What do you do with bad batches?

[petep1980]

I have 2 bad batches sitting in kegs now. A weird tasting Belgian Dubbel and a pathetic Cherry Wheat. I don't have anything ready to keg, so they aren't blocking anything. Soon my O-fest will be ready. Should I just disconnect them from CO2 and age them until someday I may be desperate? Maybe they'll improve over time?

 

[Revvy]

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

I've yet to have one that didn't become at least drinkable over time.

 

[babalu87]

I have 2 bad batches sitting in kegs now. A weird tasting Belgian Dubbel and a pathetic Cherry Wheat. I don't have anything ready to keg, so they aren't blocking anything. Soon my O-fest will be ready. Should I just disconnect them from CO2 and age them until someday I may be desperate? Maybe they'll improve over time?

Let them sit, time may not heal all wounds but it can heal some.

Depending on what the definition of bad is you can throw some funky bottle dregs at it and see where it takes you.

Last October a friend had a keg of Dunkelweizen that he was gonna throw out........... it had been sitting about 6 months and tasted "off" then.
I said, lets pull a sample.
Long story short that beer went on his serving tower and was gone pretty quick, it was a nice funky sour brown

 

[petep1980]

The belgian is drinkable now.

I'll need keezer room, does it matter if I store at basement or keezer temps? I should be able to lager one of them.

 

[aMillionDreams]

Blend it with a fruit beer. Sweetness masks a lot of off flavors.

 

[Malticulous]

Life's too short to drink bad beer.

 

[niquejim]

Life's too short to drink bad beer.

+1
I'd rather dump a batch than drink something that isn't up to my standards. I don't brew to save money. I brew to make beers that I like, so if I don't like it...seeyaa

 

[dasBuhbuh]

i drink all mistakes. you learn pretty quick that way. if they dont appear to improve with age, they still inevitably get ingested.

right now, i have my first batch of mead that i mistakenly used philadelphia city water for (completely forgot about the ****ton of chloramine they add to make it the some of the "cleanest" city waters in the country. needless to say, it tastes dull and plasticy. its difficult to even gulp down quickly let alone sipping it. the plastic gets worse every time. to reinforce the "dont use chlorinated water - spring water is really cheap" part, i am drinking every bottle. slowly, but surely.

on the bright side, i have had terrible beer go from bad to worse to fantastic over the course of a year so that was a good surprise.

 

[android]

i'm leaning over to the dump it side. i've got a keg of a notty "lager" that just plain sucks. I keep trying it trying to convince myself that it's OK, but it's not. it'll be my first dump and it'll feel good.

 

[petep1980]

I also don't brew to save money. I do it to drink superior beer. I think I'll end up dumping it.

 

[Sigafoos]

My first batch is horribly oxidized, or something. Time's not going to heal that wound.

Dumping hits you in the mental nads, no doubt. I need to figure out what to do with my 1-2gals of bacon beer remaining before my saison is ready.

 

[Tlylebrew]

My first two batches were sub-standard because I did just about everything wrong, pitched at too high of a temp, fermented too high, didn't let it sit in primary long enough.. Since then haven't had a bad batch to speak of.

 

[markg388]

Another batch-dumper here, apparently I like to learn my lessons the hard way...

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

I usually end up giving beers I don't enjoy to my brother because he'll drink just about anything. I've ended up drinking a few bad ones myself though.

Like someone else said, my first batch was horribly oxidized and I can't bring myself to drink the last 4. They've been sitting in the back of my fridge for months. I'm sure someone will drink them eventually, even if it's me after I've had 1 too many.

 

[ArcaneXor]

First, I let them age. If that doesn't work, I try blending, adding flavorings or adding carbonated water to make a Radler. If none of those taste good, I try it for cooking things like sausages, mashed potatoes, etc.