bernerbrau
Well-Known Member
OK. I think the verdict is in.
I can't keg any of my light beers because of an unpleasant bitter taste that my kegs are imparting. With darker/hoppier beers, the hops usually mask the flavor enough that you can't really tell unless you're looking for it.
I just put my pale ale in the keg this weekend and it's there, but fortunately there's enough hops in there to salvage the beer.
Carbonating water in a soda bottle using the carb cap imparts no off flavors, so the gas and lines are out. Taking samples out of the top with a turkey baster yields the same off flavors, so the beverage line is out.
The only thing left I can think of is that I'm not cleaning my kegs thoroughly enough. But I'm baffled as to how that can be. Here's my process:
I'm taking everything apart and soaking all the pieces in PBW. This includes pulling the o-rings off the posts and taking out the poppets. The keg gets filled with hot water and then PBW twice for an hour each time, and then I'm siphoning the entire 5 gallons of PBW through the line with the dip tube, which I hold open with some pliers, also twice. Then everything gets sanitized and assembled, and I put a gallon of star san into the keg which I shake around vigorously after sealing everything up, and I push the star san out with CO2. Then I let the foam settle and push the rest out.
Anyone have any ideas? At this point I'm about ready to just give up and go back to bottling.
I can't keg any of my light beers because of an unpleasant bitter taste that my kegs are imparting. With darker/hoppier beers, the hops usually mask the flavor enough that you can't really tell unless you're looking for it.
I just put my pale ale in the keg this weekend and it's there, but fortunately there's enough hops in there to salvage the beer.
Carbonating water in a soda bottle using the carb cap imparts no off flavors, so the gas and lines are out. Taking samples out of the top with a turkey baster yields the same off flavors, so the beverage line is out.
The only thing left I can think of is that I'm not cleaning my kegs thoroughly enough. But I'm baffled as to how that can be. Here's my process:
I'm taking everything apart and soaking all the pieces in PBW. This includes pulling the o-rings off the posts and taking out the poppets. The keg gets filled with hot water and then PBW twice for an hour each time, and then I'm siphoning the entire 5 gallons of PBW through the line with the dip tube, which I hold open with some pliers, also twice. Then everything gets sanitized and assembled, and I put a gallon of star san into the keg which I shake around vigorously after sealing everything up, and I push the star san out with CO2. Then I let the foam settle and push the rest out.
Anyone have any ideas? At this point I'm about ready to just give up and go back to bottling.