spoiled homebrew beer

9 years ago

I have 5 gallons of home brewed beer. It is a "full body" beer, so plenty of complex sugars, with low alcohol and low hops (.9oz hops, most of which was left in the brew kettle). The yeast slurry (mix of proteins and inactive yeast) is about 4" thick in the 12" round jug.

Unfortunately for ME the brew was infected with some sort of bacteria or fungus that has produced a white layer on top and rendered it undrinkable (for flavour reasons, not health concerns. Pathogens don't grow on beer)

I read about the really crappy experiment to see if beer helps plants (it was used in a hydroponic system), but I'm more interested in using it to feed the microbes that I just deposited on my lawn in the form of compost, hoping that it will boost them to ravenously eat the soy bean meal I just spread so I can spread some more asap.

As a brewer I don't make beer, I farm yeast. So understand the idea that I don't grow grass, I farm soil microbes. This seems perfectly reasonable to me as a means of a) disposing of the beer in a useful manner and b) temporarily boosting the metabolism of my micro herd.

Bad batches happen now and then, so I may make this a semi-regular occurrence. Perhaps toss down some SBM and jolt the herd into action with a bad batch of beer.

Thoughts?

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spoiled homebrew beer

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