I recently met a really serious brewer who said he will brew and evaluate a beer, and oftentimes just dump it if it doesn’t live up to his expectations. Given that several iterations might be necessary to develop that perfect recipe, I can see the utility of this. I’ve never been scared to dump beer, especially since I make small batches. I wondered how many of you do this routinely? Its a waste in one sense, but as a hobby I don’t think its much more expensive than any other and life’s too short to drink mediocre beer. As long as you don’t run short of course, which never happens at my house. I’d give it away but I don’t know that many people who like homebrew, plus giving away beer that has one flaw or another (unless very slight) seems kind of wrong.
I dump mine right down my throat. 
I don’t dump if it simply doesn’t meet my expectations, but I will dump without hesitation if I don’t enjoy drinking the beer.
I dump it if it’s no good, and sometimes if it’s old and I need the keg. I have dumped batches that weren’t up to snuff when I was brewing for a wedding or something like that. I can’t drink everything I brew, so it is often easier just to dump it than to figure something else out.
It’s got to be really bad to dump it but have done so. And will do again. 
I’ve dumped a few batches over the years that had soured over time. I think that as a seasoned brewer you will eventually come to a point of dumping a batch. Even the best breweries in the world have dumped batches and I think this pertains to homebrewers as well. The more batches you brew, the higher the likelyhood of dumping a batch or two…I think it’s ultimately inevitable.
In 59 batches I’ve only had one that was undrinkable (knock wood). And that was an Acetobacter contamination that eventually turned into some passable malt vinegar. So I’ve never actually “dumped” a batch. If it was just me drinking the beer I wouldn’t be able to keep up with my brewing, but I have thirsty roommates and friends to help out. When it comes to recipe changes, I just make sure to take good tasting notes for the next time I brew it.
Only dumped one entire batch but have dumped the last gallon or so of several. If I’m sick of drinking it, need the space in the keezer, and never really liked it that much to begin with I’ll dump the last bit. If I like it OK I’ll bottle that last bit.
I’m not giving away beer I don’t like and if I don’t enjoy drinking it then it’s getting dumped. It’s not like I don’t have 5 other kegs ready to drink plus several kegs on-deck plus bottles shoved in every open fridge space.
Out of 15 all-grain batches so far, I’ve only considered dumping 1. It’s an Anchor Steam clone made with Munton Maris Otter that is really, really cloudy. Almost to the point of being muddy looking. It tastes fine but it’s very unappealing.
I had a mild that looked similar and after gelatin and time, it is now my clearest beer so I’m going to try the same with this one and see if I can salvage it. The rest of this malt is being saved for Stout season.
The important point is that I am more than willing to dump it if I have to. I’m no expert but I know now that I can do much better and I need to feel happy about the beer that I drink and serve to family and friends. Keeping it for private consumption would just extend the pain.
I’ve made over 300 batches of beer and/or mead and have tossed out about 10 gallons. My motto is “never throw away a beer!” The one batch of five gallons I tossed was, like Sean’s, acetobacter infected and wasn’t salvageable.
So, I’m either very tolerant when it comes to drinking my own homebrew or I’ve been very lucky or both. I have plenty of space for storage and tend to rotate kegs in and out of service depending on what I feel like drinking.
I had a couple super cloudy beers made with Crisp maris otter. I added some gelatin and within a week they are now very clear. Makes me not want to throw the whole bag of MO away.
I was considering dumping them if they didn’t clear, but not they’re pretty good, which is a relief.
I haven’t really dumped a beer before, but I’m getting to the point where I’m okay with it if I need to.
EDIT: now that I remember, I recently dumped a double IPA that got infected. Tasted good when I bottled it, but I’m thinking it got infected from the bottling bucket. Every bottle foamed over like crazy when opened and tasted off. Sad…freed up a bunch of bombers though.
My general rule for dumping beer is: if I can’t finish the first one or, if after I have finished the first one I really don’t want a second one, then its a dumper. No sense keeping kegs around with beer in 'em that I’m never gonna drink.
I keep what would otherwise be dumpers and serve to the in-laws. Or to other people where I want to see if they’ll give me an honest opinion.
Sorry dear, just kidding about the in-laws.
Crap, if I dumped every batch that wasn’t what I expected, I don’t think I would have drank a homebrew yet! ;D I have dumped two batches, one was a lager that got infected. The other just plain sucked. (R.I.P. Santa’s Helper. Sorry Denny.)
Epic!
I’m going to dump some beer tonight, a keg of alt that I drank on for awhile. It was so-so but I had some pale ale that needed to be put on tap. I have an alt bottled anyway that was a better recipe.
Interesting responses, good to know there are so many with high standards. Even the Weaz, amazing! I do agree that you sometimes have to give a beer time to develop, especially lagers.
I haven’t dumped any yet.
Although I do have one kegged now that is probably going down the drain, I just don’t like it, its bad no good don’t want it.
I can’t see dumping a beer because it isn’t perfect. Undrinkable or just plain old don’t like it sure, but just because it might have been better with C40 instead of C60, or mashed at 150 instead of of 154, or add hops at 15 min instead of 30 min seems kind wasteful.
ThoughI hardly ever brew the same thing twice, so I never really get that deep into trying to perfect a recipe.
Maybe 2 in 20+ years.
One had about a pound of pine needles in it. 
One other I screwed around with some pickling spices.
Other than that I have never made a beer that didn’t meet my expectations. It may have not ended up the way I intended but met my expectations never-the-less. To me beer is not bad or “off”, just different.
That’s always the tricky part for me. Unless the beer is obviously stale, should I just let it sit a few months and see how it develops? I’m often surprised at the improvement over time, but then I have to admit that I’ve never had a beer that I considered dumping at first turn out spectacular. Good enough for the in-laws, certainly. But not spectacular.
I guess I’m lucky…I never had a batch I had to totally dump.
Knock wood.
There’ve certainly been a number that fell short of expectations or missed flavor targets, and there were two that went sour for reasons still unknown…but none were so heinous that I couldn’t blend them into new brews or use them as an ingredient in marinades.
Actually, one of the soured batches gave me a perfect addition to blend in very small amounts into batches of dry stout (after pasteurizing the soured stuff).
I haven’t dumped any in nearly 100 batches, but I have made some that I didn’t care for. That’s when I call up my friend Big John to come over and finish off the keg (He’s not as picky as me and at 6’8’’ he can empty a keg in no time).