worst beer you ever made

[finley]

My first all-grain got an infection, and I did so many things wrong I just dumped it. But my worst that was somewhat drinkable was my second all-grain, a Hefeweizen. The city had apparently dumped chloramine in massive amounts into the water supply to combat some other issues in the water supply, and I didn't account for that. Plus I had to use a yeast starter from a harvested bottle. The whole thing had a somewhat metallic taste to it. Not strong, but not good. Oddly enough it tasted like a BMC from the can to me.

I would have just gone through it slowly, but a slight leak in a new pin-lock adapter in the keezer left 3 gallons pooling in the bottom to clean out.

 

[dedhedjed]

My worst is still in the fermenter...a two gallon extract batch of bacon beer...kind of a gag gift for a friend that loves bacon but hates beer...dry hopped with a few ounces of crumbled bacon...that wasn't enough so i added about 8 ounces of bacon bits...tried a sample from the fermenter last night...its brutal.

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

My first all-grain was a Dogfish Head clone that was soooooo terrible. My process sucked, my efficiency sucked, and the stopper blew out of my carboy 8 hours into fermentation. It mellowed out a tiny bit after 3 months but it was still gross. But, I manned up and drank every bottle anyway.

 

[beerisgood]

My first 5 gallon batch was an AHS Texas Red. It had some wierd off flavor that I attribute to high fermentation temp and as I have since learned, I just don't like Reds.

 

[Kriznac]

My second all grain batch. A hefe with orange peel and some other spice added in the boil. Tasted absolutely horrible. I don't think anybody ever drank a full bottle, usually just one or two drinks and down the drain it went. Kept it around for a few months before deciding it wasn't going to get better and reclaimed my bottles. Months later I found a bottle of it hidden in the fridge, it still tasted like dog s**t.

 

[munche]

I made a "Half Wit" that was advertised as tasting like "bud light wheat with more flavor" which was my first mistake. Then I added way too much water and ended up taking it from it's intended 4.5abv down to 3.5abv. Add some off flavors, and the whole thing is a mess

I named it Wheatastrophe.

 

[Clann]

worst beer was suppose to be a pale ale but ended up being a super bitter with the addition of 1\2# of special b. oops

 

[QuaffableQuips]

My worst beer was my second batch. My first batch (an extract pale ale) tasted so wonderful that I thought I could just jump straight in to partial mashing. However, I incorrectly believed "partial mash" to be a synonym for "steep specialty grains." So I meticulously steeped nearly four pounds of grain, didn't sparge a thing, and undershot the O.G. by some obscene amount.

Then I pitched a single smack pack of Belgian Abbey II when the wort had reached a cool 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

The resulting liquid was so damned fruity that I christened it "Carmen Miranda's Hat." :fro: I also invented a new BJCP category for it: Belgian Abbey Flubbel.

Yet, my friends and I managed to drink every last one...

 

[mvdilts]

worst one (that wasn't due to an infection) so far was an attempt at an IPA that I just removed from my kegerator -- it was my first attempt at BIAB and wound up tasting like hoppy dishwater.

 

[vandeg]

The mr. beer kit when I began (actually very 1st batch), learned the lesson of rinsing soap out of bottles completely, letting bottles condition a while longer, and its not as fun as a regular extract kit.

 

[brewagentjay]

Sweet Water Blue AG version so far

 

[November]

As an experiment, I made a batch from the second runnings of a pilsner and added sugar to get the gravity up. Tastes like hoppy water.

 

[Zamial]

My wormwood IPA. I read everything I could find on using it. I used 1/8 oz in 5 gallons and it has a NASTY far back of the tongue bitter flavor. I normally have a real IIPA then follow it with one of these as it helps to mask that "flavor". I brewed it so I will drink it. I do have a friend that thinks its great and he is helping to get rid of it as well. If there is any left that will be his xmas gift lol. The wormwood wrecked this otherwise awesome IPA.

I now strongly advise anyone thinking about using wormwood to seriously reconsider.

 

[bknifefight]

My worst was my first, a brown ale. I had very old yeast and it didn't ferment at all. I didn;t know what krausen looked like and no hydrometer so I assumed it was done after two weeks and bottled. Fast forward a few weeks to our house warming party, I put several bottles in the fridge and deemed it a "Beer Premier." Yeah, it was terrible.

 

[mpruett]

Of ones I did not botch in the process and/or get infected, there was a pale ale that I made the mistake of using Chinook hops in. I think the AA levels were mismarked, or I made an error in my calculations, because it ended up so bitter that it actually would cause that same pucker reaction that lemon juice does- it kind of reminded me of the sensation of sticking my tongue on a 9v battery.

It was just about undrinkable, considering the OG was only about 1.040.

(I'm not a hophead; while I do like hoppy beers, I tend to go more for balance than sheer hop magnitude)

 

[Homebrewtastic]

My first attempt at an AG. I hadn't built an MLT yet and just did BIAB. My efficiency was insanely low. It was a SMaSH APA... or rather it was supposed to be. It had the body of a BMC but really hoppy. Overall it wasn't a really bad beer, but definitely the worst I've made.

 

[thedirtystayout]

I brewed a dunkelweiss recently, but it has turned out sour... almost like a lambic. Iv'e been holding out hope, but I don't think it will improve. It was my 3rd brew, first time using liquid yeast. I didnt see any airlock activity after 3 days, so I opened it to check it. My LHBS said to take a hydrometer reading. I had to break the kraussen to do so and skimmed that chunk off fearing infection. I believe that in doing so, the wort became susceptible to natural yeasts and turned. I'm usually patient, so that was a lesson in staying patient.

 

[BaldApe]

I tried to make a Scotch Ale with Liquid Smoke. Only undrinkable batch I have ever brewed.

 

[devilishprune]

I tried to make a Scotch Ale with Liquid Smoke. Only undrinkable batch I have ever brewed.

Sad first post.

 

[Valcarde]

My Raspberry Wheat so far is the most horrible thing I've brewed.

Barely any carbonation, way too much raspberry flavor, and as its aged, it's just gotten worse.

Wound up being a dumper. But I know where I went wrong, and can fix it the next time I make a batch, at least.

 

[nobody]

mine would be a mr.beer kit called american devil ipa. it was so bad nobody liked it!! it sit for 7 or 8 monthes and we tried it again. even worse than the first timewe tried it:cross:!!!

 

[johntangus]

I have two batches that are tied for worst. Ed Wort's Pale Ale - ordered from Brewmaster's Warehouse with the Bee Cave Brewery label and everything. Probably would've been fine if I hadn't fermented it at about 85-90 degrees in our spare bedroom during the summer. Tasted like a huge banana fart.

Then, the other one was my attempt at Ed Wort's Apfelwein (sorry Ed), I followed the recipe until I dumped the apple juice on top of a used yeast cake that I had fermented something hoppy with. It tastes like pure nastiness - still, over a year later.

 

[excalibeer]

A Corona clone, fermented at an accidental 76 degrees(and which turned orange within a week), which we promptly christened "Fail Ale".

 

[pkincaid]

My second brew ever was absolutely disgusting! It was my first attempt at a partial, everything seemed to go well enough during the process, but the end result was an extraordinarily bitter, watery mess. The hop additions should have produced a 21IBU brew, but it tasted like I was drinking rubbing alcohol mixed with warheads. Told my hubby that I dropped the bucket and spilt it.... till this day that's what he thinks happened to his beloved American Ale.

 

[billtzk]

A clone of Chimay Blue. It tasted muddy and it would knock me for a loop. I couldn't drink more than one pint at a time. Yech.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

I made 10 gallons of "pilsner" that I lagered all summer. It tasted like grass clippings mixed with vomit.

I think i underpitched....... Nothing like watching 10 gallons pour out into the yard...

 

[neko]

I had a fresh hop that had some bad yeast and just had a nasty taste that didn't go away no matter how long I waited. That got poured down the drain when something much better needed a home.

I also have one on tap now that somehow went bad halfway through the keg. The weird thing is that I took it to a BBQ during the summer and people said it was better than Dead Guy. Now I can't take more than two sips before dumping the pint. I'm leaving it until I need that keg, but nobody drinks it and I don't tell anyone it's there.

 

[bad coffee]

I FWH'd a centennial pale ale. The first week it might have been the 2nd or 3rd best beer I've ever made. After that it tasted like salad and smelled like the bottom of the grass pile when you accidentally stir it up.

First dumper.

B

 

[markg388]

I made a lovely bavarian hef once that called for simply 1 oz of hallertau hops at the boil, so i just dumped the whole package in. I didn't realize until bottling day that I had bought those hops at a new homebrew store where they sell them in 2oz packages. It was horrid.

 

[D_Struct]

My worst batch was probably my first, a Celis Raspberry clone.

Bitter and astringent. I loved every last unpalatable drop of it, though. lol