Blending Beer

[Weezknight]

Okay, so I'm officially chalking my ESB up as a loss. I undercarbed it, and the chlorine in my tap water has left a terrible "plastic" taste in the background. When you burp you can taste the plastic.

I'm of the opinion that I will NEVER dump any of my batches, so I'm thinking of blending it with commercial brew when I drink it. Any suggestions on how to do this?

Should I:
A) Pick up some cheap BMC to mix with it?
B) Pick up something that matches the style? (Another type of ESB)

Any input is appreciated. I want to get this mess out of here, since I'm doing a Dunkelweizen next week.

ETA: Also, has anyone had experience with the chlorine causing the plastic taste? Should I set some aside to see if they ever get better?

 

[AnOldUR]

I'm of the opinion that I will NEVER dump any of my batches . . .

C) Loose this opinion. If it's bad, dump it.

Personally, I don't make beer so that I can drink beer. If that were the reason it would be a lot easier to just buy it. I make beer to see how good of a product I can produce. Finding a way to force down a sub-par beer makes no sense to me. Dump it and learn from your mistakes.

 

[AshtrayDinner]

Stout is a good bet.

Stout + pale ale equals a pretty good mix, and the stout will help cover flaws in the pale ale better than BMC or anything light.


IMHO people on this site will often suggest never dumping beer if it spoils. I generally disagree. I had three batches of beer spoil this winter. If I hadn't dumped them and started from scratch, all my kegs would be full of sour beer I can't stand drinking.

Instead I have 2 kegs of delicious stout ready for st pats.

Bleach can cause strong off flavors if not rinsed VERY thoroughly. I can't recommend Star San, or some other brewery specific cleaner enough.

 

[Weezknight]

Stout is a good bet.

Stout + pale ale equals a pretty good mix, and the stout will help cover flaws in the pale ale better than BMC or anything light.


IMHO people on this site will often suggest never dumping beer if it spoils. I generally disagree. I had three batches of beer spoil this winter. If I hadn't dumped them and started from scratch, all my kegs would be full of sour beer I can't stand drinking.

Instead I have 2 kegs of delicious stout ready for st pats.

Bleach can cause strong off flavors if not rinsed VERY thoroughly. I can't recommend Star San, or some other brewery specific cleaner enough.

Yeah I use StarSan, so I know the taste didn't come from bleach. The only thing I did differently with the ESB than from my previous batches was use my tap water (unboiled, d'oh!) instead of all bottled water. I threw the recipe together at the last minute. You can taste and smell the chlorine in our water, and it just never crossed my mind.

Interesting that the first 2 replies said to dump it. I thought HBT was a "dump-free" zone.

 

[152Sumo]

I say give blending a shot. Why not?

 

[3bals]

Why not blend? Yuengling blends their Black & Tan. Porter/Pilsner, 60/40

 

[l1ranger]

give it a shot.

get a couple stouts, porters, IPAs, whatever and see if somethign works.

if nothing works, oh well. but if you find somethign that does. thats a bingo

 

[dcp27]

I guess no harm in blending it with a bottle of something commercial. In most issues of yankee brew news they try to make some ****ty beer drinkable by mixing in a range of other beers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes it worse. If you need the bottles/keg though I'd toss it

 

[brewagentjay]

It's your beer if you want to blend then go ahead. Some on here say never dump a bad batch some I guess now say dump. If the beer is sour or skunked then dump but if it's just a flawed fresh batch I say see what you can do to fix it which is also part of the learning process. If you dump/blend it all then you might not be able to go back and re-taste to compare as you work out the process issue.

 

[the_Roqk]

If you don't like the taste then dump it. If you are up to experimentation then buy something you'd think you'd like and give it a try.

 

[152Sumo]

I would have never thought of it until I read Papazian's Microbrewed Adventures. There was a section where he wrote about a pub in California that specialized in making mixed beers.

I had an ipa the other day (usually my favorite) that was almost too hoppy. I got a natural light from the fridge and mixed. Turned out awesome. Refreshing AND hoppy. I will keep an open mind about it from now on.

 

[kanzimonson]

I also claim to be in the "never dump anything" camp, but you'll find you have less of a problem with it if you hold onto those crappy beers as good homebrew accumulates around it... then you realize you're always making the decision to drink something else. And if you're never going to drink something, it's as if it doesn't exist anyways.

You can also give it to some of your friends who don't care what they drink...