[dzlater]

I haven't dumped any yet.
Although I do have one kegged now that is probably going down the drain, I just don't like it, its bad no good don't want it.
I can't see dumping a beer because it isn't perfect. Undrinkable or just plain old don't like it sure, but just because it might have been better with C40 instead of C60, or mashed at 150 instead of of 154, or add hops at 15 min instead of 30 min seems kind wasteful.
ThoughI hardly ever brew the same thing twice, so I never really get that deep into trying to perfect a recipe.

[tubercle]

Maybe 2 in 20+ years.

 One had about a pound of pine needles in it.

 One other I screwed around with some pickling spices.

 Other than that I have never made a beer that didn't meet my expectations. It may have not ended up the way I intended but met my expectations never-the-less. To me beer is not bad or "off", just different.

[Will's Swill]

I do agree that you sometimes have to give a beer time to develop, especially lagers.

That's always the tricky part for me.  Unless the beer is obviously stale, should I just let it sit a few months and see how it develops?  I'm often surprised at the improvement over time, but then I have to admit that I've never had a beer that I considered dumping at first turn out spectacular.  Good enough for the in-laws, certainly.  But not spectacular.

[The Professor]

I guess I'm lucky...I never had a batch I had to totally dump.   
Knock wood.

There've certainly been a number that fell short of expectations or missed flavor targets,  and there were two that went sour for reasons still unknown...but none were so heinous that I couldn't blend them into new brews or use them as an ingredient in marinades.

Actually, one of the soured batches gave me a perfect addition to blend in very small amounts into batches of dry stout (after pasteurizing the soured stuff).

[dannyjed]

I haven't dumped any in nearly 100 batches, but I have made some that I didn't care for.  That's when I call up my friend Big John to come over and finish off the keg (He's not as picky as me and at 6'8'' he can empty a keg in no time).

[tygo]

I have dumped.  It doesn't happen often but it has happened.  And it will likely happen again.

[scooter2374]

I haven't had to dump anything yet, but I'm only 15 or so batches into my homebrewing career.

[anthony]

I'm no stranger to dumping beer. In several hundred batches, I can count the times on one hand where I have dumped because of a technical or process related flaw, but I probably can't begin to count the number of times I have dumped the remainder of a batch that didn't live up to expectations. For me, I like the process of brewing more than the process of drinking, so I never really feel too badly about dumping a batch that didn't do as well in competition as I hoped or wasn't as popular as I expected at a party. There are exceptions of course, I very rarely dump anything above 10% abv (preferring to drop the remainder of those beers into bottles for long term storage), I never dump mead and lagers are usually given a little bit more leniency... but when my fleet of 20 or so corny kegs are all full, you can be sure the first one to go is the least-winning, least-popular, least hedonistically enjoyable beer of the bunch.

A few years ago at NHC in Cincinnatti, a club was serving an Orange gueze that on its own was great, but once mixed with vanilla ice cream was just like a Dreamcicle. When I inquired with the brewer about how it was made, he told me that he took a keg of a nice gueze, added a can of OJ concentrate, mixed and served. He emphasized that the beer had to be consumed in the next 24 hours or so because the OJ ruined the beer after that. I remember thinking at the time, "Man, what a waste of a good gueze". But now looking back, I realize that may have been my favorite beer of the entire conference... so I guess my point is, everything is relative 

[dmtaylor]

I think becoming a BJCP judge and beer conneiusseur has contributed to more self-criticism than I deserve.  That being said, I seem to have to dump a batch out of every 8 batches or so due to some sort of off-flavor.  Usually for me it's been a Lacto tartness, which I'm sure is from my laziness and eternal use of plastic buckets.  I'll leave a good batch sitting in a bucket for 4 or 5 months and then expect it to still taste good at bottling time.  Sometimes it's still good when I'm that lazy, sometimes it's not.  Seems to happen like clockwork, too.  After I've made 6 or 7 good batches, I know I'm coming due for a stinker within another batch or two, it happens with such consistent frequency.  I just had two bad batches recently so now I figure I'm good for a while.  What are my criteria?  If I don't enjoy drinking the beer at all in any way, it gets dumped before I even bottle it.  If I was dumb enough to bottle it and it sits on the shelf for like a year because no one will drink it, then every bottle gets dumped whether it's officially "drinkable" or not.  Those are the worst.  You go through all the trouble of bottling it, and it's drinkable, but then you don't ever feel like drinking it... that's just the worst.

Conversely, the signs of a spectacularly good batch are when the entire batch is gone in a month.  This has happened to me only about a dozen times in the past 12 years.  And those are the batches I'm shooting for every time.  I don't usually make mediocre recipes on purpose.  I'm always trying to make a world class beer, with every single batch.  It's just that I don't get that lucky 90% of the time!  But it doesn't stop me from trying.

[tomsawyer]

I'm no stranger to dumping beer.

Recognize who I was referring to in the initial post did ya?  I must confess that this second hand info, my wife heard you telling someone else about this practice and she related it to me.  It certainly makes sense for someone who really enjoys brewing and working on recipes for comps, that they might need to waste mediocre products on occasion.

I think becoming a BJCP judge and beer conneiusseur has contributed to more self-criticism than I deserve.  That being said, I seem to have to dump a batch out of every 8 batches or so due to some sort of off-flavor.  Usually for me it's been a Lacto tartness, which I'm sure is from my laziness and eternal use of plastic buckets.

Dave, do you reuse yeast for several generations?  I do think we accumulate more wild critters as we keep recycling yeast cakes.  I do it, but I'm aware of the need to get new yeast every so often.  I've also purchased the stuff to plate yeasts, I figure I can keep them clean myself this way.  Whether I'll ever do it. remains to be seen.

[dmtaylor]

I have reused yeast cakes in the past, though not for the past couple of years so that's not my issue.  I think it's more of an issue that some of my buckets have a real slight permanent Lacto or other wild critter infection, and I've since purchased all new ones plus a glass carboy for anything that needs to be aged longer than ~6 weeks.  I just got the glass carboy last week and haven't used it yet.  So basically I've brewed ~85 batches using nothing but plastic buckets, and they don't last forever and seem to become permanently contaminated after some indeterminate amount of use.  The bugs hide out in tiny scratches and can't be killed.  That's the theory anyway.

[tomsawyer]

I know, and I see scratches in several of my buckets and that bothers me.  I kind of think you'd see a film over the beer eventually if there were infection though.  Do you think you can get enough growth to affect flavor, without there being the slightest hint of a pellicle even after a few months?

[chumley]

I've dumped quite a few infected batches.  I've got a whole bunch of old beer in bottles that I need to get ambitious to dump and rinse one of these days.

As far as giving substandard beer away.....once I brewed a pils with that nasty S-23 Saflager yeast, that had that terrible passion fruit flavor.  The keg sat in my basement for 6 months.  One of my buddies started pestering me to brew him a beer for his in-laws 50th anniversary party, so I gave him a keg of "peach lager".  They loved it!  Drained the whole keg. "How did you ever get that peach flavor in the beer?  Did you use real peaches?"  

[dmtaylor]

I know, and I see scratches in several of my buckets and that bothers me.  I kind of think you'd see a film over the beer eventually if there were infection though.  Do you think you can get enough growth to affect flavor, without there being the slightest hint of a pellicle even after a few months?

Absolutely.  Your beer can have no pellicle or other floaties, and be clear as a bell, even smell great, but taste like a$$ and need to be dumped.  This has happened to me more times than I care to admit.

[bluesman]

I know, and I see scratches in several of my buckets and that bothers me.  I kind of think you'd see a film over the beer eventually if there were infection though.  Do you think you can get enough growth to affect flavor, without there being the slightest hint of a pellicle even after a few months?

Absolutely.  Your beer can have no pellicle or other floaties, and be clear as a bell, even smell great, but taste like a$$ and need to be dumped.  This has happened to me more times than I care to admit.

I recently judged a coffee stout that had a wonderful aroma, and was clear through with my flashlight, beautiful ruby highlights.....but tasted like coffee vinagrette. 

Would've been wonderful on a Waldorf Salad.