The Infamous Bad Batch

Dammit. Now I have to go buy a turtle, or an extra spoon to bend over backwards. I don't get Alamo ale here. The best I could do is a Shiner bock. You probably get their lager, you lucky SOB! I think it's pretty solid for a cheap beer, and I'd stack it against some bigger beers. Boston lager, look out!

 

For me it really depends on the beer.

I have a sour brown that, of my 4 sour beers, isn't sour yet. I still have faith in it.

After listening to Chad Yakobson (of Crooked Stave brewing), some off flavors can become delicious as various bacteria and brett strains work their way through them. My personal opinion is that one of the reasons Cantillon and other spontaneous fermentation beers work out so well is that a lot of enteric bacteria populate the wort early but later strains clean up those bi-products and make phenomal compounds that make the beers quite complex and delicious.

 

Great tips, Ive done all these things! they usually work out.

 

I like the shiner lager but it's not as common as you'd think. When I spot it I do pick up a six or twelve tho.

 

I have yet to make a beer that a little brett or other souring agents didn't fix over time. Of course I haven't made any truly horrible beers since my more inexperienced days, so there probably is a limit to what it can fix. I tried a sour mash for the first time that ended up slightly off (more so in aroma than flavor). After 3 months of brett, it's not exactly what it was intended to be, but it's damn tasty and drinkable now.

 

Depends how "bad" bad is.

Most of time, I give the beer some time. It's amazing how much can change with a couple weeks of aging. But on the rare occasion when I get a beer with significant off flavors that aren't going away--like say that diacetyl bomb helles I brewed last spring--I don't bother trying to choke it down. Life's too short for bad beer.