How Many Bad Brews Have You Made?

[bevdawg]

OK so my brewing life is not exactly going smoothly for a variety of reasons, but just wondering if I'm the only one!?

I was wondering out how many batches everyone has made, how many have gone bad... from infections, to mash temp stuff ups, to recipe problems. I personally out of my last 11 brews, have had:

2 nice beers - dark IPA, came out good and drank the keg in 2 weeks. Bottled Oatmeal Stout, drank quick, mates liked.
1 OK beer - an IPA but not bitter enough and lacked aroma and generally was not that good. Ferment temp issues.
1 unsure - a steam ale... Ferment temp issues (before fridge and temp controller). It's ok, maybe slightly odd flavor, so a back up beer not being drunk fast.
2 infections - (think this is solved now), possible lacto. Finally ditched fermenters and all gear and replaced.
2 write offs - temp stuff ups with the mash, first 2 AG brews....
1 wheat beer where I used real corriander, not seeds, and I think the result was a very odd sour beer. No good.

Currently fermenting an IPA which is 1 of 2 most recent jobs that I've no chilled not allowing for the increased bitterness this brings. It's currently super bitter 2 days into ferment.

Kegged an amber ale today which is mouth puckering bitter, same deal with the no chill.

Sooo I'm not having the best of luck! Contemplating a new hobby Wondering if this is just me, or if it's something all new brewers experience?

 

[Lecterfan]

Mate, when I took up fishing I was casting sinkers 300m while the bait fell at my feet and the rest of the rig made triple granny knots 20m in the air behind me. A few years later I was tying %100 strength knots and even catching a fish now and again (very rarely haha).

There are a heap of other analogies I could give.

You've listed 9 brews and been able to identify the problems with the ones you don't like....so: fix the problems. That may sound harsh- but seriously, if you know the problem then fix it, and don't look back.

Don't look for another hobby - get this one down pat (to a level that you enjoy and like) and EVERYTHING else will be enhanced haha...

Rogginfugginroll :beer:

 

[Guysmiley54]

Been there, done that!

It really seems to be a learning process. A hard one too when you have 23L to drink, each bottle reminding me of what I did wrong when it's not all smooth sailing.

On the bright side, I am rigid in my determination (not just with brewing... SWMBO shakes her head at me frequently throughout the day) and optimistic that I can improve and resolve most if not all of the isses I have faced so far.

I have been back into brewing for around 12 months now and although much better I'm still a little hit and miss with my beer. I switch it up with the beers I brew (it sounds like you do too!) so I'm sure that not practising on one recipe or style or even process at this stage is slowing me down too...

I do reckon that this forum has sped up the learning process 10 fold. When we all share our experience, everyone benefits :beer:

OK so my brewing life is not exactly going smoothly for a variety of reasons, but just wondering if I'm the only one!?

I was wondering out how many batches everyone has made, how many have gone bad... from infections, to mash temp stuff ups, to recipe problems. I personally out of my last 11 brews, have had:

2 nice beers - dark IPA, came out good and drank the keg in 2 weeks. Bottled Oatmeal Stout, drank quick, mates liked.
1 OK beer - an IPA but not bitter enough and lacked aroma and generally was not that good. Ferment temp issues.
1 unsure - a steam ale... Ferment temp issues (before fridge and temp controller). It's ok, maybe slightly odd flavor, so a back up beer not being drunk fast.
2 infections - (think this is solved now), possible lacto. Finally ditched fermenters and all gear and replaced.
2 write offs - temp stuff ups with the mash, first 2 AG brews....
1 wheat beer where I used real corriander, not seeds, and I think the result was a very odd sour beer. No good.

Currently fermenting an IPA which is 1 of 2 most recent jobs that I've no chilled not allowing for the increased bitterness this brings. It's currently super bitter 2 days into ferment.

Kegged an amber ale today which is mouth puckering bitter, same deal with the no chill.

Sooo I'm not having the best of luck! Contemplating a new hobby Wondering if this is just me, or if it's something all new brewers experience?

 

[ledgenko]

I have had a few go not how I planned but every one I have made tastes better than most of the commercial stuff .... Mass produced preservative ridden crap !!!!

 

[ben_sa]

i have had the last 2 go down the drain.... It turns out when i did the first one, i accidentally put my "chinook" lid on my 'cascade' hop container and vice cersa.

Long story short, I bittered two 60min boils with cascade, flavouring and aroma with chinook...

Not nice WHATSOEVER!

 

[yum beer]

Since getting back into brewing after a 9 year lay off Ive made 22 batches, 9 of which have been f*#k ups....7 thanks Im sure to the mouse plague..one after another
1 AG that went awry courtesy of a wayward spider and one batch I think I got too much oxygen into during a lazy racking episode.
The other 13 have ranged from good to fantastic, most better than what I can buy at the local.

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

I've done 30+ BIABS now since restarting after years in the wilderness. 1 infection (poor sanitation), and a few like you that were super bitter (still drinkable though). I could say probably 25 have been good to great, 4 just OK and a few dodgy ones. Changing the hop schedule for no chilling has made the difference for me. Keg hopping is also a standard now for all my smash ales. Picking a good brew also helps <_< - I've done alot of Tony's brews and Argon's from the DB. I do them, then play around changing things up.
Keep going .... and whenever you feel like giving up grab a VB - that'll cure you.
Cheers
BBB

 

[O'Henry]

I'm not sure how many batches I've done. I've had two infections at racking/bottling and one that was crap for style due to mash temp.

Don't get down. It happens to everyone. Just learn and look towards the next brew!

 

[amiddler]

i have had the last 2 go down the drain.... It turns out when i did the first one, i accidentally put my "chinook" lid on my 'cascade' hop container and vice cersa.

Long story short, I bittered two 60min boils with cascade, flavouring and aroma with chinook...

Not nice WHATSOEVER!

Surly the flavour would be different not bad?

I've done 30+ BIABS now since restarting after years in the wilderness. 1 infection (poor sanitation), and a few like you that were super bitter (still drinkable though). I could say probably 25 have been good to great, 4 just OK and a few dodgy ones. Changing the hop schedule for no chilling has made the difference for me. Keg hopping is also a standard now for all my smash ales. Picking a good brew also helps <_< - I've done alot of Tony's brews and Argon's from the DB. I do them, then play around changing things up.
Keep going .... and whenever you feel like giving up grab a VB - that'll cure you.
Cheers
BBB

30+ you drink to much B)

I must be over the 100 mark and the only bad beers now are ones that I add things that shouldn't be there! Like adding a whack of Tettnang to my last light beer. Ever sucked a tea bag? No, well come taste my light ale!

Drew

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

Hang in there mate, i was also going through a bad point not too long ago. My issues where from lack of fermentation control and no re hydrating the dry yeast.

Here is my tally:

26 brews total with two fallen soldiers, one to infection and the other was from the yeast issue above, there were another 3 brews that were just drinkable from the same issue.

It's a learning curve so hang in there.

 

[wakkatoo]

only issues were with beers made in my pre-AG days. Just the usual K&K issues of poor fermentation temps, too young to care, just wanted my own beer! Pity I couldn't drink it! Last beer that I dumped was a spiced christmas ale. Nothing really wrong with it, just wasn't to my taste at the time and was taking up tap space. Was one of my last partial beers too I think...

 

[mxd]

too many

Most from Laziness (didn't make starter, no re-hydration of dried yeast, racked it off too quickly), a few from poor temp control (solved this on now), and 4 that I still can't figure out what went wrong

 

[Screwtop]

Think I'm around 137 brews over the past 5 years, double batches for the last 30 odd. Good thing I left double batches for a while.

Had some shockers early on, couple of batches of Ropey Bacillus, a foul smelling infection that turns the wort into snot like strands, this bug also infects bread and milk. A few batches of unwanted Pediococcus and Lactobacilus and of course in the early days when I couldn't keep from opening the fermenter every day to check fermentation - quite a few batches infected with the old favourite Acetobacter.

Been a good while now since adopting appropriate cleaning and sanitising regime around 4 years ago.

Tipping 22L of beer on the grass is a great learning experience.

Screwy

 

[adryargument]

Since my move to AG, i have made probably 20ish brews.

Bad brews:

- 1 x filthy wheat bier that had issues with the mash... (2 hour mash at 50 degs - struggle day, however for some reason every lady who has tried it loves it?)
- 1 x Anzac day concoction that either tastes like cinnamon or coconut - depending on the day of the week.

Semi-Bad - still tasted great:
- 2 x Acetobacteria infections from a bathroom storage location (Racked at first sign of infection into secondary)

 

[argon]

I remember someone around here saying something like, "Everyone talks about how awesome their homebrew beers are, mine are ****, maybe i'm expecting too much?" Needless to say i felt exactly the same way for the first few beers... they were terrible, undrinkable *****. Never thought i'd end up producing awesome beers... but i got there.

3 things changed for me when i started to make good beers,
1. Temp control,
2. All grain,
3. Proper yeast handling/pitching.
With point #3 being the biggest jump for me. I was still making all grain, still fermenting at the right temp, but i was stressing the **** out of my yeast. Only occasionally getting things right.

I'm also one of these guys that is steadfast stubborn about everything i do. I battled though the **** beers, cause i was determined to make something at least palatable. I think this hobby can be very off putting at the start, especially with those horrible kit instructions <_< . I'm always impressed and really enjoy it when someone new posts about their first AG. Cause you know they've overcome the less than ideal beers they've brewed in the past and want to improve. Not to say you can't make awesome kits, extracts or partials, it's just a nice thing to see someone going the next step further seeking improvement.

 

[Golani51]

Since getting back into brewing after a 9 year lay off Ive made 22 batches, 9 of which have been f*#k ups....7 thanks Im sure to the mouse plague..one after another
1 AG that went awry courtesy of a wayward spider and one batch I think I got too much oxygen into during a lazy racking episode.
The other 13 have ranged from good to fantastic, most better than what I can buy at the local.

Please explain the mouse plague issue with your beer. We are getting these bastards in Melbourne too. Now everything is in containers but lots wasted.

R

 

[pimpsqueak]

I think I had my first truly bad brewing experience on saturday night.
Everything was going well until it was time to boil. I hadn't really paid any thought to the fact that, a few weeks ago, the landlord replaced out old tired ceramic cooktop with a new, standard 4 element cooktop.
End result was that I could not get past 97 deg. I had 2 elements on full and 2 at about 30%. (I blew the power with all 4 on full last time) I even took out as much as I could to reduce the volume and it made no difference at all.
I had a pretty foul looking pseudo-boil with massive clumps of phlegm-like scum that just seemed to get bigger. I imagine I got next to no bitterness from the hops and there wasn't much in the way of aroma either.

Ended up with 20l into the fermenter and about 5l of trub. A new record :huh:

That being said, the fast-ferment sample is actually smelling quite pleasant. For now.

I guess I am going to have to fork out for a burner if I'm to brew again in the next 8 months or so.

Bloody cheaparsed landlord :angry:

 

[cdbrown]

My last two batches have been very disappointing. English IPA for both (AG and kit) and I think I was way too heavy handed with the hops late in the boil and dry hop. I can't bring myself to drink them so when I've got some time I'll brew up a light english pale and blend them in the hope I can salvage it.

Of course have suffered some infections here and there, and have really struggled with using liquid yeasts - one of them was bad when I poured it in the starter (although I just thought that's what it should smell like), a few others just failed to take off.

 

[yum beer]

Please explain the mouse plague issue with your beer. We are getting these bastards in Melbourne too. Now everything is in containers but lots wasted.

R

The problem I think was airborne 'crap', i always brewed up in the kitchen then got an old stove and started brewing in the gararge, at the same time I was catching a dozen or more mice everyday, plus another 5 or 6 dead from ratsak, every brew I put down for 3 weeks was ruined before fermentation finished or was absolute shiite in the bottle and undrinkable. Since then I have got the mice under control, catching one every other day at worst and have gone back to brewing in the kitchen, no problems since-about 7 or 8 brews with no problem.

F*%king mice....

 

[komodo]

**** loads!
Mostly due to lazyness in my early brewing with my sanitation regime
I've also made some bad ones doe to way too much hopping when brewing without scales
And some really bad ones from f***ing around with recipes too much before knowing what I'm actually doing.
I tend to stick to recipes these days and havent had a failed brew in quite some time. Scales, proper sanitation and a temp controlled fermenting area has helped greatly