To Toss or Not To Toss

[Flounder443]

So i know I have an infection in my beer. I tasted a sample and didn't find it horrible at this point but definitely not what I wanted. Do you guys think the infection overtook it or should I invest the time and secondary it, bottle, and hope the flavors settle out?

 

[2drunk2]

Is it done fermenting? If so, I'd try to carb it up and drink it ASAP. If it doesn't taste horrible, I wouldn't want to waste it. Heck, maybe you could cook with it.

 

[unionrdr]

We need to see the surface of the fermenting beer to tell if it's infected or not.

 

[Hello]

We need to see the surface of the fermenting beer to tell if it's infected or not.

Well, he has said he knows it is infected so I believe him. The question is whether he lets it ride.

If it is good now then I'd drink it up. If it tastes at all sour then I'd let it ride if it's a good sour. What kind of infection do you have?

 

[unionrdr]

I've seen people look at mottled bits of left over krausen & think it's infected. I prefer to see it.

 

[Hello]

I've seen people look at mottled bits of left over krausen & think it's infected. I prefer to see it.

I see. Let the experts weigh in on your assessment OP. I'm not a good judge of infections.

 

[Flounder443]

i already put into a secondary so i can't grab a pic (only gonna be there for 2-3days till i have time to bottle), it was def infected by comparing what it looked like with other pics of affected beer. I think I'm gonna try to carb it up and see how that goes. appreciate all the rapid feedback

 

[william_shakes_beer]

what kind of infection did you identify?

 

[jcp]

I go with the "life's too short to drink bad beer" philosophy. Maybe keep a sixer of bottles, for the heck of it, but dump the rest. We're making beer, here -- you should be enjoying what you make, not taking it like medicine

EDIT: Whoops, didn't realize that you hadn't bottled it, yet. Just dump it, to be honest. It's a lot of work to bottle, and if you're sure that you have an infection, it isn't worth spreading it to your bottling gear. Play the Lachrymosa from Mozart's Requiem as you pour it into the sink. That'll be a proper send off.

 

[Hello]

But if he said it tasted good today then why dump it? Drink it up fast. No?

 

[JimRausch]

Alas, I miss Revvy.
Check out his older, now quite lengthy thread on "Never Dump Your Beer".
It'll give you hope.

 

[Darwin18]

OP - If you truly think your beer is infected I would advise against bottling it. You'll likely end up with bottle bombs. Dump it, try to figure out where you went wrong, and brew another batch.

 

[Flounder443]

again thanks for all the advice, think I'm gonna try to bottle it and just keep it where if they do blow it won't matter as much, rather do that than toss it

 

[rodwha]

What happened to Revvy?

 

[Komocabo]

What happened to Revvy?

I have the sane question too!?

 

[madscientist451]

Hard to decide dump it or bottle it because so little information provided.
How do you know its infected?
What are the flavors you are getting?
How did the fermentation go? What temps you ferment at? What yeast did you use?
What style of beer is it? What is the malt bill?
Do you star san or some other sanitizer?
I recently made a pale ale that just tasted off, I couldn't decide what the problem was,
I added gelatin, let it age a while and it still didn't taste good.
I went back over my recipe notes and realized the beer was supposed to be dry hopped.
After 10 days of dry hop, it came out pretty good.
So if you can describe the off flavors and provide more information, I'm sure someone here can help with your problem.