Take 2

[Gizmo]

Hey everyone!

I'm back again, after not brewing since early last summer. I've had too many issues that it's taken the joy out of making my own beer:
-Gravities coming out lower than expected after boil, even though they're spot on after the mash, leading to much lower ABV (like 3%) than planned.
-Beers just not tasting good (I've a Quad that is syrupy trash, a watered down Raspberry wheat that's tarter than expected because of no body and no ABV, 3.2% I believe, to offset the tart of the berry, a session that's alright but not something I'm excited to have a session of!, etc.), so I prefer to just drink what I can buy.
-A porter that tasted amazing, and then had 3 bottle bombs within a week, so I dumped the over carbinated batch.
-An Oktoberfest that was under carbinated to the point that 75% of the open bottles were flat and undrinkable
-I had back surgery in 2013, so it makes any brewing and bottling day a potential pain the the upper ass!

All these things have put me off brewing, and I'm disappointed because I enjoy the hobby and the fruits of my labor, when they turn out good. But, I still have quite the stock of supplies (wheat, hops, yeast) to get through before I leave Germany next summer, so I'm giving it another go now before I have to just waste the stuff they won't ship. Pretty much I'm just going to be making what I can with what I've got, tweaking/reusing old recipes, finding recipes that fit my grain bill, etc.

That said, I have a brown that just hit the fermenter, based on a recipe I found online. I only made one adjustment and that was using 40L Caramel malt instead of 60L, since I have 40 and not 60. I'm happy, thus far, to report that my gravities came out higher than planned after boil (1.060 vice 1.055 predicted) and it tasted pretty good too. Next up is a recreation of the porter mentioned above, hoping for less carbination issues, but same great taste. I'll be doing that one in 3 or 4 weeks, once this batch hits the bottles.

One final question for you all: Most of the beers I have on hand, I know I'm not going to drink (especially the quad), as they've gotten quite old, so the already un-enjoyable glass is only getting worse. Would you power through, or just cut your losses, toss the batch and get the bottles ready for the next round?

[dbrowning]

How old is too old?
Ive had afew that got better with age.
1 particular high ABV Scottish peaked at 2 years
And I have a 10 ABV BBP that is almost 2 years old and better than it was at 1 year
I would give the Quad another shot

[mashani]

A will get better with age for a long time. Even if it starts to oxidize those flavors might actually improve it from whatever it was.

Syrupy sound like too much grain and not enough candi syrup. If you ever find a quad recipe that doesn't have nearly 20% of the grain bill being sugar, then just burn it and find another one, because it's not going to make a good quad.

[John Sand]

I had a lot of setbacks, and got discouraged sometimes. Keep studying and practicing, you'll work out the kinks.
I often let iffy batches condition for six months or more, but I won't drink bad beer.

[The_Professor]

......but I won't drink bad beer.

Yeah, if you are thinking "Maybe I'll run up to the corner store and grab a Bud instead" then you should dump the bad batch.

[Kealia]

I agree.....I don't care how much time I've invested....if it's not good I'm not drinking it.

Welcome back!

[Gizmo]

Back at being back.

The brown turned out pretty good, but life got busy, so it's all I've done until now. Right now my porter is on the boil. Last time I made it, it tasted great, but was over-carbonated or had a bug, and led to 2 bottle bombs before I blew the caps off the rest. Here's hoping for a decent porter for the winter.