamental learning comes from reading a few books. You get a good foundation of what works best.

There is NO DOUBT that you can make better beer than what you can buy. People don't do this to save money. In fact it can cost more than the standard beer. The thing with home brewing is that you can make stuff that you can't buy or is very rare. Like a good IPA made with Summit.

 

[Jester369]

Learning from what went wrong can be just as important as talking about how to do it right. I have killed a batch or two, but both involved severe negligence on my part - forgot they were waiting in primary and left them for MONTHS. One smelled like paint thinner, the other less so but pretty stank. I was pretty bummed when I discovered those two carboys.