Dumping Bad Batches....

[gunnyg]

Dumping Bad Batches....

Just a thought
On many forums, I have noticed now and then folks talking about less than desirable batches that they were considering "dumping."

Most responses to this frequently indicate that a bad batch should never be dumped; and usually advise to just let it age, as long as it takes.

I have also noticed other posts where "flat" beer should be "blended" w/good beer, rather than dumping. And then there are a few posts, here and there, that recommend cooking with beer--e.g., adding to beef stew, chili, etc.

Has anyone ever tried recycling such beer, and admitted it?

Maybe just, little by little, just "dumping" the beer into their future batches/wort vice an equal amount of water?

 

[Pappers_]

No, but I have a big, malty Bier de Gaarde that I brewed last spring that I don't much care for - its in champagne bottles and I'm just letting it sit - I've promised myself i'm not going to open another bottle of it until next winter. No harm in just keeping it around, see how it develops.

 

[Houblon]

Time can heal a many bad batches but sometimes its just best to dump & move on.

 

[Bobby_M]

I've dumped 3 batches so far and I'm fine with it. Of course, I give it months to fix itself, but if I need the keg, it's gone.

 

[jspence1]

If I need the space the beer gets dumped. I've dumped beer that was drinkable just not great because I needed the space. I find it hard to keep sub par beer around in the hopes that it will improve in another 6 months. Beer is cheap if I need the keg down it goes.

 

[david_42]

When I've had a dumper (3), it has not been something I would recycle anywhere except the sewer. If you've ever seen a ropey infection or had a whole keg gusher, you'd understand.

I've also dumped a few dregs, just because I was bored with the beer.

 

[nelstrodomus]

I've dumped 2-3, it's usually very depressing to send it down the drain, but all in good spirits as you intend to fill them back up with better tasting beer.

I've also dumped a batch of cider after it got infected, I just through the entire box of bottles out...

 

[petep1980]

I just cracked my latest batch of house ESB and god it's terrible. There is no head, it's undercarbed, and the flavor balance could not be any worse. It's not infected, but god it's so unappealing.

I am making a point to NOT dump it. I don't need the bottles, and I can stomach it.

I'll keep it around in case of a pinch. This will be the ultimate "maybe time will truly heal all wounds" beer.

edit: And like Dave I have dumped tons of dregs due to boredom. That's part of the reason I got out of kegging. I am the only one who drinks my beers, and 40 straight pints of one style can get kind of dull.

 

[gunnyg]

Way back--about '98, or so--my firstMrB kit--I had to try my hand at Scotch Ale (something like McEwan's, I hoped).

God, it turned out awful! Left it in the basement and forgot it for a year--lived in Rochester, NY then, about 50 degrees down there all the time.

When I finally opened one of them I couldn't believe that I had thought it was a lousy brew!
Some of this stuff just wants to age.

 

[gunnyg]

Re ESB...

Avery ESB is really the only esb that I really have tried and liked!

 

[Revvy]

Way back--about '98, or so--my firstMrB kit--I had to try my hand at Scotch Ale (something like McEwan's, I hoped).

God, it turned out awful! Left it in the basement and forgot it for a year--lived in Rochester, NY then, about 50 degrees down there all the time.

When I finally opened one of them I couldn't believe that I had thought it was a lousy brew!
Some of this stuff just wants to age.

That's why I've been collecting stories like yours for over a year. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

To encourage folks to forget about those beers for a few months then revisit them again before dumping.

 

[petep1980]

That's why I've been collecting stories like yours for over a year. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

To encourage folks to forget about those beers for a few months then revisit them again before dumping.

I thought of that time heals all things when tasting this last batch of ass. I also figure I'll keep it around for posterity.

 

[tom777]

I've dumped 2. The first was a cherry wheat which was horridly sour tasting. This one was dumped after a couple months. Maybe I should have given it longer.
The second was a dunkelweisen which had troubles from the start with very slow drawn out fermentation and high fg finish. I regret not pitching some more yeast. Gave this one over a year before it got tossed.

 

[gunnyg]

Like Sam C said (paraphrased)....I wondered what would happen if we continually added hops to the wort throughout the boil....

Well, we know now the result was Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA!

I wonder what would happen if I added my bad batch (if I had some) to my next wort, little-by-little...

Most likely, the result might not be as great as in the case of Dogfish-60, but who knows...???

Just wondering...thought someone may have already tried this.

 

[johnnyc]

If I need the space the beer gets dumped. I've dumped beer that was drinkable just not great because I needed the space. I find it hard to keep sub par beer around in the hopes that it will improve in another 6 months. Beer is cheap if I need the keg down it goes.

+1

I've got enough of a pipeline that I don't want to sit on a keg of mediocre beer. Definitely not worth the time to bottle it from the keg to age. Life's too short and all that.

 

[fastricky]

+1

I've got enough of a pipeline that I don't want to sit on a keg of mediocre beer. Definitely not worth the time to bottle it from the keg to age. Life's too short and all that.

+1........

 

[gunnyg]

I know, space can get to be a problem--luckily GoodWill will not take my brew--my wife tried~

 

[Sawdustguy]

I agree with Revvy but if I have a brew that I made that tasted like chit after sufficient time, there is no way I will contaminate a good brew with the swill.

 

[chrisgray]

I recently dumped half a batch of a seemingly infected Stout because I needed the bottles. I'm not too optimistic for those I hadn't dumped but I'm holding on to them none the less.

 

[crajax]

Expired hopped extract kit.

I've been brewing 2005 - 2010, and I recently started brewing again in Dec 2012; 40+ batches in all. least the ones I kept records for.

During the entire time I've only ever dumped one batch in 2007, which was infected.

Its now April 2013, and I've just dumped the second batch in brewing 'career'. Stale extract Kit, I only realized how stale while I was brewing it. I bought it back in January from LHBS - it was on clearance $5 off. expiry Jan 12th; OK, I thought I'd chance it, and bought it, as they're clearing them out as they're about to expire.

Uhmmm read again. I got around to brewing it in early March. after opening, I saw there was a spot of rust inside the can. I re-read that date. it's end of Jan 2012. or 14 months expired (at the time I brewed it) how could I be so stupid. but I'd already boiled water and added my dextrose and DME, so I continued with it anyway, hoping it would be OK.

I didnt even get to kegging the beer. after two weeks in FV it tasted stale. oxidized. and yet still somewhat sweet. and it was dark - almost stout like in colour, despite being a pilsner.

coming off from my previous batch which was awesome, it was a real disapointment.

Lesson Learned. I have to check my tendency to be cheap, and look at those 'bargains' with a critical eye. this "bargain" cost me big. Only fresh ingredients from now on. for the pennies a glass difference, its just not worth it.

Dont think I'll revist that store in future either. there are others.

 

[Homercidal]

I've dumped a few batches, either for just being bad tasting, or just not good enough. But I keg and when I need a keg, I need a keg!

I've bottled a Belgian Golden Strong that was way too hoppy (accidentally used the full batch worth of bittering hops for a half batch!) After letting it sit a year or two it got much better. It took a LONG time to carb up too. Now it's like a belgian barleywine. Only a couple of bottles left. Not my favorite beer, but definitely a better tasting beer than it was when it was young.

But no, I'll never feel the desire to blend subpar beer into what might be a great beer, just to "save" it. Homebrew beer is pretty cheap and with enough experience, it would be fairly difficult to make enough bad batches to make recycling them a practical policy.

 

[MagicSmoker]

Though I am a new brewer, I am firmly in the dump bad batches camp. Life is too short (and space too limited) to hold onto mediocre beer, much less beer that is infected, etc.

In my particular case, my first 5 batches all suffered from an astringent and soapy off-flavor. It turns out the water I was using - both bottled spring water and from the tap - was way too alkaline (pH of 8.3). No amount of time was going to fix this problem, and, indeed, the few beers I have saved from some of those failed batches still taste like soap some 8+ weeks later.

 

[Varmintman]

I have dumped one batch simply because it was horrible. Made a Irish Red I did not like but gave it away.

 

[kombat]

Stale extract Kit, I only realized how stale while I was brewing it. I bought it back in January from LHBS - it was on clearance $5 off. expiry Jan 12th; OK, I thought I'd chance it, and bought it, as they're clearing them out as they're about to expire.

Uhmmm read again. I got around to brewing it in early March. after opening, I saw there was a spot of rust inside the can. I re-read that date. it's end of Jan 2012. or 14 months expired (at the time I brewed it) how could I be so stupid.

As I understand it, the "expiry date" on those cans is primarily a factor of the yeast. The extract itself should never really "go bad," if it's been properly pasteurized. Maillard reactions will be very slowly occuring within the LME, but the most noticeable symptom of that will be a darkening of the extract.

If you discard the yeast from the kit (which you should always do anyway), the extract itself should still be fine. It sounds like yours had been damaged somehow (the "rust spot" inside the can), but if it had been properly handled, it should still be fine, I would think.

I actually just brewed up an expired (Nov/2011) pre-hopped kit myself (details here), with some significant modifications (liquid lager yeast, extra hops), and while it just went into the fermenter on Sunday, so far it's smelling great. It smelled great after the boil, and the fermentation gasses smell as they should (sulphery, since I'm fermenting it as a lager).

I wouldn't write off expired kits so easily. I think yours was somehow contaminated. Did you use the kit yeast, or substitute with something fresher?

 

[blueseamonkey]

I'm deciding what to do with my first bad batch - an prehopped extract kit that got infected sometime between week 3 and 4 in the primary. Not sure if its acetobacter or a brett but its pretty sour.

I'm moving house in a couple of months and don't want to take it with me, don't have anything else brewed to blend it with so I'm going to test blending it with the different commercial brews here. There's a dark lager brewed by San Miguel - Cerveza Negra - which might work. I'm hoping it can vaguely resemble a traditional London porter - which originally was a sour beer mixed with a mild.

If it still doesn't taste any good though I will dump it.

 

[crajax]

I just got a whole bunch of emails from a month ago...

I did not use the kit yeast, I used nottingham yeast I had from previous batch (slurry)

But, there was something wrong with the extract, I'm convinced of that. it tasted "different"...stale maybe, kind of hard to describe, but my wort didnt taste like my wort usually tastes. and that taste persisted after fermentation. I've brewed a couple batches since then, no problems. and like you said...rust inside the can. who knows how its been stored. and it wasnt just expired, it was long expired.

As I understand it, the "expiry date" on those cans is primarily a factor of the yeast. The extract itself should never really "go bad," if it's been properly pasteurized. Maillard reactions will be very slowly occuring within the LME, but the most noticeable symptom of that will be a darkening of the extract.

If you discard the yeast from the kit (which you should always do anyway), the extract itself should still be fine. It sounds like yours had been damaged somehow (the "rust spot" inside the can), but if it had been properly handled, it should still be fine, I would think.

I actually just brewed up an expired (Nov/2011) pre-hopped kit myself (details here), with some significant modifications (liquid lager yeast, extra hops), and while it just went into the fermenter on Sunday, so far it's smelling great. It smelled great after the boil, and the fermentation gasses smell as they should (sulphery, since I'm fermenting it as a lager).

I wouldn't write off expired kits so easily. I think yours was somehow contaminated. Did you use the kit yeast, or substitute with something fresher?