Kegged Pumpkin Ale Loosing Spice Flavor

Hey everyone,

I just got my keezer up and running and it has been awesome. However, with my latest selection on tap, I noticed some flavor loss. I made this pumpkin ale:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/samhain-pumpkin-ale-140674/

I bottled half of the 5 gallon batch kegged the other half in a 2.5 gal. keg. I let them both condition for 3 weeks (after pressurizing the keg and priming the bottles). The bottles have been amazing, however, now that I am tapping the keg, it has virtually non of the spice flavor found in the bottles. After conditioning, I cooled and force carbonated the keg. Carbonation and head retention is pretty good, but otherwise it just kinda tastes like a normal light ale.

Has anyone else had experience with losing flavor like this in the keg?

Thanks for your input!

I have been reading up on pumpkin beers and brewed one a few weeks back. I have not heard of them loosing flavor but have heard people add spices to the keg if they are not suited with the end product.

How did you add the spices? Did you add it to the whole 5 gallons before splitting it or did you add some to each half before kegging or bottling? If you feel your keg is lacking, why not just open it up and add a little more?

Two questions, is your kegerator colder than the bottles? Also is your cabonation level higher in the keg than the bottles?

Both of those factors (too cold and over carbonated) can reduce or mask the flavors of subtle spices like those found in your pumpkin ale, or hop aroma for an IPA. I was having similar issues so I raised the temperature and dropped the co2 level a bit, made a big difference.

Just a thought, it might be totally irrelevant for your situation.

I added the spices in the last 5 min of the boil. I think the problem was over carbonation. I am still trying to dial in my force carbonation method and ave been erring on getting it as carbonated as possible. After a few beers, it seems that the carb level has gone down a bit and the same flavor is coming through now.

Thanks for the help!

Great, I'm glad I could help!