How many brews have you dumped??

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I've been brewing for 15+ years and only dumped two, and they have both been in the past year. First one was an Octoberfest - from a recipe on here - and it just tasted bad. Not an infection, just not good. Second was a blonde ale made with leftover Kolsch yeast. This was something with the yeast because I used the same yeast in a summer wheat and it also tasted bad, same off flavor. The wheat was drinkable, with a bit of citrus (lime or orange), but the blonde was terrible. So, not happy I've had to get rid of two batches after as much experience as I've had, but only dumping two in that amount of brews isn't too bad.
 
I have had an undrinkable batch, but I cooked with it, so I have never actually dumped a batch of beer.
 
I never had any that I had to dump, but I had one this week dump itself...... I had an IPA with all New Zealand Hops. I had it in my bottling bucket as a secondary so I could dry hop it a few days before bottling it. I went into the bar room to hop it, only to walk on to a soaked carpet and an empty bucket with a broken spigot. Split across the threaded part.

I had others that I thought about dumping down the drain, but I gave them extra time and they worked out fine.
 
I've dumped two, both due to my poor recipe design. Both were extract brews, and both were highly experimental. The first one was a bourbon barrel porter kit that I added smoked malt and cloves to. The clove completely overpowered everything else in the beer - it tasted like eating a smoked ham. The second was a honey-lavender pale ale that I came up with, and added too much lavender. It ended up tasting like soap. I tried aging it, blending it, anything I could come up with, but in the end there was no saving it.

I'm also about to dump the last dozen or so bottles of a strawberry wine I made in 2007. I recently found a stash of them and tried one, and realized how poorly that prison hooch actually came out.
 
I've dumped a couple when I was still in the very early days of AG and didn't really know what I was doing, also trying weird ingredients like rose hips...

Then there was the vanilla imperial stout that tasted amazing, but didn't really carbonate because I used honey as my bottling sugar and didn't use enough. I gave a few cases of that to my friend and she made a chocolate reduction sauce out of it that was out of this world. I guess you cant really call that dumping so much as repurposing. :D
 
Has anyone else had a few that just never really hit he mark???
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Bot? Or did you just not read the thread?
 
Had one infection early on so dumped that.
And then had a batch a year or so ago that just got worse and worse in the keg. Figured infection so dumped it as well. Came to find (on my next kegged batch that followed the same downfall) that my regulator had gone south and had overcarbed the beer terribly - I was tasting carbonic acid in the beer. Kinda peeved I never figured that out before I dumped that 2nd batch...
 
I dump my IPAs a lot actually. I live near Vermont and drink a fairly steady supply of Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Lawson's, 14th Star stuff... IPAs that (in my opinion) are so intricate and well constructed that any IPA I cook up in my stupid basement just tastes amateur. Not all of them, but most I'd say. I'm chasing something that is unattainable in my stupid basement. I drink one of mine and think it tastes good... Then I have a Heady Topper and in a fit of rage I rip the keg from its hoses and chuck it through the nearest window. Also I tend to overeact.
 
I dump my IPAs a lot actually. I live near Vermont and drink a fairly steady supply of Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Lawson's, 14th Star stuff... IPAs that (in my opinion) are so intricate and well constructed that any IPA I cook up in my stupid basement just tastes amateur. Not all of them, but most I'd say. I'm chasing something that is unattainable in my stupid basement. I drink one of mine and think it tastes good... Then I have a Heady Topper and in a fit of rage I rip the keg from its hoses and chuck it through the nearest window. Also I tend to overeact.

Heady Topper sends you into a fit of rage? IMO, not doing it right
 
Zero.

That number doesnt tell the whole story though. Any beer that didnt hit the mark or wasnt great falls into two dump categories.

1. Drink it when I just wanna get drunk. The Belly Dump Category.

2. Use it for some other culinary purpose. Freeze distill it so it takes up less room and I see if making it into booze makes it better. Or use it for cooking, a failed stout is great 'flavorful liquid' to deglaze pans for chili or beef stew.

(most failed beers I've had were just ultra-bland or something sneaky got in to the bottles and they turned into rockets, so I just use them for their alcohol to extract flavors in food)
 
I dump my IPAs a lot actually. I live near Vermont and drink a fairly steady supply of Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Lawson's, 14th Star stuff... IPAs that (in my opinion) are so intricate and well constructed that any IPA I cook up in my stupid basement just tastes amateur. Not all of them, but most I'd say. I'm chasing something that is unattainable in my stupid basement. I drink one of mine and think it tastes good... Then I have a Heady Topper and in a fit of rage I rip the keg from its hoses and chuck it through the nearest window. Also I tend to overeact.

Maybe start making other styles of beer.
 
(most failed beers I've had were just ultra-bland or something sneaky got in to the bottles and they turned into rockets, so I just use them for their alcohol to extract flavors in food)

Hmm, maybe I should save my bottles I would toss for "ballistic defense". That dude who walks his dog and $h1ts in front of my building without picking it up is gonna be sorry...
 
Yes, I had a batch of sake that was undrinkable. It had a sour milk smell and even taste to it. Not sure what I did wrong because I followed the instructions carefully. Probably won't try that again. Beer wise no all of my beer batches even my first have been at minimum drinkable.
 
Maybe start making other styles of beer.

Oh I do. But my favorite style is IPA or IIPA so I'm always comparing mine to the best of the best (to my palate).

It's like watching a porno and then catching a glimpse of yourself naked in the mirror.

Am I making any sense?

zc
 
Not once. I make myself drink the failures as a punishment.

Actually, not true. I had some experimental mead flavored with chamomile and lavender, and it was just disgusting, so down the sink it went.
 
None for me, although 1 or 2 perhaps should have been dumped. But I gutted it out.
 
ZERO going on 5 years. Only reason why needed to get my taste buds trained on horrible beers! Ive had a few that I should have but kept them around just to see what would happen.
 
Not to level of dumping it. I had batch ruined by chlorine I dumped (over 20 years ago).

I'm currently about to dump an IPA because of a terrible chlorine taste. The strange thing is...it's been bottled for about 2 months, I popped one the other day and the chlorine taste seems to have faded. Is that normal?
 
I'm currently about to dump an IPA because of a terrible chlorine taste. The strange thing is...it's been bottled for about 2 months, I popped one the other day and the chlorine taste seems to have faded. Is that normal?

Normally beer ruined by chlorine does not taste like you think. It tastes more like Listerine.
 
4 so far;

2 - brewed back to back weekends with a brand new garden hose....that i used to collect my brewing water with! it tasted like i was drinking beer through 15 garden hoses :(
1 - infection...i got too comfortable...slacked on proper cleaning
1 - stressed out WLP001 yeast by splitting/harvesting/growing too much....technically not dumped yet - but it tastes like crazy sour mango and pineapples...it also stalled out half way through fermentation and i had to pitch a packet of S05 to finish it up. i don't suspect it's going to get any better over time...
 
My third or fourth brew was a Hefe that was just terrible. I had temp control and everything, not sure what happened. I also hate hefes so that might be part of it.
 
I've dumped one beer due to infection.

I almost dumped a cider due to phenolic taste but a friend of mine offered to reduce the volume and increase the alcohol. So I gave him five gallons of 5% cider and he gave me half a liter of 40% cider back.

I suggest you find a similar friend and have him do the same to your beer.
 
hmmm, then I wonder what cause my chlorine like taste? Everyone that has tried it has said right away..."wow...that tastes like chlorine!"

You sure it is not ammonia...'cause you know cat pee...ammonia...certain IPA popular hops. It would not be a flavor so much as an aroma but many folks have a difficult differentiating. Hop aroma dulls over time.
 
I've never dumped a beer. Unless there is compelling evidence that a batch is dangerous to general public safety I won't dump it. I'll mix, power through it, dilute it, age it, or give it to somebody who thinks it's good.
 
My third or fourth brew was a Saison that was just terrible. I had temp control and everything, not sure what happened. I also hate Saisons so that might be part of it.

now its all starting to make sense...
 
Ive dumped 2 batches. First was a cherry wine with a nasty infection. Second was an Aviator Doppelbock clone that was lagering, my ohmbrew fermostat malfunctioned and stuck with the heater on. I came home and found my lager at 126F. Yard fertilizer. Stick with it try not to get discouraged. I dont know much about formulating recipes, so i try to stick to proven recipes and tweak from there. I think until you understand the grain and the flavors they yield its the safe bet.
 
The best part of brewing over the last 6yrs for me has been new recipes .. So creating a few dumpers does not bother me as I know why the brews don't taste like I had hoped.. I may just start doing some 3 gallon batches though as I am having a hard time keeping up with the amount of brewing I want to do.. Way too much traveling
 
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