So while cleaning my fruit room a couple days ago I noticed a 12 pack box of swing top bottles I had lost track of. Since I knew I would be bottling today I went down to grab em and clean up and realized some of them were full of beer. : It took me a minute to realize they were from a batch that turned our bad on a Westmalle Tripel I brewed a few years ago. I had nothing but problem with the batch including a blown lid off of my fermenter and a storage room covered in wort. heh beer never rounded into anything good in the 6 months of aging I gave it and ended up dumping the rest (or so I thought).
Anyway, long story short I decided to taste one before dumping the bottles and it was actually really good! They were swing top bottles so I resealed the one I opened and put it in the fridge to see how it would be cold. Other than suffering from chill haze it’s fantastic. Went back and checked my notes to see I brewed it on 3/11/11. So it only took 29 months of cellering to round into shape. ;D
I ended up taking it as a sign that the universe didn’t want me to bottle today. So I relaxed and had a homebrew! 8)
I brewed 10 gallon of English pale ale with WLP007 and hated it completely. I turned 5 gallons into an incredible malt vinegar but lost track of the second keg. Over a year later I found it in the back corner of my beer fridge and got ready to pour it out(still had 4 gallons of vinegar). Tasted it and it was excellent, it just needed time for the 007 to completely flocc out. Old beer can be good sometimes-“set it and forget it”
Brewed a Belgian dubbel in March 2010 and it was terrible. March 2011: terrible. March 2012: barely drinkable. March 2013: wow that’s good! June 2013: won 1st place in a competition! That only left me with one bomber.
You guys are giving me hope. I have a pale fermenting now and tastes aweful at only three weeks. I think it’s acetylaldehyde, rotten apples, but I figured I’d let it go another month or three to see. Figured aging may not help, but won’t hurt. Must be some good karma reading about your past brews. Timing can be everything
It took me a minute to realize they were from a batch that turned our bad on a Westmalle Tripel I brewed a few years ago. I had nothing but problem with the batch including a blown lid off of my fermenter and a storage room covered in wort. heh beer never rounded into anything good in the 6 months of aging I gave it and ended up dumping the rest (or so I thought).