How many batches have you actually poured?

[MrSnacks]

I've been contending for a while it's pretty hard to actually screw up beer. Except for the maggot guy on reddit, you're almost always going to end up with something drinkable, even if your fermentation temperatures end up too high, you get some lacto or brett in there.

Sure, there are some exceptions. Drowned fruit flies might be a drain pour, and a stuck fermentation can suck to deal with. But I've never actually poured a beer. It may not have ended up exactly what I was intending, but it was always beer and it was always drinkable.

 

[unionrdr]

I've only had one beer infected with lacto pretty bad, but it turned out pretty good. So I've never had a dumper.

 

[DaNewf]

I managed to screw up a batch of chocolate stout and got an infection. The bottles gushed and the beer didn't taste great. It only got worse over time. I did take at least one sip from every bottle hoping against hope time would fix this but realizing it probably wasn't going to happen. Early on I was able to drink a full glass but towards the end I could only manage a sip before dumping the remainder down the drain.

So I've never actually dumped a batch (so far finger crossed) but maybe I should have put that one out of it's misery.

 

[MrSnacks]

I managed to screw up a batch of chocolate stout and got an infection. The bottles gushed and the beer didn't taste great. It only got worse over time. I did take at least one sip from every bottle hoping against hope time would fix this but realizing it probably wasn't going to happen. Early on I was able to drink a full glass but towards the end I could only manage a sip before dumping the remainder down the drain.

So I've never actually dumped a batch (so far finger crossed) but maybe I should have put that one out of it's misery.

Yeah, bottle infections are a whole different can of worms. That might be the time uncap and dump--I don't want bottle bombs.

 

[Devin]

I've had one infection that I poured. I have been chasing a salty off-taste recently. I don't really like the salty tone, but haven't poured any of those yet.

 

[number40fan]

I had to pour my 5th batch ever made due to it tasting like rocket fuel.

 

[steveoatley]

I had a batch in a keg go sour - never figured that out
And I had a Irish Red Ale that was just way to sweet

So I poured the Irish Red into the sour one, hoping to give it some more sugars to eat

It kind tasted like a Berliner Weiss
But was still not save able

Only two batches have I poured out

 

[Auger]

I've only had to dump one batch now in 8 years of brewing (although contemplating my second now). It wasn't due to infection though, just my own inadequacy when creating a recipe. I tried doing a honey-lavender pale ale and used way too much lavender. The beer tasted like soap. I tried mixing/cutting with various other beers to try and salvage, but in the end I ended up dumping it. Same thing with the second now, I did a clove-infused smoked porter, with wayyyyyy to much clove. I think I dry-hopped with cloves. Every time I take a taste I feel like I'm eating a baked ham. I brewed that one about 3 years ago and I keep hoping it will clean up, but I doubt it. I threw one more bottle in the fridge to try, and if its not any better its getting dumped tonight (I need the bottles).

 

[maf58d]

I have not had any to go bad in 100 batches, but early on I made a light cyser with apple juice honey and brown sugar. Was after making 23 batches of beer and made it like a beer at about 7% alc. and no nutrient or energizer for the Nottingham yeast. For the first 10 months it was very fusel, 3 ounces would give me a headache, but I don't dump, so I started using it for simmering brats and in Boston butts for smoking injections. Was great for that, but when drawing out some for cooking when it was about 14 months old, I tasted it, and it was good. By the time it was 18 months old it was fantastic. Lessons learned, honey needs help for the yeast, and never give up on a batch.
--Mark F.--

 

[mkyl428]

Voted 0 but I did accidentally dump an entire batch on the floor once because I was sanitizing bottles in the other room while I racked into my bottling bucket with an open spigot. :smack:

 

[podz]

I've only poured one batch ever; that was about 8-9 years ago. Problem was that it was way overcarbonated - gushers.

 

[HerbieHowells]

I had one batch where I was using my sanitized whisk to froth up the wort before pitching yeast, and the whisk fell apart into the wort, apparently exposing it to some nasty stuff that was stuck between the handle and the whisk. Quick sanitize some tongs, fish out the whisk parts, hope for the best.

Three weeks in the bottles the started gushing. No problem, stick them in the fridge for a few days before opening, right?

A few months later, I found broken glass in the beer closet. The bottles were starting to blow. You want an adrenalin rush, try bundling up in a few layers and work gloves, wrapping a box of bottles that might go at any second in a blanket, and walking quickly but carefully to the dumpster. When glass starts breaking, it's time to give up and dump.

(I got a few bottles of a fairly infected beer as part of a 12 Beers of Christmas swap a few years ago. Not to shame the brewer, we were mostly beginners, and it was mostly an exercise for feedback. But the last one I opened must have been on the verge of blowing. The other bottles of that beer weren't really drinkable, but I thought it might work in beer bread, so it was room temperature when I opened it. Huge mistake. It didn't just gush; I opened it up in the kitchen and ended up with beer on the ceiling of the dining room about eight feet away.)

 

[cjgenever]

My first extract batch was decent, but on the second I threw in everything but the kitchen sink. Wait, no, I think that went in too . I then fermented it into a diacetyl bomb. It was dumped.

Another early brew I pitched at 70°f expecting it to cool during lag. It hit 80°f during ferment. You could get a headache just watching someone else drink that jet fuel. Dumped.

 

[Urban_Samurai]

In the process of dumping 1 batch. It was a 1gal attempt at a scotch heavy that mashed at 170F (couldn't get the oven lower than that), during fermentation a bunch hop gunk was pushed into the neck and stuck so at transfer for bottling it was pushed back into the beer. Anyway long story short, it came out as a low ABV, sweet but horribly green bitter (like chewing a hop cone) with chunks floating in it. The funny thing is the reason I've dumped 90% of the batch is most of the bottles became oxidized and gushed. I have 1 bottle left to keep it's now been six months, do you think the bitterness has calmed down at all :cross:

 

[thefost]

I've dumped a few. I'm just not willing to drink a lot beer that's got a significant off flavor. There have been a couple of kegs I've gotten a third of the way through and said screw it and dumped it. Life's too short, and bulk grain and hops are cheap

 

[fimpster]

I hope I don't jinx myself, but I've never had a dumper.

 

[beergolf]

Never had a dumper. I had a couple that were not great but drinkable. One batch I thought was MEH due to a mediocre recipe, and set it i the basement and forgot about it. A year later I remembered it and put a few in the fridge. It turned into a great beer.

 

[Xpertskir]

Ive never made an undrinkable beer, but I have poured out a few batches because they fell short on what I was trying to do.

 

[Bobby_M]

All my beers have been drinkable but I've poured the ones that were lifeless and boring. Life is too short to drink crap beer and I'm not brewing to save as much money as possible.

 

[cjgenever]

In the process of dumping 1 batch. It was a 1gal attempt at a scotch heavy that mashed at 170F (couldn't get the oven lower than that), during fermentation a bunch hop gunk was pushed into the neck and stuck so at transfer for bottling it was pushed back into the beer. Anyway long story short, it came out as a low ABV, sweet but horribly green bitter (like chewing a hop cone) with chunks floating in it. The funny thing is the reason I've dumped 90% of the batch is most of the bottles became oxidized and gushed. I have 1 bottle left to keep it's now been six months, do you think the bitterness has calmed down at all :cross:

Fyi...
Oxidation doesn't cause gushers. It was either infected or not done fermenting or over carbed

 

[ClunkClunk]

One, maybe two.

First was a brown ale, going for a holiday spice kind of aroma, slight flavor so I used a little bit of allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon. At first, the beer was OK - I definitely under pitched, so it had stressed yeast flavors and a fairly high finishing gravity. Then about a month in, almost all the spices flavors dissipated except for a soapy character from the nutmeg (I think). Most of it got dumped, but I think I kept about 8 bottles in the back of the fridge. I should try them again.

The second was my most recent cream ale. It's about a month and a half in being kegged, and it still has this "earthy" character that is really unpleasant - almost mossy/soil like. I'm hoping it'll dissipate and it's been getting cleaner over time, but I've still not enjoyed it, and it's taking up valuable tap space. I may just swap out the keg, and let this sit for a month or so and see if it cleans up.

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

I've poured out a couple batches that were experimental brews not worth drinking (kitchen sink wheat & peanut butter cup porter w/ extract).

My 2 keg keezer ain't got room for mediocre beer when there's a better beer in the pipeline.

 

[bolus14]

I've done about 25 brews over the last 1.5yrs and ended up dumping about 18 bottles of an Orange Wheat. It ended up having no orange taste whatsover, had a strong yeast like taste to it. I used it as my "chugging" beer during the early part of summer, then just got to the point that I didn't want to force them down anymore.

Right now I have a Dark Pumpkin Saison, used a stout like recipe, that may end up sitting till next Sept/Oct. It has a harshness that is tough to get past. Only thing I can think of is that I accidentally used black malt or black patent instead of Chocolate malt. If that's the case some of that harshness should fade over time. I'll likely lose most of the Pumpkin spices in it, but I have no plans to dump it unless I decide to let it sit till next year and it still has the harshness then.

 

[Yooper]

I've dumped a few. I'm just not willing to drink a lot beer that's got a significant off flavor. There have been a couple of kegs I've gotten a third of the way through and said screw it and dumped it. Life's too short, and bulk grain and hops are cheap

Yep, me too.

I have a "band aid" beer a couple of years ago from an infected yeast starter, and I had a lacto lager about 7 years ago. I don't know the % of that, though. Maybe 2 out of 300+? So definitely less than 1%. But I would have no problem with dumping a keg if I didn't like it and didn't plan on drinking it in the near future.

 

[kcmobrewer]

Only a few. Just one because of infection. If a brew doesn't turn out as I intended (too bitter, sweet, off flavors etc) I have no qualms dumping it. Making beer is cheap.


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[TallahasseeBrew]

Made a honey ale that had a huge banana flavor to it, and I think bananas are the most vile fruit put on the earth. I let it sit for months, and it wouldn't go away, so, down the drain it went.

 

[SeeMont]

I brewed a pale ale with spruce tips this spring, Doesn't taste bad but like chewing on a tree in the woods. I could drink it but it's real hard. I am going to let it sit in the keg and see what happens. So far I have been lucky I guess. I haven't gotten sick or made anyone else sicK, (except for hangovers)

 

[Braufessor]

I dump beer I don't like. I brew 50-60 batches a year and have 4-10 kegs on hand at a given time. If I don't like it, I make room for the next keg up that I know will be good. That said - I would say I am in the 1-5% range. 1-2% are what I would call "bad". the 3-5% range would be drinkable...... but they would never get drank when I have several really good beers on hand at the same time.

 

[wingedcoyote]

I'm something like 14 batches in and I've never dumped one, but my second batch (a Northern English brown) tasted weird and I've pretty much ignored it... 40-something bottles still sitting in my closet upstairs nearly a year later. Keep meaning to pull one and try it again, but I never get around to it. I don't think it was infected, at least not severely -- probably just a combination of high FG with some oxidation from sitting around in the bucket with lots of headspace for ages and hoping that the SG would come down. And my temp control was pretty nonexistent then, so there's that too.

Since then I've switched to smaller batches, so even if one doesn't come out exactly how I wanted it's not hard to get through. The only one I'd consider a fairly is a witbier that tasted half decent but was crazy thin and headless, but I actually didn't have trouble getting my friends to drink that up.

 

[mdsram]

I've had a few gluten free experimental beers that were way off, but seeing how mistakes(and great beers for that matter) change over time is part of what I like about the hobby. I can't imagine dumping for taste, at least without giving it a few years to mature. The one batch I did dump was a Belgian dubbel. Got through the entire brew and as I started chilling I noticed a huge chunk of Belgian candy sugar that hadn't dissolved. On closer inspection, it was a candied garden slug that had crawled up the side of my kettle (found the slime trail after the fact) and dove into the batch. I cooled and pitched, but dumped in the morning after researching the dangers of consuming slugs. I have been calling myselfl Slugfest Brewery ever since though, so that's a positive from that batch


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[MerlinWerks]

I just recently got back into brewing after 17 years. Still had a Christmas ale in a keg that I just didn't like. Tried a small sample and it was pretty much the same after all that time. Was pretty amazed at my other kegs that were kicked but still pressurized, almost as if they were just emptied, nothing really funky at all.

There's a lesson about O2 and organic material in there somewhere

 

[eric19312]

I have 70 batches over last 2 years. No dumpers but a few on the fence. Got 2 batches that undercarbed and a sour in a small barrel that I suspect may have been in there too long and need to figure out what to do with it.

 

[BrewCityBaller]

I lowered the temp in my ferm chamber to cold crash my house IPA. The drop in pressure inside the carboy as the temperature fell caused the blowoff tube to begin sucking instead of blowing

I was in the process of moving house and wasn't able to check on the beer as often as I would like. By the time I looked, there was a half gallon of sanitizer solution in my beer.

That was the one, and only, batch of beer I ever dumped. It was a sad day.

I have a "band aid" beer a couple of years ago from an infected yeast starter

Ugh, I had one of those too. After the secondary it mellowed out, so I drank it anyway.

 

[passedpawn]

I dumped lots of bottles that developed gushers, presumably infected but who knows. Dumped one porter that got a little wild yeast of some kind, and a handful of batches because I just didn't feel like drinking them. I dumped cases of berliner weisse that I was never going to drink. For some crazy reason I kegged a sour brown beer, then hardly ever hit the tap, so I eventually gave that one away to a local beer recycler.

I like to brew, so dumping just gives me an excuse to get the next batch going. My pipeline's been full for a long time, so there's no hardship when I get rid of something.

By the time I looked, there was a half gallon of sanitizer solution in my beer.

I did this too. IPA. It ended up tasting faintly soapy, so it got dumped before I even carbonated it.

 

[EtchyLives]

I had one batch, an IPA, that... something didn't go right. It came out gray and with way too much hop material. So I let it sit for a couple months but even after waiting there was nothing to do but dump it.

My only other potential dump is a Belgian Chocolate Stout aging in the bottle right now. On first taste it had a terrible and overpowering metallic taste. I'm hoping that the off-taste goes away to a drinkable degree but I'm not very optimistic. Other than that all my other beers (20 or so) have been good enough to drink.

 

[mikescooling]

I went nuts with the dark roast in a stout, but I choked it down. Shaking my head after every sip. I made 12 gallons of it too. EEEwww

 

[grathan]

I'm probably still up near %50 but I haven't dumped in 2 years now.

 

[SupervisingChildren]

I haven't dumped in 2 years now.

That doesn't sound healthy.

Only had one batch I should have dumped which was a milk stout. Still haven't so maybe I should check on it soon and clear up a few bottles if it time didn't heal it.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Just 1 - a Mr Beer Ole Mole stout. Nothing wrong with it other than it was just terrible.

 

[tennesseean_87]

I JUST dumped my first batch in 3 years of brewing. I think some fruit flies got in it. Some king of bug got in it, because there were tons of larvae scrawling in the krausen ring. I left a lid just sitting on it because there wasn't space in my ferm chamber on top of the other bucket for an airlock. I got worried and thought I'd bottle and drink quickly. Unfortunately it was already pretty sour and nasty tasting. Fortunately, it was only 3 gallons, but now I won't have a porter any time soon. I'm not sure I'll have time to brew again with this school schedule I'm on. Maybe I'll just take a GPA hit to get my roastymalt fix this winter.