Worst brewing accident yet!

[McGlothan]

I made a Rye IPA 3 weeks ago with some local hops I picked here near my home in Carbondale, CO. I pitched some washed Pacman yeast I had in a mason jar in my fridge. I made a starter of course as it had been in my fridge for a while. OG was 1.076 when I pitched the yeast. Fermentation started off beautifully and I put the fermenter away in my fridge at 64 degrees. At the three week mark, I checked my gravity and tried a sample. The beer was still at 1.040 and tasted sour to me. Instantly I thought the washed yeast in my fridge must have been bad and therefore the batch was ruined. 5 GALLONS DOWN THE DRAIN! Well, this morning lying in bed (now 2 days since I dumped the batch) I realized I had washed belgian yeast in the fridge also. Then I thought, that explains the sour taste. THEN I THOUGHT, if I was fermenting belgian yeast at 64 degrees, that explains the slow fermentation. Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I don't even have anymore Pacman yeast in the fridge. I DID use belgian yeast and dumped a perfectly good belgian IPA. I'm PISSED! I have learned a hard lesson to label washed yeast.

 

[ted464]

Wow that sucks. I am truly sorry for your loss.

 

[thadass]

And hopefully you learned to warm up your beer/add more yeast/rouse yeast/sing songs to your fermentor/write a love song/take a nap before ever dumping your beer

 

[McGlothan]

And hopefully you learned to warm up your beer/add more yeast/rouse yeast/sing songs to your fermentor/write a love song/take a nap before ever dumping your beer

Well usually when I ferment ale yeast at 64 degrees it has no problem fully fermenting. I thought I was using Pacman which is extremely tolerant of low temperature. Belgian yeast will slow to a halt at low temperature. I usually ferment belgian yeast in the 75-80 degree range. Trust me, I will sing songs and arouse/sleep with/make love to my fermenter before I dump a batch that quickly ever again. I guess I was blindsided by the flavor I thought I was supposed to have and the flavor I tasted. I instantly thought, infection!

 

[Glynn]

Are you sure it wasnt pacman. I have a batch of iipa that was at the same og as yours and fermented at 60 and has stopped at 1.040. So far i have had no luck getting it to kick back in. iv stirred it, ramped it up to 72 and it still wont kick off

 

[neo71665]

Duct tape and a sharpie does wonders to avoid mixing bottles/jars up.

 

[Melana]

there are few things duct tape can't fix.

 

[ChefRex]

Duct tape is silver but silence is golden!
Blue painters tape would be a better choice.

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

I write directly on the glass jar with a sharpie. It comes right off with oxi n some light scrubbing.

 

[TexanRudeboy]

I write directly on the glass jar with a sharpie. It comes right off with oxi n some light scrubbing.

Acetone (nail polish remover) takes permanent marker off of glass, metal, plastic, anything instantly. No scrubbing. Just a dab on a paper towel.

 

[junior]

Was going for an OG 1.065 and ended up with 1.066, what a mess!

 

[McGlothan]

Are you sure it wasnt pacman. I have a batch of iipa that was at the same og as yours and fermented at 60 and has stopped at 1.040. So far i have had no luck getting it to kick back in. iv stirred it, ramped it up to 72 and it still wont kick off

Yeah I'm sure it was a Belgian strain and not Pacman. I made a Belgian strong ale a while back and washed the yeast. The jars I had looked identical to some jars of Pacman I had washed from an oatmeal stout. The sour taste I got from the yeast makes sense now but threw me off when I tasted it thinking it was Pacman. I still haven't replaced the batch and all fermenters are empty. I can't help but wonder how it would have turned out.

 

[RosettaSt0ned]

Acetone (nail polish remover) takes permanent marker off of glass, metal, plastic, anything instantly. No scrubbing. Just a dab on a paper towel.

So will writing over it with a dry-erase marker and then erasing it off.

 

[SpeedYellow]

... label washed yeast.

^^ The cliffs notes version of this thread. You're welcome.

 

[fxdude]

If that's your worst brewing accident yet then you just need to brew more batches as they do get worse

 

[LandoLincoln]

And hopefully you learned to warm up your beer/add more yeast/rouse yeast/sing songs to your fermentor/write a love song/take a nap before ever dumping your beer

No homebrewer should be able to dump beer on their own. All homebrewers must be required to fill out an online form on the AHA website stating why they want to dump their beer and then a fellow homebrewer will be dispatched to verify that the beer should indeed be dumped.

 

[thadass]

We refer to offenders as having "Bad beer DNA". Coincidently this subsection of the AHA is called BAD DNA (Brewers Against Dumping/Dumping Not Allowed)

 

[SpeedYellow]

What's wrong with dumping a lousy batch? If more brewers were willing to dump out their garbage, home brewing would have a better reputation. It's your sacred duty as a brewer to dispense only good beer. Dumpers Unite!

 

[dangerbrew]

What's wrong with dumping a lousy batch? If more brewers were willing to dump out their garbage, home brewing would have a better reputation. It's your sacred duty as a brewer to dispense only good beer. Dumpers Unite!

I think it's our sacred duty to dispense AND produce only good beer as better brewers, and to become a better brewer you have to taste, troubleshoot, and correct your mistakes. And even then you will continue to have problems and will learn from them, but you will never learn if you keep dumping batches just because a beer tastes "off". I'm reminded of Revvy's immortal post.

Most of all, I think to be better brewers we really need to really pay attention to what we're doing at all times and be very conscious of how important things like note-taking and labeling and the paperwork aspect of the hobby is. If you don't know what mistakes you made, you'll never be able to correct them and you'll learn much less from the experience and will continue to produce a subpar product for all the time and effort you initially put into the job. Better to make all that energy and expense worth your while every single time, no?

Just my $0.02

 

[DeBAD]

there are few things duct tape can't fix.

Duct tape not only can fix things, it can prevent things too. Great for home made condoms for sons and chastity belts for daughters.

 

[SpeedYellow]

I think it's our sacred duty to dispense AND produce only good beer as better brewers, and to become a better brewer you have to taste, troubleshoot, and correct your mistakes. And even then you will continue to have problems and will learn from them, but you will never learn if you keep dumping batches just because a beer tastes "off". I'm reminded of Revvy's immortal post.

Most of all, I think to be better brewers we really need to really pay attention to what we're doing at all times and be very conscious of how important things like note-taking and labeling and the paperwork aspect of the hobby is. If you don't know what mistakes you made, you'll never be able to correct them and you'll learn much less from the experience and will continue to produce a subpar product for all the time and effort you initially put into the job. Better to make all that energy and expense worth your while every single time, no?

Just my $0.02

Sure, I agree with all that. When you make a lousy batch, try to figure out where it went wrong and keep a few bottles for further review and for others to critique. Dump the rest and move on. Keep good notes that include your best guess as to what went wrong. None of this justifies DRINKING 5 gallons of crappy beer -- life's too short for that.

And if you've correctly identified the problem, how can you possibly justify drinking your mistake? I see no logic in that.

 

[Bennywisest]

I force myself to drink all of the mistake as a lesson to never do whatever I did wrong again.

 

[McGlothan]

I dumped the batch because I tasted something that was totally unexpected. I don't consider it as much of a loss as I do a good lesson. I know what my IPA's taste like, I have brewed many of them and have always had consistent results. Belgian yeast is something that will surely throw you off if you didn't realize that you accidentally used it. I understand thinking things through before you dump a batch, but I tasted something TOTALLY different than what I was going for and I don't even like Belgian IPA's. Im not sure why the two styles have found a way to come together, of course thats just my opinion. I don't believe leaving a mistake in my fermenter to remind me to label washed yeast would make me a better home brewer. The lesson was learned when I tasted it, then down the drain to beer hell where it belongs. I will replace it with something better than I have ever made because I am pissed off. That is how I become motivated to make better beer. Everyone is motivated to make better beer in a different way. My theory is, if you dump a batch the next one better be TWICE as good!

 

[dangerbrew]

My theory is, if you dump a batch the next one better be TWICE as good!

That's the spirit.

 

[fuelish]

Acetone (nail polish remover) takes permanent marker off of glass, metal, plastic, anything instantly. No scrubbing. Just a dab on a paper towel.

Working at my local hospital, someone showed me a trick that works well, at least on solid surfaces (glass, plastic, etc). Completely scribble over the permanent marker with dry-erase marker, then wipe it right off...works a charm