First tossed brew

[cmarshall1087]

So I'm still really new (only 3 batches made), but I'm about to toss a batch for the first time.

I made a vanilla cream ale extract kit, that I followed instructions to the letter. OG was on point, everything smelled good, tasted good...then I pitched the yeast. I used BRY-97, rehydrated per instructions, pitched at about 75 degrees. Fermented in basement at 66 degrees. When fermentation was stuck after 2 weeks, LHBS told me to move it to warmer temps. I tasted it then and it had strong sulfur taste.

I moved to my office (68-70 degrees) and let it sit for another week and a half. It was fully fermented at that point (OG was 1.050, FG was 1.019). I tasted it, and it was much smoother.

I put in 4oz of pure vanilla extract, and racked it to secondary, and let it sit for another 10 days at 64 degrees.

That brings me to tonight. I move it upstairs to prep it for bottling, and did a final taste. The smell was overpoweringly sulfuric, and the taste almost made both my wife and I vomit. Absolutely nothing like what I was expecting (in taste, aroma, or color).

At this point I've already spent $35 on the kit, and another $18 on vanilla...I really don't want to toss it, but I also don't want to tie up 48 bottles, take up the painstaking process of doing the bottling, just to have a beer that I can barely stomach.

What say you all? Should I scrap it and move on to my next batch? I have 3 more lined up ready to go.

Should I bring a bottle to my LHBS to have them taste it and go through the possible problems with me?

Should I bottle it, save it, and let it mellow for a few months?

I'll take any advice!

Meanwhile, I just picked up two bottles of Goose Island Bourbon Stout, and a bottle of Founders CBS that I'm looking forward to sipping on until my next batch is ready.

Thanks in advance!

 

[parjay]

I'm a noob too, but I found this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer.73254/

My last batch smelled pretty nasty and I bottled anyway. It is currently bottle conditioning. I snuck one after just a week in the bottle, and despite being under-carbed, it already tastes/smells better.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I will say this...I've had some pretty questionable results out of the bucket...but have never tossed a batch. And all have been consumed by myself and others after mellowing out. No one has gotten sick, and no one who volunteered to drink them stopped volunteering after....haha.

 

[Lefou]

Some of my obviously bad brews got bottled just to see how they'd turn out. One in particular had a mildly sour taste that ended up like flat malt vinegar. It got poured out because I don't drink no Sauerbrau, no way, no how.
Stuff like that is bothersome, but it has to be chalked up as a learning experience once you realize what went wrong. There's no reason you have suffer a bad brew as some sort of masochistic punishment. Figuring out what you did right is just as important as finding the mistake.

My suggestion. Get some StarSan and clean everything. You'll be glad you did, almost everyone who uses it swears by it.

 

[cmarshall1087]

Some of my obviously bad brews got bottled just to see how they'd turn out. One in particular had a mildly sour taste that ended up like flat malt vinegar. It got poured out because I don't drink no Sauerbrau, no way, no how.
Stuff like that is bothersome, but it has to be chalked up as a learning experience once you realize what went wrong. There's no reason you have suffer a bad brew as some sort of masochistic punishment. Figuring out what you did right is just as important as finding the mistake.

My suggestion. Get some StarSan and clean everything. You'll be glad you did, almost everyone who uses it swears by it.

First thing I did tonight!! Rescrubbed, cleaned everything with PBW, and sanitized... still trying to decide what to do! I don't want to tie up 48 bottles

 

[FatDragon]

I'd bottle it, or at least part of the batch. I've had beers that tasted bad out of the fermenter go both ways after bottling - some that stayed bad and some that turned out well. If you're dead-set on dumping the majority of it, then having a few bottles will allow you to see for yourself whether or not it gets better with time and carbonation.

 

[RPh_Guy]

How many bottles would you be willing to tie up to see if it improves?

Edit: sniped by FatDragon!

 

[Lefou]

If it looks like schnitt, smells like schnitt, and tastes like schnitt, it just might be schnitt.

Off topic, bunny raisins are notoriously deceptive in nature to some folks ... until they overcome the curiosity to munch on a few - or several. Grandad called 'em bunny raisins because he wasn't much into profanity, but when you're five, that stuff doesn't matter. All you remember is the taste. Figuring out "why" comes a little later.
In case you're wondering, no, it wasn't me confusing bunny raisins with schnitt, it was my cousin. That boy has despised raisins his whole life.

Just for fun, why not keep just one bottle of crappy brew. Remembering what a truly sucky brew tastes like is why making good beer is such a great thing when it finally happens. Sleep tight, don't worry about dumping bad brew.

 

[cmarshall1087]

ok so stupid question...its late and i've been drinking! how much priming sugar should I use if I only want to tie up say, a 6-12 pack?

 

[FatDragon]

For low carbonation, around 1.5 grams a bottle. For moderate carb, 2-2.5 grams. For high carb, 3-4 grams. When I've carbed small numbers or even single bottles, I typically put the sugar directly into the bottle, pour in a small amount of boiling water for some maybe pasteurization, and then fill the bottle straight from the fermenter. I don't bother with a bottling bucket and batch priming in low amounts like that - too much trouble.

 

[RM-MN]

I put in 4oz of pure vanilla extract, and racked it to secondary, and let it sit for another 10 days at 64 degrees.

That brings me to tonight. I move it upstairs to prep it for bottling, and did a final taste. The smell was overpoweringly sulfuric, and the taste almost made both my wife and I vomit. Absolutely nothing like what I was expecting (in taste, aroma, or color).

I'd suspect that this step is where things went wrong. It's been found that most beers do just fine left in the primary. Moving them to secondary gives them a chance to oxidize and be exposed to bacterial infection. I suspect a bacterial infection in this batch and doubt that it will ever become drinkable. Dump it out, cry a little, then clean the secondary really well, probably with a chlorine bleach. Rinse it well, then make a mead in that secondary. Now meads take a long time to complete and will tie up that carboy for probably up to a year, thus you won't be tempted to use it for beer.

 

[Lefou]

If you add sugar cubes directly to the bottle for carbonation as I do, one Domino sugar dot per 12oz bottle, 2 per 22oz bottle. It's economical, requires no heating or inconsistent mixing, and minimizes stirring in the bottling bucket.
Best of all it requires very little calculation for a total batch volume because you're doing individual bottles.