How Long Would You Wait Before Dumping This IPA?

[jbambuti]

I brewed up an English IPA in July that was bottled, I believe, on August 3. It was brewed with Notty and was the first 'off' batch I've done. I'm not sure if the 'off' flavor (band-aid-ish) was a function of summer fermentation temps (although the basement is pretty constant) or bad Notty, or something else. This has been bottled and conditioning for the past 10 weeks. I cracked a bottle this week to see if it has improved. While slightly less, the off flavor is definitely still there and it's such that I can't really drink a whole bottle. I don't think it's from my gear, as I did an Apfelwein at the same time that turned out great, and I've got an IPA finishing up in the same fermenter now, which tastes great from my hydro sample.

Part of me wants to keep it for a while longer to see if it improves, but with only a very minor improvement in two and a half months, I'm not sure if it's worth it. Part of me wants to chalk it up to experience, dump it and use the two cases of bombers for one of my current batches (after thorough cleaning and sanitizing).

What would you do? I'm leaning toward the latter, even though it will hurt.

 

[Malticulous]

If I needed the space or the bottle I would dump it. I've never had a bad batch heal it's self.

 

[Revvy]

If I needed the space or the bottle I would dump it. I've never had a bad batch heal it's self.

And I, and a few others have;

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

Even a somewhat bandaidy swarzbier got drinkable after a few months...not a perfect beer by a longshot, BUT it was still better than budweiser.

I'm a firm believer in at least giving it a couple months, and if the taste is worse dumping it, but if it has improved, then continuing to keep it.

 

[Malticulous]

...not a perfect beer by a longshot

We are in agreement then. My post was about space restraints. If you can't afford to dump a batch you shouldn't be brewing. I bet the big BMC boys have dumped a few.

 

[Revvy]

We are in agreement then. My post was about space restraints.

Yep! I agree.

 

[jbambuti]

Thanks for the quick replies. I've got no problem waiting a couple more months to see if it improves. Hopefully it will turn out like Revvy's bubblegum beer.

 

[Blender]

While many may have had better results waiting I had a bad batch or 2 that did not improve one bit after a year in bottles. Hope you have better luck than me.

 

[Malticulous]

I've had three bad batches. Two never got better only worse. I think it was temp related because I got a chest freezer after them and never had a problem since. The other one came from polyphenols from a bleach soaked vinyl hose I ran high temp wort through (vinyl can't stand up so bleach.) It did get better. I think the junk settled over time. I still dumped the last of it out. I couldn't drink them after I figured out why they were bad.

The first two seem like yours.

 

[ghpeel]

As long as you've got the space, let it sit for another 4-6 months. If its still got that delicious "band-aid" twang then, then dump it. My $.02.

 

[Brewin06111]

As long as you've got the space, let it sit for another 4-6 months. If its still got that delicious "band-aid" twang then, then dump it. My $.02.

+1 to this... I'd give it a year.... Throwing away beer is alcohol abuse

 

[SPLASTiK]

Did you use bleach as a sanitizer? What kind of water did you use? Straight City tap, filtered tap, bottled, etc.
Band-aid to me says chlorine or chloramines in your water or sanitizer.

 

[JoeMama]

Bleh, Im in the same boat kinda. I brewed a batch lazily and you can taste it. Sure its only a month or 2 old, but Its the worst batch I have tasted. My only hope for it is others that drink it say "Well, its beer" and they can actually drink the sample I give them. I on the other hand cant...

But then again I think that wheat beers and Belgians are nasty... This beer is strikingly similar. Those are the only beers I have ever dumped out. (Store bought and samples mind you)
-Me

 

[jbambuti]

Did you use bleach as a sanitizer? What kind of water did you use? Straight City tap, filtered tap, bottled, etc.
Band-aid to me says chlorine or chloramines in your water or sanitizer.

I used bottled drinking water and sanitized with Iodophor. These are the same things I've always done. The only things I can think of are: 1) fermentation temp., as it was Notty and the temp in the basement in July was probably above the 70 degree threshold. 2) bad Notty (from the reading I've done here). Otherwise, I'm at a loss, as the Apfelwein I made at the same time and under the same conditions turned out great.

Either way, it's a bad taste and I hope that it improves more with time.

 

[StoutattheDevil]

I would second... or third.. or fourth keeping it for a while. If you absolutely don't have the time or space, dump it out. In the time you'll let that beer sit and still taste off, you could have brewed and bottled a few other great batches and not think anything of it. Chalk it up to experience and look at it as a learning tool as what to look for when doing future batches and how to notice first hand if a batch might have had a problem. I'd suggest keeping up on good sanitation practices (as you said you have) and checking the room temp in your house before pitching. If its too cool you could think about moving your aging into a warmer area of the house or visa-versa when its too warm, possibly fermenting in your basement or a closet area.

If you can stand to drink it, invite over some buddies and polish them off very cold and very fast!

 

[justbrewit]

Have a brats party and use the beer to boil the brats. Use the beer in your smoker(if you have one, if not, getting rid of a bad beer is a good reason to go get one) let it sit 6 more months and if it doesn't take a turn for the better, use it for cooking

 

[jbambuti]

Just an update to my original post. After brewing up a DIPA and having my wort chiller leak some tap water into my wort, I figured I was in the right mood to test one of the bottles from the bad batch that have now been bottled for almost 4 months. I just popped one without chilling it, and was very surprised to find that the 'off' taste had improved markedly. Now much more hopeful, I tossed one into the fridge and will taste again when it's chilled.

Thanks to all for the 'let it be' encouragement. It may not be the best beer I've brewed, but it looks like it might be quite drinkable after all. If it turns out, it'll be kind of like finding two cases of beer.

 

[MarshyTheKid]

so thats where my bandaid went!!

If I have room, I let my beers sit for a while. I had a stout that didn't taste very good. After about 7 or 8 months it was the best stout I ever had.