Never Pitch a Beer....?

[dhoyt]

I always here that you shouldnt ever pitch a beer but I guestion this. I made this brew months and months ago and never even switched it to the secondary. Its been haning out with some trub and a bunch of hops for about 6 months!! I recently moved and a buddy was sloshing it around and everything so it could even be oxidized but I havent tasted it or even opened it. Should I really just bottle this and see what happens??

 

[bernerbrau]

I would at the very least pull a sample and see how it tastes. 6 months is not that long to age a beer, and autolysis is a very overstated concern.

 

[Edcculus]

Of course. What do you have to waste? Only about an hour of your time, bottles (that you already should have), and some sanitizer. Just set it on the counter about 20 min prior to racking to let most of the crud settle.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Screw that! some beers are just full of fail and are better sent to the compost heap.

a free keg trumps bad beer anyday. At least with a free keg, you have the opportunity or motive to do better.

Some beer do just need time to "arrive" but, some are just one more cog in the Wisdom machine.

 

[Tonedef131]

Well you should certainly open it and taste it. If it's gross throw it out, if it's good drink it.

 

[dhoyt]

alright i see what im working with.. have a feeling its not going to be good but..

 

[bierbrauer]

Why would you even think of throwing out a beer before tasting it??? It's the only way to know if it is good or not.

 

[dhoyt]

even if it did taste fine and i bottled it would there still be enough viable yeast after all this time to carbonate?

 

[BlindLemonLars]

even if it did taste fine and i bottled it would there still be enough viable yeast after all this time to carbonate?

You can always add a bit of yeast if you're worried about it. But until you taste it, it's all academic!

If it tastes downright nasty, I wouldn't bother to bottle it...the time, effort and bottles are better spent on a more promising batch. But ya gotta taste...

 

[ohiobrewtus]

A taste now will certainly tell you if it's worth bottling.

I don't subscribe to the 'never dump your beer' school of thought though. If it tastes like ass and you're never going to drink it then why even keep it around?

 

[MikeScott]

I always thought that if / when I make a bad batch of beer, I would drink it anyway, just to cement my mistake in my mind.

The guy at the homebrew store said he had a batch that didn't turn out like well, and he drank it anyway. "It starts nice, and finishes nice, but in the middle it tastes like a Gym sock" were his words.

I'll agree with the majority here though, give it a taste, and if it's bad, dump it. No sense in throwing it out before you even try it.