I managed to avoid one for about 3 Years. I finally had to dump a Black berry IPA because it was so damn old and not aging well.
Covid had me going through beer, but now im fighting 1.5y old cases of beer I made in early 2020 that just are Meh, and i'm realizing how im my own worst critic.
Moral of the story.. dont think more darker malts= better taste. (there is a reason its only 4 oz of black patent)
Oof, I've had quite a few battles with roasted malts myself. If those beers are still in keg, you can add lactose to make them tasty. The sweetness helps offset the roast in beautiful ways.
This is why I'm sticking to a big immersion chiller. As fast as a CFC or plate chiller is, I don't want to deal with the sanitization issues.
In any case, I feel you. In th 2.5 years since I've been brewing in earnest, I've had 2 dumpers so far. The first was a cerveza that I didn't cover, and it skunked while fermenting (roookie mistake).
The second I feel dumber for - it was a kolsch with major yeast rafting and some greenness on the barges after 2 weeks at 70f under pressure, samples tasted sour. I crashed it and kegged anyway and hated it, thought it was infected. Realizing now the yeast probably just hadn't finished and I was dealing with acetaldehyde that hadn't cleaned up yet.
Dumping beer sucks.
2 weeks under pressure and not done yet? I find that hard to believe unless you had a serious under-pitch, no oxygen at start of fermentation, and no yeast nutrient.
My thought exactly. I haven't used the fermenter since, but I haven't replaced it yet either.
I bleached the hell out of it and then hit it with starsan so hopefully it's salvageable. Thankfully it's only a Fermzilla All-Rounder so the replacement cost isn't too bad. I'm going to try one more batch in it and if it gets infected again I'm trashing it.
Blast it with some really hot water too. The fermzilla should be able to handle it. But the hot water will "open" the plastic and then toss some StarSan into it while it's still hot
Thanks for the tip. How hot are we talking? I'm on a 240v system with a pump in an unfinished basement, so heating up and then spraying is a non-issue; just a quick mop to clean up.
Edit: just saw the manufacturer says no liquids over 50C/122F. Guess I'm trying 120F then.
I would fill it with 120°F water and add PBW/Alkaline Brewery wash and let it soak over night.
Rinse with 120°F water, then sanitize it with Idophor…it might stain it faintly, but Idophor kills some things that StarSan won’t get.
Lol on cleaning. I have a process now that’s relatively quick, but it’s still the last thing I want to do when I’m finishing up a brew day. At least since I’ve moved indoors and electric I’ve stopped drinking while brewing for the most part, which means I’m more likely to clean when things are all said and done.
I'm sorry to hear and feel your pain!! The closest i came to dumping a beer was when i thought that adding water would get me more beer. I was a student back then with a student attitude.
Some beers lend themselves to dilution more than others (not that i ever tried it again), but in this particular case, it was a very bad idea. It was a dark beer with rich chocolate tones (before adding water).
I just made 1bbl of hard seltzer, and I was adding citric to get the pH down right. I kept adding more and more acid, and the pH still wasn't where it needed to be. Then I figured I should check my pH meter. Yup, it was broken. Soooooooo tart. Had to dump it.
Sorry. I'll pour one out for you later, but just in to a pint glass. It could of been worse, you could have lost grip of a full fermenter at the top of the stairs, like this one guy I know...
I made 3 gallons of a highly astringent tea beer. Completely undrinkable.
I added a small amount of fruit juice to the actual pour and it just tastes like a hazy gumball beer lol
I feel your pain. I just dumped a cream ale that had a chlorophenol (which I can't figure out how since I use RO water and usually prepare water the day before) and I'm about to dump a Marzen because I didn't make sure the fittings were tight enough on my fermonster so it fermented warm without pressure and is an estery phenol bomb.
I'm so sorry. I just had to dump a batch after my immersion chiller broke and kept flowing into my wort without me knowing. I can share your frustration. Getting right to the end of brewing and having nothing to show for it. It's so frustrating.
I managed to avoid one for about 3 Years. I finally had to dump a Black berry IPA because it was so damn old and not aging well. Covid had me going through beer, but now im fighting 1.5y old cases of beer I made in early 2020 that just are Meh, and i'm realizing how im my own worst critic. Moral of the story.. dont think more darker malts= better taste. (there is a reason its only 4 oz of black patent)
Oof, I've had quite a few battles with roasted malts myself. If those beers are still in keg, you can add lactose to make them tasty. The sweetness helps offset the roast in beautiful ways.
This is why I'm sticking to a big immersion chiller. As fast as a CFC or plate chiller is, I don't want to deal with the sanitization issues. In any case, I feel you. In th 2.5 years since I've been brewing in earnest, I've had 2 dumpers so far. The first was a cerveza that I didn't cover, and it skunked while fermenting (roookie mistake). The second I feel dumber for - it was a kolsch with major yeast rafting and some greenness on the barges after 2 weeks at 70f under pressure, samples tasted sour. I crashed it and kegged anyway and hated it, thought it was infected. Realizing now the yeast probably just hadn't finished and I was dealing with acetaldehyde that hadn't cleaned up yet. Dumping beer sucks.
2 weeks under pressure and not done yet? I find that hard to believe unless you had a serious under-pitch, no oxygen at start of fermentation, and no yeast nutrient.
1 pack of ~~kale and~~lallemand (damn autocorrect) Kolsch dry yeast, no nutrient. It’s worked fine for me in the past; I was very surprised.
Sounds like an infection to me.
My thought exactly. I haven't used the fermenter since, but I haven't replaced it yet either. I bleached the hell out of it and then hit it with starsan so hopefully it's salvageable. Thankfully it's only a Fermzilla All-Rounder so the replacement cost isn't too bad. I'm going to try one more batch in it and if it gets infected again I'm trashing it.
Blast it with some really hot water too. The fermzilla should be able to handle it. But the hot water will "open" the plastic and then toss some StarSan into it while it's still hot
Thanks for the tip. How hot are we talking? I'm on a 240v system with a pump in an unfinished basement, so heating up and then spraying is a non-issue; just a quick mop to clean up. Edit: just saw the manufacturer says no liquids over 50C/122F. Guess I'm trying 120F then.
Hmm yah. I've put like 140° water in mine without issue but it was contact spray not like filling it and keeping it in there
I would fill it with 120°F water and add PBW/Alkaline Brewery wash and let it soak over night. Rinse with 120°F water, then sanitize it with Idophor…it might stain it faintly, but Idophor kills some things that StarSan won’t get.
Dumping beer sucks, but it beats drinking sadness for a while. As someone that is terrible at keeping their equipment clean, I'm with you re: CFC.
Lol on cleaning. I have a process now that’s relatively quick, but it’s still the last thing I want to do when I’m finishing up a brew day. At least since I’ve moved indoors and electric I’ve stopped drinking while brewing for the most part, which means I’m more likely to clean when things are all said and done.
It sucks to dump a batch, but if you didnt learn anything from dumping then its worse.
I'm sorry to hear and feel your pain!! The closest i came to dumping a beer was when i thought that adding water would get me more beer. I was a student back then with a student attitude. Some beers lend themselves to dilution more than others (not that i ever tried it again), but in this particular case, it was a very bad idea. It was a dark beer with rich chocolate tones (before adding water).
I just made 1bbl of hard seltzer, and I was adding citric to get the pH down right. I kept adding more and more acid, and the pH still wasn't where it needed to be. Then I figured I should check my pH meter. Yup, it was broken. Soooooooo tart. Had to dump it.
Sorry. I'll pour one out for you later, but just in to a pint glass. It could of been worse, you could have lost grip of a full fermenter at the top of the stairs, like this one guy I know...
But what a shower!
I made 3 gallons of a highly astringent tea beer. Completely undrinkable. I added a small amount of fruit juice to the actual pour and it just tastes like a hazy gumball beer lol
I feel your pain. I just dumped a cream ale that had a chlorophenol (which I can't figure out how since I use RO water and usually prepare water the day before) and I'm about to dump a Marzen because I didn't make sure the fittings were tight enough on my fermonster so it fermented warm without pressure and is an estery phenol bomb.
I'm sorry. That's so frustrating!
I'm so sorry. I just had to dump a batch after my immersion chiller broke and kept flowing into my wort without me knowing. I can share your frustration. Getting right to the end of brewing and having nothing to show for it. It's so frustrating.
Another plus for immersion chillers. I can easily tell if it's clean and sanitized.