Oh God how much it hurts to dump a batch after fermentation and cold crashing. It is just heart breaking to dump about $60 worth of ingredients and effort down the drain. I am pretty sure that Baby Jesus is crying.
It is my first dumped batch in 5 years. This just sucks!
Sorry dude. It sucks. Just be prepared that it might not be the last. It happens to everybody. I find a hard lesson cam be the best teacher sometimes.
Dude, I purged my lines. Served a glass. Smelled it and it smelled like gaseous substance out of a bodily orifice. Tasted like such (I guess) proceeded to spit. Curled up in a ball and cried.
What happened? You must have some clue what went wrong?
I don’t really know but I think some infection got to it. I didn’t see any pellicle or any other signs but early in the fermentation I saw big unusual bubbles on my krausen. They went away and since I’ve been told that infections only escalate I didn’t put much weight on it. But now I guess it was a bona fide infection after all.
As one of the best brewers I know used to say - “gotta be able to dump bad beer to make good beer”. Sorry for your loss. I do feel your pain.
Thanks for your condolences!
What was the recipe? Which yeast? You said it smelled like farts. Sulphury beers smell like that or like eggs. Was that what you smelled?
Was the beer clear or turbid?
Sulphur can be driven out by running CO2 backwards through your kegs.
I used to dump batches on a regular basis that other brewers would gladly take off of my hands.
+1
I got over the pain of dumping batches a long time ago. I used to dump perfectly fine batches to make room for a batch that I wanted to drink more.
Just had to do it myself to a Maibock last Sunday. It was great going into the keg. But after time in the keg, it went way south - foamy (although it had been purged, but never carbed), flabby, too dry, acidic, etc. I soon realized the keg had developed what looked like stubborn rust on the bottom and, try as I might, I can’t get it to removed. It must be harboring some bacteria. Will canibalize it for parts, then send it to the recycling tomorrow. 
RIP my good friend. May you end up a nice table in the kitchen of a restaurant.
Yep. I still do this. The guys at my home-brew club cringe every time I tell them that. Even if there are very minor flaws in the beer, I typically will dump them after a while if I keep picking up on it…
I have no problem dumping bad beer or giving away good beer if I just don’t care for it.
+1
+2, I also have no problem with this. Been brewing for 2 years last month, probably 25-30 batches. I have dumped 1 batch where I got a very band aid phenolic smell and taste. I also have left 2 batches for my SO other to drink herself as she liked them and I found off flavors/ poor attenuation that I just could not drink myself. I don’t want to dump a batch, but I also don’t want to drink beer that I won’t/don’t enjoy
Yep. Its only beer!
I would never dump a decent beer just to make room. I have too many friends that will make quick work of anything I needed to get rid of.
Now if it was bad, that’s a different story. I haven’t had to dump one yet, but would do it if necessary.
I have dumped a couple that were badly infected in the course of fermentation. It takes only one such event to begin a regular schedule of extensive and very thorough cleaning (with the strongest agent you can justify), boiling (as able) and sanitizing with a highly effective sanitizer. I used to rinse well, sanitize with iodophor and call it good - no more. I change up regularly the approach and break things down fully a few times a year for a prolonged soak. But with the new plastics and their limitations, I find that I really have to treat each kind of vessel differently on the cleaning step (stainless - no more than an overnight soak in PBW; buckets - soak for a couple days in PBW; plastic better bottles - no PBW, but scrub well and use OxyClean for just a few minutes before rinsing and sanitizing). I am going to try Mark’s suggestion about an ounce of TSP and an ounce of vinegar in five gallons of water for sanitizing, since he said it is not hardness affected. I haven’t used One Step in years, but I may consider it for the quick clean and go approach that others don’t provide…I have a bunch of samples from a judging this past summer.
Definitely a time to consider sanitation, again, BEFORE there is another batch to dump.
With that said, Chlorinated TSP is an awesome keg cleaner and sanitizer if one can find it. From what I understand, there are two different CTSP formulations. The formulation that I used is pink.