I’m rather ashamed to write this, but yesterday I finally poured out a carboy of brown ale that I brewed on MLK Jr. Day (Jan 21st) that has been sitting in primary fermentation for 4 months. It was neglected because I’ve been busy with grad school, work, family, and projects around the house. Additionally, I never really wanted a brown ale, but the style is a favorite among my family.
Anyway, the dirty, dusty carboy was finally accessible again, and since I have no kegs to transfer it to, so I decided that it would be best to just cut my loss and move on. Out of curiosity, I managed to sip from the pour like you would from a garden hose, and I’m sad to report it wasn’t bad.
Now I must resolve to not brew again until I have the time to treat the beer appropriately. I also need to brew soon, since it’s beer season. Well, one of the beer seasons.
That is a shame you should have given it to someone. I’m sure someone has a empty keg that needed filling ;).
I would have bottled it for a cut . . .
It’s been sitting on trub for 4 months. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected.
Rack to a secondary and you can let it sit for a long time, long enough to free up another keg at least.
dude….
You should have bottled it, and called it Rip Van Winkle brown
That is a shame, but I can relate. While I never poured out a perfectly good batch of beer like that, I have felt the crunch of time and had to scramble to get a good batch of home brew bottled before it sat too long. I had to do some late night bottling a couple of weeks ago, when a last minute business trip crept up on me and I realized my IPA was about due to leave the fermenter and get bottled. A secondary may be exactly what I need for these sort of emergencies… That and a little more on the sound planning side of the house may do the trick…
Don’t beat yourself up though. It’s only beer right? *ducks to avoid thrown beer bottles* Get back on that horse and get brewing! Nice blog…