Never dump your beer success story

[Shoemaker]

So I brewed a Czech Pilsner six months ago. After screwing up the fermentation temps, it caused off flavors, noticably phenols. This beer smelled like permanent marker...real nasty. Anyways, instead of kegging it, I bottled about half the batch and dumped the rest (wish I didn't do that).

Fast foward six months later and I just cracked one open. The off taste is gone. Its not the best beer I've brewed, but it is absolutely drinkable.

Moral of the story...never dump your beer! Patience is the key to success young grasshopper.

 

[nanofreak]

I have a strong dark belgian that I am waiting some time before cracking one. I hear more sucesses with waiting than failures.

 

[oldmate]

I would have dumped the whole lot. There's no way I'd be drinking anything that adverse to my health.

 

[Shoemaker]

I would have dumped the whole lot. There's no way I'd be drinking anything that adverse to my health.

It was not and is not adverse to my health. It just tasted bad. Very rarely homebrew can be adverse to your health. :cross:

 

[Revvy]

I would have dumped the whole lot. There's no way I'd be drinking anything that adverse to my health.

Since nothing pathogenic can grow in beer, that's a really silly worry and would be a waste of potentially excellent beer.

That's why I've been collecting success stories like this, to hopefully teach you overly worried new brewers the folly of your ways.


Most of the time a new brewer (and it's usually new brewers who do) is because they think something like that, though, and are actually tasting their beer usually when it is really green. Or they make a mistake and because of all the worst case scenarions they've come upon in books, they dump it thinking in their naievty that their beer will instantly go bad.

I wrote this awhile ago...it should be committed to memory...

You don't dump your beer, for making a minor little mistake. Your beer is hardier than that.

And you don't dump something because you think it's going to turn out bad. You only dump a beer that you KNOW is bad, and you give it at least a couple of months in the bottle before you even make THAT decision.

Read theses two threads that were compiled for nervous new brewers to realize that your beers are not a weak baby that is going to die if you look at it wrong.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

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

Our beer is really resilient despite the boneheaded things we do to it. And even if something appears to be wrong, often time and the yeasties go along way to correct itself.

And if everyone dumped their beer just because of a common thing like an airlock suckback, no one would be brewing. We ALL have had sanitizer from our airlock get into our beer at one time or another. There's a ton of panic threads on here about that, and the answer is always the same, RELAX.

I think about it in terms of my time and money, I'm not going to dump 30 or more dollars worth of ingredients, 6 hours of brewing time, and at least 2 months from yeast pitch to cracking the first bottle, on what could be a minor mistake (that may not even harm the beer anyway,) until I have exhausted all probability that the beer won't improve. And even then that means at least walking away from the bottles for maybe 6 months or more.

And so far I have never beer wrong.

After all these years of brewing I still haven't had a dumper.

And I've made some big mistakes.

But I have never had a beer that wasn't at least palatable, after all that time.

They may have not been stellar beers, but they were still better than BMC or Skunky Beers in green bottles that people actually pay money for.

So just read those threads and next time, relax, and give your beer a chance to prove how strong it really is.

That's why we caution new brewers not to be too hasty, and to just walk away for awhile, and to give time for the yeast to do their magic. They are incredibly good at correcting things.

 

[JetSmooth]

I would have dumped the whole lot. There's no way I'd be drinking anything that adverse to my health.

You can stop drinking anything with alcohol, eating meat, going out in the sun and using wireless telephones now.

 

[pwndabear]

You can stop drinking anything with alcohol, eating meat, going out in the sun and using wireless telephones now.

dont forget breathing, eating vegetables, driving, looking at computer screens, and bear wrestling.

man, i feel like an idiot. i had an amber ale that had a really tangy off flavor and a long lasting aftertaste that i wish i had kept. after bottling them and leaving them in for a few months, they still tasted that way. i wonder what they would've taste like today...

 

[JLem]

just to add to the story list...my third beer was supposed to be a Chocolate Porter. Did not turn out like I thought it would. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't real good. Thin, bland, pretty much not really worth the effort to drink it - it brought no satisfaction.

I thought about dumping it, but decided to see where it was in a few weeks, so I boxed it up and put it down in the basement. Every so often I would take on out and try it and though it never really seemed to be good, it seemed to be getting better, so instead of dumping it I would let it sit longer, figuring I would end up dumping it the next month. But each month went by and I kept deciding to wait another month before dumping it. Fast forward to a year later...it still wasn't my favorite beer and I realized it wasn't much of a porter, but it became something worth drinking and I decided to enter it into a local competition to get some feedback (BJCP sanctioned). I entered it as a Southern English Brown. It took 2nd place.

So there you go - true story about how an almost dumped beer became an award winner (a year later).

 

[jamesjensen1068]

I had a batch of Belgian Ale (my second batch ever). After bottling it poured great, but the taste was what I call medicinal, not quite bandaids, but something??? Anyway, I left it and about 3 months later a friend of mine asked about it, as he said, "Hey it's alcohol I'll drink it". So I offer to give him what I have left for a party he is having. I decide I should try it one more time. Completely different beer. Still pours great, spot on Belgian Ale. It went from a crap beer to one he and I drank on occassion so as to have it last longer. I still have 2 or 3 bottles left and I'm considering brewing it again after I vowed never to make another batch of Belgian Ale.

RDWHAHB indeed!

Cheers.

 

[oldmate]

You can stop drinking anything with alcohol, eating meat, going out in the sun and using wireless telephones now.

Phenol causes acute poisoning by ingestion.

 

[Shooter]

Phenol causes acute poisoning by ingestion.

I'll keep that in mind before I drink any more of those toxic Belgians!!

 

[RchanceN]

If it's possible to have enough phenols in a beer to harm you then I'm pretty sure my first dubbel would have killed me. WLP500 fermented at about 80F ambient. Tasted like rubbing alcohol and pepper...

 

[Brewdouche-RuBrew]

You know I had the same learning experience. I have never dumped a whole beer batch. We have trillions of friends who I've found can save us. The yeast. Unless you sterile filter. I always say when Im not happy with something I make, "It needs time alone", and I put it in a dark corner and forget it for some monthes. I have never been disapointed with how much better a fermented beverage can get by just being left alone for awile. Heck I even pasturized an infected batch once (165 for 15 seconds) and it turned out great.

 

[abrdnck]

I think that there are a couple of reasons why people - especially noobies - are quick to dump their beer.

The first batch of beer that I ever made was in university about 20 years ago. We bottled it up, and dutifully waited about 3 days before cracking one open and realizing that it tasted really bad. We kept trying them about every other day, and after about 2 weeks that they must be infected and gave up on them. We didn't dump them - we just donated them all to our roommate with a drinking problem who said that they "weren't that bad". In retrospect, I'm sure that a little patience would have done us some good.

I think that there are 2 factors behind this impatience:

1. All the literature over-emphasizes sanitation. I understand the importance of sanitation, and how any breaches in sanitation can cause unpredictable outcomes. However, not every off-taste is a result of infection or poor sanitation.

2. The literature often under-estimates the amount of time needed to properly make beer. I think the instructions on our first kit of beer was something like primary - 4 days, secondary - one week, bottle condition - 3 days. We followed the instructions to a "T" and were surprised when we didn't have spectacular British-style ale in 2 weeks. Since it didn't taste right, it must be a problem with sanitation and dreaded infection...

I am still very much a noob here, but I will say this - the most important thing I have learned from this site is the importance of patience. I have learned that throwing out the kit instructions is the first step to brewing from a kit, and that not every sanitation breach is guaranteed to cause an infection.

RDWHAHB indeed!

(I say that while enjoying a Czech-style pilsener that I was tempted to throw out after a month of bottle conditioning, which started to become drinkable at about 6 weeks and now I am sad to be down to my last 6-pack.)

 

[adamjab19]

I need a belgian golden strong ale success story. I brewed mine up just about a year ago and it has been in bottles for about 11 months. I am fairly certain I fermented too high because the flavors I taste are SOOOO strong (phenolly). I have nothing better to do with the beer and I have enough bottles otherwise to bottle new batches if I need to. So I'm going to let it ride and see how it goes over the NEXT year. I'll post back if I remember.

 

[ZombieHunter]

Phenol causes acute poisoning by ingestion.

He's talking about phenolic off flavors. Not phenol. There are a host of substituted aromatic alcohols that contribute different kinds of flavors described as spice, pepper, or clove. If they become chlorinated, the taste is described as solventy, band-aid, or medicinal.

They're nowhere near as toxic as phenol, and some are even "healthy". Like 4-vinyl guaiacol, the clovey substance in hefeweizens.

 

[ZombieHunter]

But yeah...

I have a success story as well. I brewed a roggenbier that got infected by wild yeast. I pop open the primary and am greeted by a pellicle. Pasteurized and bottled it for $h!ts and giggles. Now, it is quite an enjoyable beer to drink. Some of my friends have asked me to brew it again, which is going to be impossible.