How long have you suffered through bad batch of homebrew?

[GonzoNerd]

I will start. I recently made a batch of an IPA that used nothing but Columbus hops. Well now I know for certain that I do not like an IPA made solely from Columbus hops. Tastes like warm garbage to me. I can't even take the smell.

I have struggled through half of the keg. The dankness of it has diminished somewhat over the weeks but the garbage flavor remains. It wasn't until I was mixing it 50/50 with my cream ale to see if it would go down any smoother when I realized that this was crazy.

The remainder of that keg is going down the drain tonight to make room for my Zombiedust clone coming out of the fermenter this weekend.

Am I alone on this one?

 

[jwalkermed]

Nope. If I brew a beer and I don't like it I dump it after the first few pints. Only happened once though. Brewed something. Wasn't what I was going for. Dumped and moved on.

 

[PADave]

I've never made something that was so bad I couldn't drink.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

Actively bad? Directly into the toilet, sort of meh? I'll probably dump it after a few pints, I'd rather try again than drink something I don't want.

 

[Temptd2]

In the 3.5 years we've been brewing (KOTC and I) we have dumped two batches - one that turned into a sour (tasted like very green apples) and another that was just too dang bitter. Not too bad, considering that they were amongst the first half dozen batches we brewed, and the fact that we brew about every 3 or 4 weeks.

We've had some others that were not favorites but they WERE great for cooking - stuff like braised meats, soups and stews, etc. all benefitted from 12 ounces or more of those beers.

However, based on your flavor description - yeah, I think I'd dump it too!

 

[Upthewazzu]

I've dumped a few batches, all within the first year and half of me brewing. A belgian kit from Midwest that turned sour on me, a scottish ale that I tried to do to much with (oak chips, scotch, etc) and tasted like vomit, and an English IPA that tasted like bitter cider. I made it about halfway through each batch before I decided enough was enough.

 

[GrogNerd]

Have made fewer than 30 batches, haven't dumped one yet

I force myself to drink the bad ones to appease the beer gods

 

[Murphys_Law]

I've only dumped a few. I'll typically hang on and see if it changes with age and if not, dump when I need the room.

 

[KRASHED]

Can't bring myself to dump any. Even my first batch which had a bit of a gusher issue and an aroma of fresh farts.

 

[GPP33]

Give it a couple months, if it doesn't change in the right direction dump it. No point in forcing something down that you don't like. Never heard Columbus refered to as garbage though, might want to look elsewhere for infection before blaming the hops.

 

[ChelisHubby]

If it is a infection dump it , it won't get any better. Now if it was a recipe screw up either ingredient or tempature I will let it ride, and I will slowly drink it. I keg and bottle I did dump about a half gallon of a tempature screw up just last week. Until then I was drinking it as my second or third beer the drunkards taste buds didn't complain as loudly then.

 

[masskrug]

I've suffered through two infected batches. Hard liquor helps. I did dump one that was terribly infected.

 

[GonzoNerd]

I've already tried it as my second or third beer and it isn't much better.

It might not be the columbus hops and I'm not ruling out an infection. I haven't had one yet so I don't have anything to compare, and this is the first time that I have done a straight columbus hop beer.

I'm not ruling the hop out as a future option but I am going to be hesitant to get back on thaat train and I will make sure that it is part of a hop blend in the future.

I had thought about keeping it around but I don't want to keep the keg tied up on something i have to supper through. I'm going to make room for the rest of the beer in the pipeline.

 

[cegan09]

Made my first batch back at the start of the year. Still have probably 12-18 bottles. It was a red ale that came out awful. I had been trying to drink one now and then to get through them, but now it just tastes like onions. Think i'm dumping the rest.

Thankfully I haven't hated any other batches so far.

 

[BeardedBrews]

I've only dumped whole batches once or twice in ~200 gallons, once was a very gross kit that I made more on a whim. I have tossed the last gallon of a couple kegs that have just gone past their prime, especially if I needed the keg space. I've also tossed the contents of random bottles that I filled off the keg "so I could save them for later".

My opinion is that I brew for the enjoyment of the hobby, and I drink the beer for the enjoyment of the flavor. If the batch is bad I will collect notes for next time and then dump it. Life is too short to drink crap beer!

 

[bucketnative]

I had one batch that came out rather oxidized... cardboard-y flavor. I drank about a sixer of it, then put the remaining case and half in the alley behind my apartment building with a note explaining what it was... Something along the lines of, "This is homebrewed beer. It is not my best batch, hence why I am leaving it in the alley. It won't make you sick, I swear, but it will get you drunk. Cheers!"

I was surprised that it took more than eight hours for someone to take it.

 

[sixwinds]

Never dumped a batch, but I had two that turned out bad and were hard to drink. One was my first attempt at a gose - ended up with too much lactic acid. Straight up the beer was very hard to drink, but I found that if I mixed it 50/50 with a commercial gose it was perfect.

Two was more recent - a porter that did not finish likely due to not enough yeast pitched by me. I just moved up to 5 gallon batches from 3 gallon stovetop and forgot that I may need to use more yeast that I previously did. The OG was 72 and the FG was 30... I was stupid and did not take the FG reading until most of the beer was in the keg. Then I realized what happened, said **** it and slowly drank it. Beer was not bad, but very thick and sweet...

 

[DoesItMatter]

I've dumped quite a few infected batches down the toilet (really!)

I've also made an overpowering Sage Ale, which I kept - and simmer brats in.
That one batch has lasted over a year, and the simmered brats come out AMAZING!

 

[skraeling]

Ugh I had a full keg of oatmeal stout I had to dump. It was demoralizing. It had such an astringent awful "taste". Dumped it after a few glasses praying it would get better.

It wasn't an infection (I'm a god damn microbiologist, I know how to sterilize). With much logic I narrowed it down to pitching too soon into wort that was too warm. Yeast stressed beyond belief and fermentation didn't kick off for something like over 48hrs. I knew I was screwed after no activity for 24.

 

[Bigfly]

Mine all end up in the toilet good or bad

 

[oceanic_brew]

In over 60 brews ...

Two batches I'm now certain that I had contamination from plastic leeching.

One got infected

And I had to pour out a strawberry IPA that was the most horrendous thing ever. I used all Amarillo hops, way too much bitterness, cooked the strawberries a little by accident when I was pasteurized them.

I suffered through a number of pints from all of the above before I dumped them.

I've had beers go from not getting through a pint to can't wait to get home to grab one in a matter of a couple weeks but if a portion of beer is sitting in a keg for too long and I have no desire for it I'll dump it.

Life is way too short for poor beer..... Life is way too short to waste beer!

Which side are you on I guess?

 

[catdaddy66]

I don't always brew bad beer, but when I do...

I give it to my friends.

 

[Derp]

Pro Tip: Don't pour beer on your lawn. I dumped out almost 5 gallons of a Heady Topper clone (expensive mistake) that oxidized and lingered in my keezer for months until I decided that I needed the keg for other purposes. It killed a 4-foot section of grass that never really grew back. I also have 2 circular dead spots from the first few gallons of water from my immersion chiller. Now I let it run onto my driveway for a few minutes.

My son moved in with me a few months ago and he's as efficient at drinking beer as he was in raiding the fridge of leftovers as a teen. The days when less than perfect kegs would linger in the keezer are long gone.

 

[schematix]

Pro Tip: Don't pour beer on your lawn. I dumped out almost 5 gallons of a Heady Topper clone (expensive mistake) that oxidized and lingered in my keezer for months until I decided that I needed the keg for other purposes. It killed a 4-foot section of grass that never really grew back.

I learned a similar lesson. I used to dump my hop spider bag out in the grass.... well same thing. Died and could never recover.

Unhopped wort on the other hand is an amazing fertilizer.

 

[Braufessor]

I never hesitate to dump beer if it is bad, not what I wanted.... or even if it is just "meh" and I have better beers that need keg space. If I wanted to drink bad beer, I could go buy it.

 

[stella_tigre]

We've got two batches in a row pitched too warm, the first (flat tire crone) was worse than the second (nut brown ale.) The latter resolved the worst of the off flavors, and is on tap, not wonderful but ok if you drink it cold. The first one was still slowly improving, 3 months in the keg, so we hope it will be drinkable by the time the nut brown is gone.

Fortunately the SNPA clone is wonderful, so we can alternate with less good ones. And an Octoberfast ale is carbing up also....and we do not pitch too warm anymore.

 

[planker101]

Apparently I am either a total alcoholic (I think I'm only a mild alcoholic at 1-2 beers a day) or I am WAY poorer than the rest of you. I am currently suffering through comically bad beer, eight 12 packs to start, 2 to go. I call it the ATPA - Ash Tray Pale Ale. It was a very unfortunate lesson to learn... I just switched from propane to electric and have had a few learning curve issues. The largest being that when you are adding condensed sugar (in this case honey) you have to shut off the heating element until the honey is completely dissovled. Burnt the crap out of the honey and the beer has a distinct and strong aftertaste of what I assume licking an ashtray would taste like. The real bummer is that the front end is great. Color clairity and head are great. Lucikly after the first few sips your taste buds are kind of numb to the ash tray, haha. I will definitely do the recipie again.
Why am I drinking this god awful beer? All my money went to building my new brew stand.

 

[Auger]

I've made a few spiced beers that came out waaaay more spiced than intended. One was cloves and tasted like a christmas ham, the other was a honey lavender beer that tasted like soap. Both those got dumped, drinking them was just unbearable. I currently have a keg of a weizen that I brewed from an extract kit to get something kegged while I was doing an all-grain double batch. It's not fatally flawed, it's just not that good. Also my first extract batch in like 3 years. I'm suffering through that one. My wife says "drink it as a lesson to not screw up again". Easy for her to say, she's preggers so I can't force her to help.

 

[lari]

made three columbus smash ipas to date and im loving them, more than cascades..

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

I don't keep anything that's crap. I rarely brew crap beer though.

 

[Maylar]

I've only made 2 batches that needed to be dumped. One was done with Nottingham at 75°F and the fusels were unbearable. The other was flavored with a cherry concentrate that I seriously over did and it was just "yuck". Only took one bottle of each to decide. Luckily that was early in my brewing career and they were only 1 gallon batches. Not a big loss.

 

[mwilcox]

Life's too short to drink bad beer.

 

[mattdee1]

I haven’t dumped any yet, but I’m strongly considering dumping about 30 bottles of altbier I have in my fridge to make room for something else. It’s not infected, it’s clear, has no really rough edges or anything… but I made up a seat-of-the-pants recipe and I just don’t care for the results.

A while back I had a similar number of bottles of a blonde ale that I was minutes from dumping for similar reasons (just didn’t care for the recipe), but then family came over and I decided to start handing them out in hopes of getting legitimate “use” from a few more bottles before the big dump. That day everybody showed up with coolers full of BMC, but ended up not even touching it. They rode my beer fridge like a cheap hooker and took care of every last bottle of that beer I was about to dump (while I secretly poured myself a nice selection of store bought craft beers). Not only that, but they followed up with effusive praise for how good the beer was. I didn’t really agree with the assessment of the beer, but it was so nice to see it get consumed and enjoyed rather than dumped. I can’t really hope for a repeat of that with the altbier because as soon as a beer has any color to it, the BMC people act as though you’re trying to get them to drink used motor oil (“it’s too heeeaaavvy” – alright folks, say it with me: “darker color DOES NOT, DOES NOT, DOES NOT necessarily mean heavy&#8221.

 

[BrickBrewHaus]

I've made a few beers that stand out as bad, but I haven't dumped any (other than the last little bit to make keg space). The first was my first beer ever. I interpreted "ferment in the upper 60s" to mean "my 72deg closet is close enough, and I'll go ahead and throw a blanket over it to boot." The fusels were terrible at first but slowly faded with time. The second was an attempt at a oatmeal cookie, christmas spiced oatmeal stout. Waay too much clove. To make things worse, it didn't carbonate very well. Ironically, my wife's boss liked the beer, so he got a 12 pack for christmas. The most recent was a Falcon's Flight "SMaSH". Just didn't like the hop profile and eventually dumped the last gallon of the keg to make space.

 

[schematix]

I've only ever dumped one batch, but not before trying to salvage it. It was meant to be a moderate strength Belgian (7%). It was one of the first AG brews we ever did so I estimated efficiency of 70%. Ended up getting 90% efficiency, plus we added 4lbs of table sugar. Surprisingly it didn't have any real bad off flavors and even the alcohol flavor wasn't too hot. But the beer was just so damn dry (around 1.008 IIRC) that it just wasn't enjoyable compared to the other stuff we were making (20G every 3 weeks, split 2 ways). It was almost like drinking a vodka and soda.

I ended up bottling it from a keg after a few months of further aging, and eventually ended up throwing the bottles out.

I've had a couple meh batches over the years:
-Boozy Hop Bomb (9% ABV, 1.020 FG) - Partial mash with better than expected grain efficiency. Like drinking hop syrup. Ended up cutting it with a 1.060 IPA and Blonde Ale in the glass to finish it.
-American Lager w/ Local Harrington 6-row and flaked rice - super low efficiency, very husky tasting
-Helles That Wasn't - after 2 weeks at 50F the yeast dropped and the beer cleared so i kegged it.... after kegging I found the FG was 1.030. I drank a keg mixed with vodka to boost the ABV. I couldn't do the 2nd keg so i pushed it back onto a cake from a follow-up German Lager and it ended up going down to 1.016 and was more drinkable. It tasted weird, but better than the unfermented malt flavor.

 

[kristiismean]

(technically it's still not dumped)
a friend, yes, a friend, let life get in the way. topper clone, 11 months in primary...

it's been bottled for 4 - 5 months

it will not carb up, hop profile is gone. it's just not a good beer anymore.

he powers through, but has a case and a half left.

three days ago, made the comment they may need to be dumped...

 

[NothingRhymesWithCurtiss]

I've dumped 2 in 3 years:

• 100% Palisade Black IPA - I think I fermented it too hot, as it tasted caustic and perfumey. Also, me thinks I do not like Palisade hops.
• English Bitter - OG was way low (not enough boil off) so it tasted like hop water.

With both of them I drank 1 beer a day for a week to see if they got more tolerable. They did not.

 

[seatazzz]

I've had three so far. Two were Racer 5 clones that were band-aid bombs (have since gotten rid of that fermenter) and the other was a cream ale that just tasted horrible. I've got a bunch of bottles from older batches that are starting to gush and will be dumped as soon as I really want to sit and wash bottles for several hours.

 

[ed007]

I have never dumped a full batch. However, last Dunkelweizen I did (my favorite style BTW) came out terrible. OG was too low, did not let it sit long enough to dissipate sulphur aroma and to develop banana aroma and the body was thin. ABV was 3.5℅ which was also too low for this style. I usually finish a keg of good Weizen in one month but this one sat around for 3 months and I finally dumped the last gallon that was left to make room for new Hefeweizen. Now, my bad feelings about dumping homebrew went away as soon as I tried the fresh batch of Hefeweizen,which was a perfect clone of Paulaner Hefe. Currently enjoying 10 gallons of that brew.

 

[BrewSavage]

I made a lot belgian beef stew last fall.