Anyone Blend Their Beers?

[Nick JD]

I bottle into 2 liter PET bottles and decant from one into another. Often I'll have maybe 500ml left in the bottom of a 2 liter bottle but want to pour another, different brew that's in a 1.25 liter bottle - if the two aren't too different, I decant one into the other.

Sometimes the result is better than the individuals.

Lately, I've found myself deliberately blending two in different ratios.

Anyone else blend at decanting?

 

[Phrak]

Yep! nothing wrong with blending at all. Helps you identify the best/worst parts of each beer.

Lately (after reading it somewhere here) I've been creating a mongrel keg with all the last bits of beer from the fermenter that didn't fit in the primary keg.

At the very least, it ends up as an "interesting" drink!

 

[marlow_coates]

Not in bottles but I have done it with kegs.

I think it is pretty common practice particularly if you have a brew that has too much, or not enough, of something. Be it alcohol, bitterness, malt etc...

Like Phrak said it is a good way to identify different components of your beer when 'blends' are drunk next to 'single malts' (yes I know there are almost always several malts used)

 

[boingk]

Blend away, meistro! Blend a pils on a porter, a stout in a lager, a wit through a schwartz - anything really. I mean, why not? You can get some great combos. Sure, theres the odd one you could live without but nothing ventured...

- boingk

 

[Katherine]

Usually on brew day's I end up blending...

 

[porky]

I blend...sometimes a beer just isn't as good as you thought it would be...so mix it with something else. Good and no waste. All kegged, mixed at the tap.
Just had a friend over.....we started with some of the best (in my opinion) and progressed to some of my least favorite....after a few one doesn't seem to care as much. Again, no waste.

Cheers,
Bud

 

[TidalPete]

Many brewers have a "Blend Keg" into which they put the surplus litres of the many beers they keg.
Some taste good, some taste bloody awful.
Yes, if I have a beer that I am unhappy with for some reason or other I happily blend it with another beer (In the glass) to mask my mistake.

TP :beer:

 

[browndog]

Yep, I'm drinking a blended beer right now, out of the tap though, a porter that was not as robust as I had hoped with a double nip of RIS brings it up to where I wanted it.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Muggus]

I had a "bad" blending experience with a golden ale mixed with an oak-aging Imperial stout.
Rather than add a bit of the stout to the golden ale, I blended set amounts in another fermenter all together. Was a good enough mix in theory, and tasted alright after a week. Silly enough I left it for a month and bottled it.
Thing that didn't occur to me that was that there was no viable yeast from either brew in the blend, and being aged for a period of months on oak chips that i'd have to say weren't 100% sterile, the stout may have a few other 'bugs' lurking beneath the surface.
And of course, these 'bugs' pretty much went to town on the blend without any healthy yeast in there.

So yeah, i'm left with a batch of unintentially soured ale, much in the vain of Rodenbach. On a random side note...I did try a bottle the other night and after a year in the bottle its finally carbonated! h34r:

Anyway, so my advice is to make sure you still have some viable, active yeast in your brew if you are blending in the fermenter...and avoid oak aged beers if possible.

 

[pmolou]

yer i have a lambic in the fermentor atm and plan on making a gueze and mixing with other beers to get sour/interesting notes
but i'll probly pasturize it first

PS: im not sure what the name of the radio was brew something maybe anyway they had a podcast on blending beers and looked quite interesting

 

[Josh]

Never done this in the bottle, but I have a blend keg so that I don't have to muck around with 6-8 bottles after filling one keg.

Turns out some pretty good beers. Can't see a problem doing it in the bottle.

 

[QldKev]

Same here with the 'dregs keg'. I always end up with a couple of litres spare from the fermentor, and since I do 2 fermentors at a time, both leftovers gets put into the dregs keg. Some come out really nice.

QldKev

 

[3GumsBrewing]

Yep, I needed a keg for my bock so i blended an APA with a black lager. Tastes pretty damn good!

 

[peas_and_corn]

I'm brewing largeish batches, so I put what can't fit into the kegs into a blending cube, which will go into a keg when it's full. I have my second blend on tap right now- it's dominated a little much by the stout component, but meh.

 

[quantocks]

I'm surprised at all you who blend left overs. I tip whatever doesn't fit in the keg, down the drain!

granted, I just fill my fermenter to about 19-20L so I'm not tipping much away anymore.

 

[buttersd70]

:blink:
words fail me....

 

[Katherine]

:blink:
words fail me....

you melting over there???

 

[PostModern]

:blink:
words fail me....

Same. I toss some in to pint glasses, jugs, etc if there are leftovers. Nothing like a litre or two of uncarbonated ale to make your arvo interesting.

 

[TidalPete]

I'm surprised at all you who blend left overs. I tip whatever doesn't fit in the keg, down the drain!

Bloody Nora! Sacrilege!

TP :beer:

 

[Katherine]

I'm surprised at all you who blend left overs. I tip whatever doesn't fit in the keg, down the drain!

granted, I just fill my fermenter to about 19-20L so I'm not tipping much away anymore.

take him off the nerd list for sure....

Why don't you bottle the leftovers! Great way to remember a good beer!