Do you drink your bad batches?

[DrunkleJon]

questionable ingredients? Like second hand malts, washed hops, toilet water, and bread yeast? Inquiring minds want to know

 

[Stauffbier]

If a few months of conditioning doesn't improve it, down the sink it goes!

 

[diptherunner]

I have a case of cider that is too dry and has an off taste that is almost artificial tasting. I can drink one every few weeks. At this rate, I'll have it forever. I made great labels for it too! Bummer

 

[Fastmetal]

I've dumped 2 batches. One was an IPA that I screwed the mash up somehow and it just made super hoppy bitter watery beer. The other was a lemon lime Hefe that was just nasty nasty nasty with too much lemon lime mixed with skunky beer. I let both sit for a couple of months before dumping.

 

[Brulosopher]

I give it to friends and family, liberally

 

[Mlee]

My brew partner and I had a couple of our early batches to sour due to infection. We decided to try cooking with them and that has turned out to be a very suitable way to use bad beer. Might want to try it out

 

[Gixxer]

I keep bad batches. I sample them over time and take notes on how it changes. I try to absorb as much knowledge as possible so I can either 1. Make better beer... Or 2. Better understand why the batch is bad and know what to expect if I do pack it away for any length of time or not make that mistake again.

 

[Stauffbier]

I only typically make a bad batch if I;
- Ferment too hot (which is no longer a problem since I built my ferm chamber a few months ago)
- Get too crazy with the experimenting (this is usually the number one reason for my bad batches)

I try not to experiment too much these days, unless it's somethng I feel very confident will work. I will admit that experimenting has cost me a few batches, but it taught me a lot about what not to do when making beer. So, I consider the money lost as "beer school tuition".

 

[FATC1TY]

I've got 2 batches.. my first two that were okay, but not something I wanted to drink often at all. I still have them bottled, back when I bottled, and when I was learning the process.. One was an Arrogant Bastard clone and another was an XPA.


The first batch I dumped was a recent Brown Ale.. Fermented too high I think, I added too much maple syrup.. It was a mess that I just didn't like drinking. Had a fake cherry flavor to it for some reason that I just couldn't stomach. Had like 8 pints and dumped it to move it out for something else that needed in the kegerator.

The other batch was one that hurt... I tried to drink it.. It was a great huge IPA, made with nothing but whole cones.. Citra, Amarillo, Cascade... man it was good.. Until I was dry hopping and a SS hose clamp that wasn't all SS apparently( the screw ), fell in there from the PVR that was holding my hop bag in the keg while it carb'd.

It tasted like a rusted mess. Like licking a penny that had corroded in a fountain if I knew it that tasted like. It was terrible.. I sat on it, and sat on it, and it never changed. Dumped it to make room. That one was the one that hurt. But I figured I was drinking heavy metal, and it wasn't a good idea to go through it.

 

[TriggerFingers]

Of course....I mean it is really hard to screw up beer, but every time you crack one you will think about what you did wrong. I made an IPA once (dry hopped with 2 oz of Palisades....a great bittering hop but never again shall it be used as a dry hop) that turned out super grassy--tasted kind of like a "hay" IPA....I drank it all and learned my lesson. I made an ESB that I dry hopped with 2 oz of hops and you couldn't tell. The beer was rather one dimensional and disappointing, but drinkable...I didn't give any of it away. Currently, the head on my Stone Ruination clone isn't right. The flavor is really good, and it is tasting less green each passing week, but the large bubbles on the head may keep me from giving it away (my wife said, "the bubble size looks like there is soap in the beer"). It would definitely get knocked down in a competitive tasting.

If you are doing Mr. Beer you aren't out much except a gallon right? But learning from your mistakes really are part of the journey. Try screwing up a 5 or 10 gallon batch sometime! But the great thing is when you finally hit a home run there is more for you and to share! When people rave, its the greatest feeling in the world! Keep at it!

Lesson? Brew 2.5 gallon batches......you get to brew more, and if you screw up you only have to drink half as much!

 

[Stauffbier]

Brew 2.5 gallon batches......you get to brew more, and if you screw up you only have to drink half as much!

That's basically what I do. If it's a proven recipe I brew 6 gallons, but if I'm trying a new recipe or ingredient I brew 1.5 gallons.

 

[eastoak]

i've dumped at least a barrel of bad beer. most of the beer i brew is really hoppy which is not going to taste better 3, 6 let alone 9 months down the line. if i brew something like a saison that does not turn out right i'll wait it out or, plop, in goes the brett. my bottling days are over (thank god, dumping a bottled batch is a pain) so i can't have a keg sitting around for months.

 

[eyebrau]

+1 to letting it age. I've had multiple batches that disappointed fiercely, but with time (as much as a year) aging in bottles, they've all turned out at least decent... Some have turned out surprisingly well.

 

[Cider123]

I've made 2 batches that didn't meet expectations. One was a cider, my first attempt and my namesake even though I haven't made cider since. It started out fine, but then slowly over time it began to overcarb and many turned to vinegar. Those went down the drain.

The second is the English IPA I have in bottles now. It's my last extract batch and I think I got some oxygen in it when bottling because it has a celery/cardboardy flavor. I also didn't add enough priming sugar so it is somewhere between cask conditioned and flat. It's ok, so I am drinking it. My wife says she likes it, but I think its just cause she likes me.

I have high hopes for the BIAB Wit I have in the fermenter now. To sleep, perchance to dream.

 

[eastoak]

+1 to letting it age. I've had multiple batches that disappointed fiercely, but with time (as much as a year) aging in bottles, they've all turned out at least decent... Some have turned out surprisingly well.

not hoppy beers i suppose?

 

[eyebrau]

Well, yes and no... I made an IPA that I brewed using tangerine (a poorly planned and even more poorly executed brew) that came out of the gate with an absurd bitterness from citrus pith, and was undeniable for some time. I didn't dump them out of sheer laziness, and tried one after... I dunno, maybe 8 months? And it actually mellowed out into a tasty beer. Strange, but good. But yea, the others that aged well weren't hoppy in the first place. A porter and a sweet stout.

 

[eyebrau]

Undrinkable, not undeniable. Thanks, autocorrect.

 

[FATC1TY]

Reminds me.. I've got a 11.5% RIS that was too thin, and a bit boozy.. I decided it would be a good idea to butcher it up and add a LB of lactose to it to add back some body.

Then it ended up where I wanted.. but now it's a bit sweet and boozy.. I'll probably sit on it for a long time and see how it ends up. Time can only make certain beers better.

 

[captwalt]

A friend sent some LME and hops and yeast to another freind about 3 years ago. It wasn't used and when his job was up he gave the whole package back to my friend. These are questionable ingredients to say the least. In tvs name of science and fir the sake of brewing I made a batch. 3.3lbs Lme in 3.5 gallons of water. 1 oz northern brewer 7.7% @ 30 min and 1oz liberty 4.1% @ 10. All of these were several years old and went through the mail to Kuwait and not sure how it was stored, then it was brought home and stayed in another guys garage for several months. I dumped this concoction into the fermenter with a packet of safbrew t-58 that was also in the box. I wasn't sure it would even ferment. It fermented so I bottled it and when the time came I drank it. It tasted old in October and I brewed it in sep. It us completely terrible and I will likely give up on it in a few weeks if it doesn't show any signs of progress. This will be my first dump but I Did drink about half of it if that counts for anything.

 

[fergyrock]

My First batch was a cluster of mistakes, I scorched extract (badly), boiled over (3 times) didn't let it primary long enough, added hops and sugar to try to get it going again in secondary. But learned a lot about what not to do.

Tastes bad, really wanted to toss it, but decided I would go ahead and get some bottling experience, then as an additional learning experience, open one a week to see the progress of carbing and see if it gets any better with age. I also set aside a handful to open on my 1st Brew anniversary.

So far I've opened 5 bottles, now nicely carbed and I could actually take a decent drink, then dumped the rest. Had a distinct burnt taste initially that is subsiding to over-roasted flavor. maybe in another month I will drink a whole one.

The next 4 batches went great and I am drinking Number 2, a nice hoppy DIPA.

 

[Rwhere]

Are people still on this site? I’m currently drinking a batch of bad apricot seltzer. Even the stench is off. Buuuuut come on 5 gallon batch. I feel like at the nearby beach I’d be more willing

 

[bracconiere]

Are people still on this site?

i'm only here because i'm still waiting for this over hopped keg to kick, so i can hook up one of my other two....then i plan to start brewing true beer!

 

[Rwhere]

i'm only here because i'm still waiting for this over hopped keg to kick, so i can hook up one of my other two....then i plan to start brewing true beer!

cheer to us for reviving a thread from 2013

 

[Beer666]

Hell no. Down the drain. Life is too short to drink crap beer.

 

[Blacksmith1]

It's not just beer. After 2 years of aging I bottled a water melon wine. Choked down one bottle, the rest of the 5 gallons will be dumped. The funk is just too much.

 

[Spundit]

cheer to us for reviving a thread from 2013

Ha. I think I started brewing in 2013...or 2012. I have not brewed a dumper yet but there have defineatly been some batches I thought were dull or missed the style. I also have at least 36 bottles with more than a year of age on them.. it is likely many of those go down the drain. They weren't bad brews but whatever is fresh out of the fermenter always seems more interesting.

 

[bwible]

It depends. I’ve made some batches with old ingredients in the past to use them up. The resulting beers were sort of ok, maybe had a cardboard flavor, something like that. I tried to drink most of those. Also depends on the amount of other homebrew I have on hand or if I want the empty bottles for another batch.

Now if I get an infected batch with band aid flavors that goes right down the sink. Mine and any that anybody else were to give me.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

The first batches I made were from Coopers kits. Four were pretty nasty, but I drank them anyway, then one was OK, but I added some extra LME, the last one was really nasty, but my brother liked it so I gave it all to him.

Since then, I had an infection that I couldn't find and ended up with about eight kegs that went bad and they all got dumped in the ditch. That was 5-7 years ago. I really don't recall the exact timeframe.

 

[BrewChem]

Depends how bad it is… if it’s really nasty, infected crap then I dump it. If it’s just off a bit or not what I was shooting for, I’ll bottle and give it away.

 

[MaxStout]

I do the same. If it's undrinkable, it goes down the drain. If it just has some minor defects, I drink it. All 5 gallons to constantly remind me to up my game on that recipe.