Do you drink your failures?

[sundaypapers]

I also drink my failures. In a strange way I find it comforting. I realize what I did and make the necessary changes. I also make notes of how that beer changes as it ages, I have some that I just can't really get through, like almost a year old. I don't brew very often anymore, since the new kid came, so I usually drink them as beer number three or four, when I don't mind it so much. I have dumped a batch of vinegar, but other than that, I drink them up.


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[Agate]

No way I could do this. If brewing were anything like archery I couldn't tell you how many times I would have shot myself in the foot....

I hear ya brotha... I said it was my second batch, but I can't say I'm much beyond that one. My stance on this will probably change once I've had to deal with a couple more mediocre batches!

 

[bondra76]

I have a batch of that Gnomes Ginger Beer that tastes like dirty dish water.

Being that it's just ginger beer and the sunk cost is mostly just sugar, I'm thinking of trashing it.

 

[bondra76]

I think "bad" beers are subjective and most of the time they are based on what you were expecting and didn't turn out to be.

SO true.

I made a Smithwicks clone that fermented hot and had fruity esters in it. Just by the description I think most people would think it sounded gross but my friends tapped the keg in less than 2 hours and they now all proclaim I'm a great brewer. I thought it was my worst batch yet?....

 

[MindenMan]

I have been brewing about 2-1/2 years, and have made some less than stellar batches of beer, okay, I have made what I consider to just be drinkable many times. One of them, I didn't figure out the proper priming amount. I did not get bombs, but I did get a whole batch of gushers, and then another batch where I didn't pull the spigot apart and something was in there, no nasty flavor or anything, but an embarrassment of more gushers only known to my wife and I. We drank it anyway. I now double, triple check everything that my fermenting wort gets close to. I also had a butterscotch flavored beer too. In my experience, two things are paramount: sanitation and controlling fermentation temperatures. If it isn't nasty tasting or smelling it will be beer either way. There are no pathogens that can grow in beer that are harmful to humans, so do like the Cheryl Crow song says, "...scrape off the mold for French toast again..."

 

[mjdonnelly68]

I used to finish less than great beers - out of respect for the time involved. Foolishness.

Now I dump anything I'm not proud to serve.

Dump it. Re-brew and fix it.

I get to brew and I get to drink good beer - Win/Win.

 

[cjgenever]

I've dumped two in the years I've been brewing. One was an experiment when I first started brewing. It wad absolute garbage. The other was a temp control accident that led to a fusal bomb. That one was instant headache juice. All other poor brews have been drank. I usually save them for long nights. once I've got a good buzz I'll to a few back. The flavor doesn't matter as much then. I never drink a crap beer with dinner. That would just be too self punishing. Bad beer can also be good for cooking.

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[JonM]

I have a real stinker in a keg downstairs right now (first ever attempt at a lager, and it is an aceteldehyde bomb) I'll age it to see if it goes away, but if it doesn't it's undrinkable.

Won't be a total loss, though. If it stays undrinkable, I will use it as a way to practice using my newly acquired counterpressure filler.