Time for me to beat a dead horse

[boomtown25]

Everyone on here knows that the golden rule is RDWHAHB. I would say the second rule (or the silver rule) is: "Leave it alone, let it do its thing, time works wonders with beer. Well, I have to beat a dead horse on that one. Last week I tried my Cucumber Summer Ale after a week of bottling. I knew it was green, just wanted to see how it was coming along. It was so rancid smelling and they were all gushers (I think I got the priming sugar calculations wrong) that I proceeded to pour out what I thought was all of the bottles (I did this cause I needed the bottles to bottle more beer) without even tasting it. Well I had put a 6 pack of HB in the fridge two days ago that I thought was Dunkelweizen, but I opened one last night only to find out it was some cucumber Ale that had escaped the death sentence. Still a gusher, but had mellowed enough to let me taste it. While it was still green and not my favorite, it had a very interesting taste which if mellowed several more weeks could turn out to be pretty cool. Needless to say, my haste has cost me about a case and 1/2 of beer that MAY have been alright cause I jumped to conclusions- GIVE IT TIME NOOBS. GIVE IT TIME.......

 

[broadbill]

I dunno, RDWHAHB and all that crap, but it sounds like you bottled an infected batch of beer (Rancid smell, gushers). By putting the 6-pack of beer in the fridge you just slowed down the bacterial growth causing the rancid smell, etc. I'd drink it quick!

Also: how exactly did you prepare the cucumber?

 

[ozzy1038]

So this is a do as I say not as I do post? lol All of the beer that I have brewed to date is quite drinkable after 1 week in the bottle. I always sample one after a week for carbonation. If it is carbed good then I throw it in the fridge for conditioning.

Are you using a carbonation calculator?

 

[boomtown25]

It was the first time I used table sugar as I had no Corn sugar at the house. Instead of weighing, I did a volume measure off of someone's rec. on here. If I had to guess, with the fact it was dry hopped with fruit, rancid smell, AND all were gushers- I'm going with infection. But with that being said- they still tasted better after two weeks instead of the fact I could not even stomach a sip after one week.

 

[ayoungrad]

Not knowing most of the details of your batch, it doesn't sound like infection to me.

It sounds like impatience and overcarbing.

 

[ozzy1038]

Did you sample it when taking gravity readings and at bottling? How long did it primary for? Did you secondary it?

 

[boomtown25]

definitely done fermenting. Primary for 4 weeks (3 involved cucumbers). No secondary. Carboy- undisturbed besides day I addded cucumber. No signs of infection besides smell. Beer was EXTREMELY cloudy but good color. US-05.

 

[broadbill]

again, what did you do to prepare the cucumber so that it didn't infect your wort?

 

[boomtown25]

I cleaned and sanitized my counter, chooping sheet, knife peeler and spoon. I dipped all of the cucumbers in Starsan. I skinned all the cucumbers, cut them in half and used a spoon to scrape the seeds out. I then sliced the cucs up into julian style strips and then fed them through a sanitized funnel into my carboy.

 

[PIGMAN]

I was wondering why the cucumber ale disappeared from your signature.

 

[NCBeernut]

Aside from what happened to your actual beer, your silver rule actually falls under the RDWHAHB rule.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Last week I tried my Cucumber Summer Ale after a week of bottling. I knew it was green, just wanted to see how it was coming along. It was so rancid smelling and they were all gushers (I think I got the priming sugar calculations wrong) that I proceeded to pour out what I thought was all of the bottles (I did this cause I needed the bottles to bottle more beer) without even tasting it.

You...you did WHAT? You didn't even TASTE it?

Because you needed more BOTTLES? Did you know that there are plenty of sources of bottles that contain non-homebrews in them?

I sentence you to 10 lashes with a 3/8" vinyl tube.

Never crack open another homebrew beer before waiting 3 weeks.

 

[boomtown25]

I hold my head in shame and promise to never do it again. My self inflicted punishment shall be to drink every bottle I open tonight until I pass out.

 

[asidrane]

I hold my head in shame and promise to never do it again. My self inflicted punishment shall be to drink every bottle I open tonight until I pass out.

I self inflict that punishment quite often

 

[mparmer]

well, about every batch I've ever tasted of mine after only a week in the bottle was flat and tasted like hammered *******. Give them 3 or 4 weeks and the transformation is amazing.

 

[jr14]

well, about every batch I've ever tasted of mine after only a week in the bottle was flat and tasted like hammered *******.

Just out of curiosity, what does hammered ******* taste like? Gimme a comparison, because I'm at a loss.

 

[mparmer]

Hammered *******? I thought everyone knew about that.
Kind of a mix between crap and BMC

 

[jr14]

Hammered *******? I thought everyone knew about that.
Kind of a mix between crap and BMC

Dear Lord, I'm gonna regret this, but what is BMC?

 

[8rnw8]

Dear Lord, I'm gonna regret this, but what is BMC?

BMC = bud, miller, coors. Used on here to reference most beers that are mass produced.

 

[jr14]

BMC = bud, miller, coors. Used on here to reference most beers that are mass produced.

Oh for Christ's sake. I know that! I completely forgot.

Maybe I SHOULD cut down on drinking.

 

[mparmer]

Cut down on drinking? No need to over react here. Brew up another batch of good homebrew and chill out bro!

 

[frydogbrews]

yeah....geeez, going straight for the nuclear option of drinking less is never a good idea. hell, three steps before you do that you need to try to make everyone else drink more...which, in a strange way, makes it seem like you are drinking less.

 

[jr14]

Ok you convinced me. I'll drink the same, if not more. Guess I'd better brew that dunkel I've been dying to try.

 

[cmoon]

I dunno man, if you know what is wrong with your beer (infection, procedural), I don't think dumping is the sin everyone else does. A lot of brewing is about learning. Drinking bad beer isn't learning, it's punishment.

Of course there are ways to improve a bad situation, but depending on how bad it is and how much patience you have, brewing more beer (and doing it right this time) might be the best solution.

None of this violates RDWAHAHB, it does not break down at the subatomic level into ghosts and shadows

 

[PseudoChef]

I dunno man, if you know what is wrong with your beer (infection, procedural), I don't think dumping is the sin everyone else does. A lot of brewing is about learning. Drinking bad beer isn't learning, it's punishment.

Of course there are ways to improve a bad situation, but depending on how bad it is and how much patience you have, brewing more beer (and doing it right this time) might be the best solution.

None of this violates RDWAHAHB, it does not break down at the subatomic level into ghosts and shadows

I completely agree and don't think it's a sin at all. I trust my palate and what I've personally experienced in the past more than advice on the internet.

This was just a couple weeks ago:

http://www.fyurl.com/rr.php?c=2&site=www.homebrewtalk.com&url=http://i.imgur.com/mfFbz.jpg

I'd rather just brew it again and learn, than drink ****ty beer.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I completely agree and don't think it's a sin at all. I trust my palate and what I've personally experienced in the past more than advice on the internet.

This was just a couple weeks ago:

http://www.fyurl.com/rr.php?c=2&site=www.homebrewtalk.com&url=http://i.imgur.com/mfFbz.jpg

I'd rather just brew it again and learn, than drink ****ty beer.

I'd never dump a beer after only letting it sit in a bottle for a week. There's no harm in letting them sit in the bottle for two more months and then trying them again. Crappy beers start to taste pretty damn good after giving them time to grow up.

 

[jr14]

My first beer (A stout) has been in bottles since April 2nd. It's still horrible, but I have this shred of hope that one day it'll magically be cured and will taste great. Until then, I still drink the horrid stuff as a reminder NOT to screw up the next batch.

 

[cmoon]

I'd never dump a beer after only letting it sit in a bottle for a week. There's no harm in letting them sit in the bottle for two more months and then trying them again. Crappy beers start to taste pretty damn good after giving them time to grow up.

Depends on if you know what went wrong with the beer.

 

[PseudoChef]

I'd never dump a beer after only letting it sit in a bottle for a week. There's no harm in letting them sit in the bottle for two more months and then trying them again. Crappy beers start to taste pretty damn good after giving them time to grow up.

As I said, from experience with some off-flavors, I know some that just don't "age out." This was high in phenolics, and they weren't going anywhere. I have better beer to put in the fermentor.

Even if crappy beer starts to taste good after a while, I still didn't succeed in making a good beer to start off with. I don't brew to have gallons of beer around, I brew to make the best beer I can. Having limited space and storage capacity, I will always pick emptying the fermentor and brewing again to gain more experience, rather than sitting around playing a waiting game.

The scientist in me throws out this analogy: waiting for off flavors to go away is like treating a disease, but I'd much rather prevent that disease from happening in the first place.

 

[LandoLincoln]

As I said, from experience with some off-flavors, I know some that just don't "age out." This was high in phenolics, and they weren't going anywhere. I have better beer to put in the fermentor.

Even if crappy beer starts to taste good after a while, I still didn't succeed in making a good beer to start off with. I don't brew to have gallons of beer around, I brew to make the best beer I can. Having limited space and storage capacity, I will always pick emptying the fermentor and brewing again to gain more experience, rather than sitting around playing a waiting game.

The scientist in me throws out this analogy: waiting for off flavors to go away is like treating a disease, but I'd much rather prevent that disease from happening in the first place.

I'm too poor to be tossing beer. And I believe in miracles, so I don't think I'll ever toss a batch without waiting it out.