Ok, so some of you beer people may recall that a couple of months ago I asked about making a cranberry beer. While the unanimous decision was that I should use fresh or frozen berries, there were absolutely none to be found in my town at that time (of course now they are everywhere). Ok, so I said “hell, I’ll use the juice concentrate.” I carefully read the contents, and it says “fructose and dextrose”. Fine, I think, should take a while to ferment, but it won’t be icky, at least.
Fast-forward to three weeks ago. It has stopped fermenting (fermented vigorously for 2 days, then sat for 2 weeks or so in secondary to be safe), so I give it a taste. Oh my God! It’s awful! It tastes VERY cidery-- super sour and vinegar-like. I realize that perhaps my juice concentrate lied to me and it was a crapload of glucose. I look in the books: yep, a strong cidery vinegary taste can be caused by over 20% glucose in the recipe. No troubleshooting option: “Corrective action: none possible, but you may want to add fruit,” the book ironically suggests. “Damn,” I think. “I killed it.”
So it sits on the kitchen floor. I am sad and too lazy to dump it. It sits longer. . . husband is also too lazy to dump it, or even try it and agree with my declaration of beer-death. So it lies in state for a number of weeks.
So a few minutes ago, I get up the gumption to do the inevitable. I lift the carboy up onto a stool in order to siphon it straight into the sink. I start the siphon (um, the old fashioned way-- at this point I figure being clean about it is like alcohol-swabbing the arm of a recipient of an impending lethal injection) and I get a mouthful, for curiosity’s sake AND THE BEER AIN’T BAD! Most of the cidery taste has dissappeared–it resembles beer again, or at least something in the lambic family. I am perplexed, and I can’t think of an explanation. Am I going mad?
Well, you ignored our sound advice and produced 5 gallons of crappy beer. But then you repented and realized you should always listen to your Doper brewing friends, and the beer gods took pity on you and transformed your creation into palatable goods. 
I wish I was there to hoist one with ya! Care to share the recipe?
IANAHB (and I wish to God I was!) but it seems to me maybe the extra time it sat there was enough time for whatever yeast was left to eat the nasty ol’ glucose and poop out wonderful, life-affirming alcohol?
Well, maybe you are, but fruit beers are strange things indeed. I once made a raspberry lambic-style that took almost nine months of bottle conditioning to become good.
Years back I brought some Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic to a Christmas party (it’s Florida, we drink cold beer year 'round) and everyone, including myself, found it to be vile.
What’s stopping you? It’s loads of fun and oh-so-rewarding!
I’d recommend you start here.
Revtim-- Sam Adams can be used for good or for evil. I would never try anything “creative” by them or any other mid-sized brewery. I remember trying Saxer’s (Portland, OR) “Lemon Lager” which was just execrable-- tasted like lemon-flavored “Starburst” candy…
Ferrous, I TRIED to find cranberries, really I did! I don’t mean to offend the spirits-- it couldn’t be helped and I was shooting for a Thanksgiving drinking-date.
Recipe? Um. . . it was going to be an English pale ale, and then 2 cans of cranberry juice concentrate were thrown in. . . I can’t recall. Sloppy record keeper.
That’s okay. The beer gods are forgiving. They don’t have good memories anyway.
Saxer’s Lemon Lager is indeed revolting, but I like the Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic. But lambics are kind of an acquired taste (even more than regular beers).
As for record keeping, YMMV. I like to write down every detail, but that’s just me—I’m kinda anal that way. My bro’ never wrote anything down. Whatever floats your boat.
Hmmmm, as much as I like beer I wonder if it’s worth it for me to start brewing my own.
So what are the basics to start out so one doesn’t spend a buttload of cash in case the hobby becomes less than desireable?
BTW, New Belgium Brewery makes a wonderful Raspberry Ale every October, I love the stuff! I would love to make fruity beers, especially to go with summer grilling.
Well, Techie, you need at least a three gallon pot (I used a 1 gallon pot to some success, but the bigger the better), a six gallon food grade bucket with lid and airlock at the very, very least. And a bottle topper. Most homebrew stores have kits that start at $80 or so. You’re a BAD, correct? There’s two good stores right next to each other on Marina west of 880 in San Leandro.
BigDaddyD,
Actually I am in Colorado Springs, any links to reputable online retailers? I am sure there’s at least one here in town or up in Denver but most of my “shopping” is done on line.
Hey all, if I may be so bold as to intrude.
I don’t brew beer (mainly because I can’t stand the taste) but I have recently made a passable batch of dandelion wine and am now working on some hard cider. I ordered my equipment through this place- http://www.cellar-homebrew.com/. Their delivery has always been pretty fast and the prices don’t seem awful.
Happy fermenting!
These people are also nice: http://www.brewersresource.com/
and
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/
and it’s a labor of love. Considering the batches I’ve made mistakes with, I don’t do it to save money n beer. But if you do make a good batch, that’s a lot of handscrafted-with-loving-care Xmas presents.
Thanks for the information, I have ordered catalogs from all three places. I love shopping on line but mostly prefer to see it all in print then make my decision while watching the news or a soap opera. 
Sometimes when you are brewing, before it’s completely fermented, tasting can give you an off flavor just because it’s not complete. You have some of the “bad” bacteria in it that gives you the off flavors. On occasion, you get lucky, like you apparently did and fermentation completes with enough alcohol to kill the bacteria that give an off flavor. If you like it, bottle it and enjoy. You got lucky. Lambics and fruit beers can be hit or miss at times. I made the best ginger beer in the world once and was never able to duplicate it because all other batches went horseshit afterwards. And I have no idea why. But next time, use fresh or frozen or a top quality brewing concentrate. If in doubt, put in extra corn sugar for dextrose to get the alcohol level up fast enough to kill the nasties:)
It’s also possible that the fermentation was incomplete. Then mucking about on the first taste either restarted the fermentation or introduced a wild yeast that finished off the job.
also, an awful lot of beers will taste better after they sit a while. Has to do with evaporation of the esters, mixing of flavors and all sorts of other stuff. anyhoo, some marginal beers can develop to be pretty tasty after a while. Fruit beers are tricky and can take a real long time.