Hard headed or stupid?

[Entrepreneur640]

I'm curious, has anyone ever bottles and drank a whole batch of infected beer? I haven't had a bad batch yet, but I would hate to waste a whole batch worth of ingredients and time. What are your thoughts?

 

[amandabab]

if it was bad it would get dumped. I'm not drinking bad beer.

 

[Entrepreneur640]

I would probably agree but, without encountering the situation, I'm not sure how I would react. I would like to think that I could walk away but, I bet that I would leave the bottles to age in my cellar(basement) and hope that made a change. Haha

 

[Revvy]

It really is harder than most noobs think to infect their beer. In fact 90% of the "is my beer infected" threads are really just "I have noob nerves, hold my hand" threads and the beer isn't infected at all.

It's really a silly question to ask, or worry about. And you know, if your beer is infected? So what...it may even be tasty...hence all the folks who like sour beers....they're INTENTIONALLY infected, and often with the same micro organism that "accidently" get into our beers.

The worse one is really acetobactor...and then you end up with malt vinegar...which you might even be able to pack in cute bottles, or sell. You can't sell beer, but there's no law you can't sell malt vinegar.


Besides often what new brewers think is infected, is really just that their beer is green; they're drinking it too young.

And if it is, meh, it happens to everyone at some point in their life...even commercial breweries, did you ever see the brewmaster's series on tv with Sam Caligione and Dogfish Head? They had a couple multi million dollar dumpers on that show...they gritted their teeth and moved on.

Read this thread, Has anyone ever messed up a batch?? and relax....Infections are things new brewers tend to obsess about, while the rest of us know it happens, and just shrug it off and move on.

If your beer is infected...you taste it, if it still decent you drink it, nothing that can harm you can exist in beer infected beer cannot hurt you. If it doesn't taste good you dump it..So what?

*shrug*

But first MAKE sure that the reason that it tastes off isn't mere because you're drinking it too young.

 

[jester5120]

it would depend on what made it bad. if it tastes like rotten animal butt then i'd dump it but if you get a brett, lacto, or pedio infection it could add some cool flavors. i had one get infected and get a funky taste, i just let it age as you mentioned to see if the flavors changed. I didn't need those bottles for anything else so i figured why dump it.

 

[Xpertskir]

if it was bad it would get dumped. I'm not drinking bad beer.

100% agreed. Never had an infection but Ive dumped beers for recipe issues.

 

[Revvy]

it would depend on what made it bad. if it tastes like rotten animal butt then i'd dump it but if you get a brett, lacto, or pedio infection it could add some cool flavors. i had one get infected and get a funky taste, i just let it age as you mentioned to see if the flavors changed. I didn't need those bottles for anything else so i figured why dump it.

Yup, some folks even move it into a dedicated sour fermenter even if they're not sure if it's going to be a "tasty" infection or not...They may then start playing with it, by dumping in sour cherries and dregs from bottles with KNOWN good bug like Jester mentioned. They may take the dregs from a bottle of Jolly Pumpkin or other sour beers, and see if they will compliment the "infection."

Like he said, often they have "cool flavors" and with some tweaking you can come out with something cool....

Sometimes you get lucky.

If you've never tried an "infected" beer before.... go get a bottle of

Lindeman's Pece or Framboise, ( Like the peach myself)

Or Rodenbach

Or something from Jolly Pumpkin (Beer list)

You may actually become one of them "infected" beer lovers.

 

[Firesmacker]

I know a guy on another forum, an experienced home brewer, who elected not sanitize his siphon tube before racking. When he finally cracked his first one, he said it was like drinking beer from a garden hose. He ended up dumping over 50 bottles down the drain. Yeesh!

 

[Entrepreneur640]

I actually like lambics and the like. I just wondered who had experience with infected beer that they liked/could tolerate.

 

[MuddyCreek]

I guess it depends. I brewed something I called lawnmower once.

I tried to drink it. I really really did.

 

[originalben]

I did a fig kolsch that may have been invaded by something. I was disapointed in it- it was much beloved by a few friends. Simply depends on your taste buds, bud;^)

 

[amandabab]

Lindeman's Pece or Framboise, ( Like the peach myself)

Porn. pure porn.

 

[fair78]

I have. I brewed a brown ale. Left in the fermenter for three weeks, then went to take a hydrometer reading...I was greeted with a white plasticy film which was covered with huge bubbles! After some googling and reading here I decided to rack out from under into a secondary. Let it sit two weeks and popped the lid. Same exact thing! I took a reading and let it sit to make sure whatever was in there was done destroying my beer before bottling.
After a couple more weeks I was sure everything was stable so I bottled this monstrosity. I let it age for a long time, probably five or six weeks before I got up the nerve to try one. Well guess what...it was awesome! My step dad still keeps asking me to make more, little does he know I will never be able to replicate that beer.
Morale of the story: don't dump an infected beer, you may be sitting on the greatest accident ever!

 

[acidrain23]

I have a batch that got infected with what I believe is brett contamination. Crazy looking pellicle formation. I flipped out and tried dumping in a large amount of Camden tablet (never do this by the way!). Waited a couple of days and repitched some S-05. This only suceeded in making the beer smell like sulfery buttholes. I was going to dump it but never got around to it. Couple of months later I decided to open the lid for a pick just for the hell of it. Pellicle is still there, but the awful smell was gone, so I took a sample from under it. It tastes pretty good! Bit dry cause the brett ate all of the residual sugars, but no off flavors somehow. I'm still on the fence on whether or not to bottle! I think I'm probably going to let it ride a few months to make sure the brett is done partying, dry hop the bejesus out of it and bottle! Unless I change my mind and want the fermenter for other beers. maybe maybe maybe....

 

[Braufessor]

I would have absolutely no problem dumping beer I did not like - would not matter to me if it was infected, bad recipe, or just the fact that it did not turn out the way I wanted. I brew a lot. I usually wish I could brew more often. If I have a crappy batch of beer.... whatever.... just an open fermenter or open keg space for a new batch.
It isn't a "waste" if you learned something that allows you to make the next batch better.
I buy in bulk.... so a batch of beer (ingredients) is probably $15-$20 or so. I love good beer. I hate drinking bad beer. Straight down the drain if it is not worth drinking.

As mentioned previously though - gotta make sure you are not dealing with young beer or stages of the process.