What is your ratio of keepers vs dumpers?

[Veets]

Welp. Time to give up. It's just too bad I have a bunch of hops and grains. I'll try to find a Homebrew club that will take them.
Thanks for your input.

I'm not saying anything about anyone above who has posted, but it might just be that people who have had dumpers are not willing to come out in droves and admit their mistakes or misfortune.

I had a whole run of dumpers when using old LME. Didn't figure it out until I got a fresh kit with some DME, and then repeated success with all-grain.
I've had other dumpers too, and most of them were traced back to clear mistakes that I made. Those are less frustrating than the mystery dumpers.
Brewing isn't all that hard, so you've probably just got some small things that need to be corrected.
Likewise, if you're confident of your process, then you're probably just missing a thing or two about how to put together a solid recipe.
Don't give up!

 

[FatDragon]

I've had a couple dumpers in my time, thanks to infections that didn't manifest until the beer was in the bottle. I've also forced myself to drink (or at least cook with) beer that was pretty dang bad that I should have just dumped. It can be discouraging for sure, especially when you get a run of crappy beers. If you want to call it quits, that's your decision. For my part, when that happens I tighten up my practices and go back to some basic recipes that have worked in the past.

I'd look less at my recipes if I were you and more at my practices. It's not hard to devise a solid recipe if you've read or brewed a few. The real challenge lies in following good brewing practices. A great recipe poorly brewed will be a crappy beer. A weak recipe well-brewed will almost always be better.

Try this: get several gallons of RO water, look up a simple recipe like Bee Cave Pale Ale, get some advice on salt additions and possible mash acid additions, and brew it as cleanly as you can, paying attention to do everything the right way every step of the way. If that comes out well, keep following the same practices. If not, give us your notes and let us help you figure out what went wrong and try again until you've got everything working again.

 

[histo320]

Brewed 53 batches. Only threw out one when I was trying to make A holiday ale and drank a bit too much and added too much spices. It it forever known as Ham Beer since that is what it tasted like.

I have 4 go to recipes where I rotate with new ones. For example House Pale, New Recipe, Amber, New Recipe, Vanilla Stout , New Recipe.

 

[TurnipGreen]

I’ve been brewing on and off for 15 years. I’ve dumped and screwed up with infection, oxidation or just all around bad-idea beers. I’d say only in the past 5 or so year I’ve actually paid attention to design beers I want to drink. Close attention to yeast selection, grains, temps all that stuff. So, now pretty much all my primary beers I really like. They come out the way I want them to.

That said I do a lot of second running beers ‘cause I’m cheap and I do like to experiment with techniques or ingredients I wouldn’t normally spend the money on. Those beers, probably about about a quarter of those are terrible. I made a half beer half cider that I called apple fart ‘cause it tasted like an apple farted in a miller lite.

 

[Immocles]

After half of a year, I think I’ve come across my first dumping candidate. I’m hoping it’s simply too young and will mellow out, but it wasn’t impressive at bottling and my first bottle was harsh tasting. Guessing the fermenter got too warm (it was fermenting right as the temperatures here shot up) or my repitching of notty yeast wasn’t as good of an idea as I thought. Or I just screwed up the recipe, kind of shot from the hip on that brew. Luckily my main bottle source will drink anything, and it’s only 23 more bottles.

 

[brewcat]

Welp. Time to give up. It's just too bad I have a bunch of hops and grains. I'll try to find a Homebrew club that will take them.

Thanks for your input.

Just refocus. Brew a simple recipe of a style you like. There are plenty around here. That takes the recipe out of the equation. Now focus on your processes.

Soapy? What are you using to wash (including drinking glasses)? Use something like PBW. Sanitize? Star San. How long do you have the beer sitting in the fermenter? Ale fermentation is done in under two weeks.

Sulphur? What yeast are using? How long of fermentation? Are you pitching enough healthy yeast? Are fermentation temps controlled?

Water and yeast health seem like a good place to start.

 

[S-Met]

I'm impressed with some of the numbers so many of you have brewed. I only brew 4-6 beers a year, 6-8 ciders or wines per year, and a few experiments depending on whats available and/or my imagination. This past year has been a low yield do to other projects taking precedence.

Dumpers: 1 experimental cider with a large peppermint addition that had a hint of sulfer. I drank 1/2 with friends and all reall enjoyed, but I just kept dwelling over flaws and decided to dump.
1 beer: 1st 1/2 of the keg tasted great. About a month later l took it to a bbq and it tasted awful, dumped on the spot. Can't explain, was just bad. I hooked up a commercial and it tasted terrible too. Disassemble the jockey box and saw black goopy schmootz in a connection.
Ordered parts for my own box that night. Any future problems are my own. Probably didn't need to dump the beer, but over-reacted. I'll never know for certain if it was bad, but I'm 99% sure it was the schmootz in the connectors.

I have had a few "garbage pale" or "kitchen sink" ales that are thrown together with leftover recipe ingredients that were just ok, but expectations are low for those.

 

[the-adjunct-hippie]

I have tried doing different things and new sanitization practices and simple recipes. I have refocused and tried starting over.

My bad batches started when my brother in law moved in who never ever showers (he's autistic/retarded/lazy) and after we kicked him out things still haven't improved. Up to that point every batch was 100% (2 dozen) maybe a coincidence but he probably brought disease in with him

Some of you claim to never have had a bad batch.

I think some people just have "it" and some don't. Congrats to you that do.

 

[schmurf]

I have tried doing different things and new sanitization practices and simple recipes. I have refocused and tried starting over.

My bad batches started when my brother in law moved in who never ever showers (he's autistic/retarded/lazy) and after we kicked him out things still haven't improved. Up to that point every batch was 100% (2 dozen) maybe a coincidence but he probably brought disease in with him

Some of you claim to never have had a bad batch.

I think some people just have "it" and some don't. Congrats to you that do.

I sympathise with you. I've been brewing for a year and a half or so, perhaps 40-50 batches so far. Im having a constant battle with a off-flavour I keep getting. I would say I haven't been overly satisfied with half of the brews I made, partly because of the off-flavour and partly because I simply didn't thought it was good. I have dumped quite a few of them.

Im not giving up though, I know it's possible to brew great beer and if others can do it, so can I. I've made several changes and my beers are slowly getting better and better... but it's difficult to tell what causes them to improve. I got to admit I'm somewhat envious of those who creates great beer from batch #1.

 

[VTX1300]

Two years and 35 batches. Not one bad beer. My first was the worst. That was the only one I did without temp control. Was a little harsh at first but got better with a little age.

I am VERY careful with sanitation. Never want to dump a beer due to an infection. Way too much work goes into a brew day to loose a batch that way.

I try and brew basic proven recipes to avoid creating something that is just awful.

 

[Nagorg]

I have never dumped an entire batch but there have certainly been several that didn't meet expectations. Most of those were my own recipe attempts and or the result of me trying "tweaks" here and there but its all been part of learning. Luckily the beers that didn't meet expectations weren't undrinkable due to some bad off flavor.

I've also had some that seemed disappointing at first but after a few weeks they became absolutely delicious; beer has a way of doing that! Magical stuff...

You say that you did make good beer before your brother in-law moved in? If so, we know that you can make beer that meets your standards. It's unlikely that a person's presence had somehow caused your beers to be off. It does sound like something has happened in your process somewhere.

Do you use brewing software? Is it possible that your brother in-law got on your computer and jacked with some core settings that would have adverse affects on the recipe? If not, I also agree that the water seems to be where I'd focus.

 

[njviking]

When compared to commercial examples - being as good as the pros, what's your ratio of the recipes you keep because they're really good versus the failures i.e. the dumps/meh/won't do that again?

I've brewed about 50 different batches of beer. Out of those 50 I have about 5 recipes I've concocted that I would keep and brew again and do as a flagship line up in a fantasy brewery. I think that's pretty poor averages, but maybe it's normal compared to everyone.

I brewed what I thought was going to be an absolutely amazing NE IPA (based on an IA Wrench clone), and had one bottle that was decent but a little soapy, and another bottle that was pure sulfur. Not sure what to think about it. Sometimes I can't get anything right, and I get sick of wasting ingredients because my IPAs taste either soapy or astringent, and aren't smooth, soft, or sweet. Just wondering if my batting average is...well, average, or if it's piss poor.

Cheers

How long are you letting the beer in the primary. That may be a contributor to your soapy taste. Generally doesn't happen except for long oh crap I forgot about that beer. It does however happen.

Maybe 3weeks in the fermenters then bottle /keg.

I generally dump 1out of 10 batches for various reasons, mostly for the demons in my head telling me it sucked and it was far better last time.

 

[mwilcox]

I have tried doing different things and new sanitization practices and simple recipes. I have refocused and tried starting over.

My bad batches started when my brother in law moved in who never ever showers (he's autistic/retarded/lazy) and after we kicked him out things still haven't improved. Up to that point every batch was 100% (2 dozen) maybe a coincidence but he probably brought disease in with him

Some of you claim to never have had a bad batch.

I think some people just have "it" and some don't. Congrats to you that do.

I will also say that as an experienced judge, I've tasted a ton of beer that evidently someone thought was good...that wasn't. Just sayin'

 

[thehaze]

66 batches and enjoyed them all. No dumpers.

It seems you experience issues with IPAs. Maybe try to brew other styles and onmce you get a better hold of the process, sanitation, etc. can move on to trying IPAs again.

Lemon and grapefruit does not sound bad, but if you are using the same or similar hops, you will kinda get more of the same.

 

[FleEsq]

I dump more than I should. Of batches that are really screwed up maybe 5. But, I like to experiment with my recipes, and I am particular as to what I drink. Therefore probably 20% are dumped because the beer does not align with my taste preference. Life is to short to drink bad beer.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

If you're implying we don't dump batches because we don't mind mediocre swill, that's not the case.

Maybe, maybe not. Taste is incredibly subjective and a terribly weak sense. My FIL has been brewing for like 6 years and his beers aren't that good. I've begun realizing how not good once I started brewing. He brews with extract still(adds it all at beginning of the boil) and does nothing with his water(almost definitely has chlorine issues). But he loves his stuff and talks it up a lot. If he posted here he'd be one of the 'My stuff is great, I never dump' data points. So...

Anyways OP, I've been brewing a year and have had a couple complete dumpers. And also quite a few that I was disappointed in but weren't completely terrible and got drank. What I have noticed is my beer quality has improved as my process has improved, so I'd look at that moreso than thinking recipe is flawed. Namely O2 minimization, at least in my case because I do mostly hoppy IPAs. Once I started doing closed transfers I noticed improvement, and my last 5 batches I've been fermenting in kegs, to make dry hopping and transferring without O2 even easier. Since I've done that I feel like my beer quality has stepped up another level, on par and sometimes better than the expensive craft beer I buy at the store.

 

[BobBailey]

Just over 11 years and never dumped a batch. I did have one dump itself when the inlet hose popped off of my chiller

 

[kh54s10]

You have really asked 2 different things here.

Dumpers as opposed to brews that you would "Flagship".

Dumpers, I have had 2, both were extreme. One very high ABV and it didn't ferment low enough - very sweet. I use half for cooking.
The other was highly hopped, and it stayed a pea green opaque color. I didn't taste it? It might have been ok??

If I were looking for great beers for a hypothetical brewery, of my recipes, I might take 5 to 10 of all the 107 recipes I have done.

Most of the ones I would not use in a brewery were quite good, none other than those two were bad. Though I have one bottled right now that I haven't decided on - green apple off flavor.

If you are considering quitting because all your beers aren't GREAT, and you think they have to be, maybe you should quit.

If you are truly making bad beer, describe your procedure, recipe on HBT, get tips to fix it. You should be able to correct things and make good beer.

 

[kh54s10]

I think some people just have "it" and some don't. Congrats to you that do.

I absolutely believe this statement is garbage. Brewing is not something that you need to have a "gift" for. Do you cook? Do you have to throw out most of what you cook?

You are doing something wrong. HBT can help you zero in on what the problem is. Once corrected you can brew good beer.

If you are comparing your homebrew beers to the very best commercial beers, and anything less is a dumper, then you are correct, you don't have "it" That would be your expectations just being too high. But you should be able to meet or exceed the average commercial craft beer.

 

[brew703]

Out of 65 batches, I've dumped one 3 gal batch. I have a SNPA clone I brewed end of Feb and it's been on tap for a month now and it has a funky taste. I haven't tried it in about two weeks but gonna give it another try this coming weekend. If the taste is still there then it will be dumper #2.

 

[lump42]

I have tried doing different things and new sanitization practices and simple recipes. I have refocused and tried starting over.

My bad batches started when my brother in law moved in who never ever showers (he's autistic/retarded/lazy) and after we kicked him out things still haven't improved. Up to that point every batch was 100% (2 dozen) maybe a coincidence but he probably brought disease in with him

Some of you claim to never have had a bad batch.

I think some people just have "it" and some don't. Congrats to you that do.

I was just saying I've never had one that had to be dumped plenty that didn't meet my expectations and that I seriously considered. It probably helps that the hoppiest beers I brew are sierra inspired pale ales. I had a berliner that was way sour, I just took it as an opportunity to try different syrups to add to the glass. Told myself I was going the traditional route. I have 10 gal of cider that I screwed up the nutrients and tasted like fart. I spent an entire day pressing the juice and wasn't giving up without a fight. I worked hard on getting it out, close to it, but I'll probably have to blend the residual sulfur taste out. This is my second batch of cider. I'll learn and adapt.

It is okay to take a break from brewing if you think you're getting burned out. Or try some extract kits just to go back to a known quantity. I use them all the time when I'm short on time.

Like any skill, people don't have it or not. You have to practice and self-evaluate and practice. Michelangelo didn't just wake up and paint a church ceiling.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

My bad batches started when my brother in law moved in who never ever showers (he's autistic/retarded/lazy) and after we kicked him out things still haven't improved. Up to that point every batch was 100% (2 dozen) maybe a coincidence but he probably brought disease in with him

Odd observation. So your batches were ALL really good prior to this, and ALL really bad after? I doubt he brought something with him that good sanitation practices can't take care of, but if you think the bad batches are infection of some sort you could replace your equipment. If that doesn't help maybe it's all in your head

 

[verboten]

I like to think I make good beers, it's the ones that don't live up to my expectations that I will pass off to people that love bud light. they like my beer that I don't care for because it's free. I'm ok with that. If I didn't have them to pawn it off on, I would definitely be dumping it.

 

[jack13]

Done 101 batches, dumped 2 of them, #1 and #49. #1 was a kit with incorrect instructions (and at that point I didn't know enough to second guess them) and #49 was when I bottled a beer that, apparently, hadn't finished fermenting.

Had a few not so great ones for sure, but I muscled them down.

 

[HomeBrewMasterRace]

Only ever had 1 batch that turned out not so good out of 20ish batches. This one just fermented a little to warm, thankfully it was a blonde so I waited 6 months to drink. Ended up being just, 'fine'

 

[grampamark]

I've brewed 80-85 batches (I didn’t keep good notes when I started) and haven't dumped one yet. As a few others have commented, I’ve made up some “leftovers” recipes on the spur of the moment, but those were just something I wouldn't brew again, not something that was undrinkable.

I brew styles I like and don’t experiment with the latest flavor of the week beers. I have about half a dozen recipes that I brew in a random rotation. After brewing the same recipe 5 or 6 times there aren't many surprises.

 

[303Dan]

People have different criteria for what they consider a “dumper” or reasons they would dump a batch. In well over 100 batches, I’ve only had 2 that got dumped due to something that made the beer undrinkable for most anyone. But I’ve dumped a lot of partial kegs of what most people would probably consider decent beer for various reasons where I didn’t want it to take up one of my taps.

I drink 95% of my own beer and I have three taps available. I probably only drink 5-10 beers a week on average and I do still buy commercial quite a bit. I hate bottling with the fire of a thousand suns, so giving away my beer isn’t a very viable option. So, if I develop a recipe and brew it and it doesn’t end up being the beer I was envisioning, or it’s not something I’m going to be excited to drink 5 gallons of, I don’t hesitate to dump it after I give it a little time to condition (depending on style), just to free up that tap. If I didn’t, at the rate I drink, I would brew far less than I’d like.

Is that approach somewhat wasteful and expensive? Sure. But for me, brewing is the hobby and I want to do it often, experiment and get better. I wish I had a better route for giving beer away so I didn’t have to dump it, but I don’t right now.

 

[snarf7]

100% of my recipes are good.

Your experience is not normal.

Across 65 batches, the only thing I ever dumped was a 1 gal cider that I pitched on the cake from a previous batch. It tasted like hard boiled eggs (not sulfide).

Spoken like a man with no sense of taste...

Seriously though, starting out its a crap shoot, sometimes it works out well, sometimes not so much but still drinkable and sometimes it's a disaster. But once you master the fundamentals and stop making boneheaded mistakes you should be making pretty decent beer and then it just becomes a matter of fine tuning it. If a recipe I design turns out to be 'meh', i record everything i can think of about it, I put it aside for awhile but I always come back to it to work on it because that's where I learn the most.

At this point I'd say for me it breaks down as:

70% - keeper recipes that I really enjoy...doesn't mean they're perfect, far from it! But they're solid delicious brews that I enjoy and my friends and family enjoy too. With each batch I'll tweak something to see if it makes it better. Some of them are getting close to perfect for me and what I want, some still need some fine tuning

20% - acceptable but unremarkable...needs work

10% - discard pile - sometimes the concept is just all wrong, sometimes it's just a new style I try that I don't care for, whatever the reason, if I don't enjoy it, I'll toss it

 

[VirginiaHops1]

So, if I develop a recipe and brew it and it doesn’t end up being the beer I was envisioning, or it’s not something I’m going to be excited to drink 5 gallons of, I don’t hesitate to dump it after I give it a little time to condition (depending on style), just to free up that tap. If I didn’t, at the rate I drink, I would brew far less than I’d like.

Me too. I brew 2.5-3 gallon batches so that helps me brew more often but I have no issues dumping the last gallon of a batch if I don't love it and need the room for something else coming online. I think brewing is fun and have little interest in 'choking' down mediocre batches out of principal now that I am able to produce some really good ones.

 

[IPAman6815]

Been brewing for just over a year and I've only had to dump 1 batch out of 16. I've had other batches that were OK but those came from kits. I have done 6 all grain batches and all 6 have been great.

 

[kh54s10]

I don't brew often enough that I want to dump one to free up a keg. Besides, after a move, my kegs are in storage.

I like all styles and there are so many variations to try that I have not totally dialed in any recipe.
To rank percentages like snarf7 did, but a little differently:

Exceptional = 2%
Very good 45%
Good 45%
not so good 7%
Dumpers 1%

99% drinkable. If I got very selective I would still drink, probably 5% or so of the bottom 8% of not so good/dumper beers. Or at least cook with some of it.

All this is without specialized equipment, water amendments or pH measuring.

 

[catdaddy66]

I don't brew often enough that I want to dump one to free up a keg. Besides, after a move, my kegs are in storage.

I like all styles and there are so many variations to try that I have not totally dialed in any recipe.
To rank percentages like snarf7 did, but a little differently:

Exceptional = 2%
Very good 45%
Good 45%
not so good 7%
Dumpers 1%

99% drinkable. If I got very selective I would still drink, probably 5% or so of the bottom 8% of not so good/dumper beers. Or at least cook with some of it.

All this is without specialized equipment, water amendments or pH measuring.

Sounds like a normal bell shaped curve.

 

[kh54s10]

Sounds like a normal bell shaped curve.

Look at that again.... 5 grades. Average or above = 92% Average or below = 53%

 

[catdaddy66]

Look at that again.... 5 grades. Average or above = 92% Average or below = 53%

That adds up to 145%

I was making a generalized observation that the majority of your product falls in the "good" range and the outliers are the dumpers and the exceptional. Again, just meant in general. YMMV

 

[bobeer]

I have somewhere of 120 or so batches brewed and I've dumped 2 because they were with water I had never used before and I brewed a 2nd one before I waited to see what the 1st one was like.
I have brewed a few other batches that, while have been drinkable, were far from my favorite. Of my ~120 batches I'd say there's maybe 10 I'd brew again; and have. Some are fine and some are less than/more than fine but just wouldn't want a 5 gallon batch of it again. I'm actually on a beer right now that I have kegged that i'm on the fence about. It's drinkable but not really what I was going for. It happens.

You have to ask yourself why you are brewing in the first place. If it's to make really good beer at home then that comes with lots of practice. 50 batches isn't enough IMO to say you're good at it or not. 50 batches says, "I'm interested in brewing and I want to make the best beer I can." That takes time and lots of trial and error, little tweaks on a recipe, little tweaks on process, changing ingredients, etc... Since you can't really change too much at once you're stuck brewing a lot of the same batch until you nail it to where you'd like.
If you're brewing to only have good beer at home and not to learn or create a hobby out of it then maybe just buying beer and experimenting with different styles you can buy is more of what you're looking for.

I got started with clone recipes and then tweaked them from there. My thoughts were I already know what the commercial beer tastes like so lets see how it affects the taste if I change one thing. Then take it from there.

IDK... I feel if you like brewing don't let this shut it down. Change a process here or there and see what happens. Read a lot about your issues and see if any known reasons match up to what you're doing. If you like the idea of brewing and this one thing is getting you down then just solve it and move on. You can do it! We're all here to help.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I have tried doing different things and new sanitization practices and simple recipes. I have refocused and tried starting over.

My bad batches started when my brother in law moved in who never ever showers (he's autistic/retarded/lazy) and after we kicked him out things still haven't improved. Up to that point every batch was 100% (2 dozen) maybe a coincidence but he probably brought disease in with him

Some of you claim to never have had a bad batch.

I think some people just have "it" and some don't. Congrats to you that do.

Oh good it looks like you've found yourself a scapegoat, that's a critical but often overlooked step in the quitting process. This way you can look back on the entire experience without having learned anything.

Just be sure in the future when anyone brings up the topic of homebrewing in conversation that you don't spew your toxic negativity on an innocent bystander, especially if they've never had a dumper.

 

[RustyHorn]

I have tried doing different things and new sanitization practices and simple recipes. I have refocused and tried starting over.

My bad batches started when my brother in law moved in who never ever showers (he's autistic/retarded/lazy) and after we kicked him out things still haven't improved. Up to that point every batch was 100% (2 dozen) maybe a coincidence but he probably brought disease in with him

Some of you claim to never have had a bad batch.

I think some people just have "it" and some don't. Congrats to you that do.

I sympathise with you. I've been brewing for a year and a half or so, perhaps 40-50 batches so far. Im having a constant battle with a off-flavour I keep getting. I would say I haven't been overly satisfied with half of the brews I made, partly because of the off-flavour and partly because I simply didn't thought it was good. I have dumped quite a few of them.

Im not giving up though, I know it's possible to brew great beer and if others can do it, so can I. I've made several changes and my beers are slowly getting better and better... but it's difficult to tell what causes them to improve. I got to admit I'm somewhat envious of those who creates great beer from batch #1.

Are you both moving your beer to the fermenter before it has cooled after the boil? I ask because, when I stopped doing that, a strange off flavour (that is never described in off flavour literature) vanished. Just an idea...

 

[kh54s10]

That adds up to 145%

I was making a generalized observation that the majority of your product falls in the "good" range and the outliers are the dumpers and the exceptional. Again, just meant in general. YMMV

You are right, I added the middle group to both ends to show that it is not a bell curve. To make it more clear to you I probably should have split the middle group in two. So above average = 69.5 and below average = 30.5

Or this. I guess it is a bell curve but it is not symmetrical.

Actually I would put my below average percentage even less than that.

 

[Murphys_Law]

I'm probably close to 60 batches, mostly BIAB. I've outright dumped 1 keg that tasted liked crap and poured out more than a few bottles for various reasons (gushers, didn't care for the beer, etc). I'm not saying all my beers are stellar but most have been decent drinkers and some were delicious.

I have a jalapeno cream ale from last year that's OK but nothing great so those may get the drain so I can free up some storage room

 

[schmurf]

Are you both moving your beer to the fermenter before it has cooled after the boil? I ask because, when I stopped doing that, a strange off flavour (that is never described in off flavour literature) vanished. Just an idea...

I chill with a immersion chiller before transfer to fermentor.