Can I fix my CO2 flavored beer?

I and some friends are working together on some all grain brews. We did a double brown that tasted amazing(by our standards) out of the frementer. We racked it into a sterilized and purged keg and hooked up the CO2. Somewhere I read that if you were carbing at room temp to kick it up to 27-30 psi so that there would be adequate pressure to carbonate. Sooo, I left it in my cool garage for a day and a half at 30. Later I read contrary information saying that you should carb at the desired psi from the beginning, in this case 12 psi. Unfortunately this information came too late. I panicked and turned the pressure down and let it sit for 2 days before tasting it today. Our beautiful beer now tastes like someone burned a tire inside the keg. I have learned my lesson now, and will be carbing at the desired pressure(set it and forget it method apparently), but I am now left with 5 gallons of beer that makes me gag. Is there anything I can do to remove the taste or is it just ruined?

Hmm...co2 flavor? Methinks you've got something else going on here.

that procedure has nothing to do with the taste. i do that all the time, and my beer is pretty tasty, according to my neighbors (and me). i agree with malfet. something else is the problem

MalFet said:

Hmm...co2 flavor? Methinks you've got something else going on here.

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Agreed. Something else is going on.

yeah, that's not from the co2. you say tires? I'm thinking you have some old, dried out o rings in that keg, man.

Really? Well that's great news and horrible news at the same time because now my buddies won't kill me for ruining their brew but the bad news is I have no idea what happened. We weren't very good at protecting it from air or splashing, do you think it could be oxidization or are you thinking something more like an infection?

Rings... hmm we didn't change the rings when we got the used keg, they looked ok so we decided to keep them. Does that sound like a likely cause?

Haha... I'm pretty sure that's not CO2 you're tasting, mate. You brewed a "double brown," right? One question: how much roasted malt (chocolate, roasted barley, black patent, etc) did you use? You gotta let those malts mellow, dig?

SandRidgeBrewer said:

Really? Well that's great news and horrible news at the same time because now my buddies won't kill me for ruining their brew but the bad news is I have no idea what happened. We weren't very good at protecting it from air or splashing, do you think it could be oxidization or are you thinking something more like an infection?

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Oxidation is a gradual thing, and in any case it wouldn't cause you to gag. It sounds like contamination of some sort, possibly an infection.

SandRidgeBrewer said:

Rings... hmm we didn't change the rings when we got the used keg, they looked ok so we decided to keep them. Does that sound like a likely cause?

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BrightSpot said:

Haha... I'm pretty sure that's not CO2 you're tasting, mate. You brewed a "double brown," right? One question: how much roasted malt (chocolate, roasted barley, black patent, etc) did you use? You gotta let those malts mellow, dig?

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could be, sand ridge. i also thing brightspot makes a really good point.

BTW, this is my first time posting on this forum and WOW! I'm in love with this forum group already. I've never had a forum group be so responsive about anything.

SandRidgeBrewer said:

BTW, this is my first time posting on this forum and WOW! I'm in love with this forum group already. I've never had a forum group be so responsive about anything.

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yeah, we're a buncha nuts here. you'll usually get a lot of fast responses, and the information you can gather here is amazing. welcome to the forum, man!

Replacing the orings is job #1 when getting a used keg. It may not be your particular problem right now but it's still a good idea to change them out.

Ok thanks, I'll start replacing them from now on. It looks like the beer will be in there for a while though. I'm going to let it mellow for a while as someone suggested and pray that it's not a contaminated or something. I guess I need to start paying more attention to what I'm doing. Thanks for the help. I know I'll be asking more questions here since I basically know nothing and have a ton to learn.

SandRidgeBrewer said:

Ok thanks, I'll start replacing them from now on. It looks like the beer will be in there for a while though. I'm going to let it mellow for a while as someone suggested and pray that it's not a contaminated or something. I guess I need to start paying more attention to what I'm doing. Thanks for the help. I know I'll be asking more questions here since I basically know nothing and have a ton to learn.

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if you're really sanitary, you can try replacing the o rings while the beer is in the keg. i had to do that once in a pinch cuz the out post had a leak. just be very sure you degas the keg before opening it up, i held the release valve open, unseated the lid and quickly went to work. keep a spray bottle of starsan handy, sanitize everything and it should work out. i didn't have any contamination of that brew, and there was a couple gal left when the leak sprung.

Would the beer have been in contact with the orings enough to cause an off flavor? The lid o-ring would never touch the beer, and the outside post orings wouldn't touch either.

Edit: I guess I misread the responses, we're talking about infection from an old o-ring?

Burnt tire smell to me sounds like a phenol problem, likely cause by a wild yeast.

wonderbread23 said:

Burnt tire smell to me sounds like a phenol problem, likely cause by a wild yeast.

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That's my hunch, too.

SandRidgeBrewer said:

Ok thanks, I'll start replacing them from now on. It looks like the beer will be in there for a while though. I'm going to let it mellow for a while as someone suggested and pray that it's not a contaminated or something. I guess I need to start paying more attention to what I'm doing. Thanks for the help. I know I'll be asking more questions here since I basically know nothing and have a ton to learn.

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Try it in a couple weeks, then come back and let us know what you think... I bet you'll be telling a different, more positive story

I will give it a few weeks and try it again. If it still tastes bad I guess I'll blame it on wild yeast, in which case(or in any case), I'll start being more careful about it's contact with the air and unsterilized instruments. I'm wondering if I should be changing the title of this thread since you have all pretty much discredited the possibility of CO2 being the cause.

BrightSpot said:

Haha... I'm pretty sure that's not CO2 you're tasting, mate. You brewed a "double brown," right? One question: how much roasted malt (chocolate, roasted barley, black patent, etc) did you use? You gotta let those malts mellow, dig?

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I think BrightSpot is on the right track. I don't think an infection is going to be evident 4-5 days after kegging. I suspect the CO2 is highlighting any dark malts in there. I find a flat dark styled beer can be rich and smooth, and an overcarbed dark beer and get overly crisp and sharp.

Give it a couple weeks to mellow - and make sure it is not over-carbed already

pjj2ba said:

I think BrightSpot is on the right track. I don't think an infection is going to be evident 4-5 days after kegging. I suspect the CO2 is highlighting any dark malts in there. I find a flat dark styled beer can be rich and smooth, and an overcarbed dark beer and get overly crisp and sharp.

Give it a couple weeks to mellow - and make sure it is not over-carbed already

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Amen

Well Brightspot and Others, you were right, all it needed was a little time. It hasn't even been 2 weeks and the taste has changed drastically. The scary bitterness has turned into a rich chocolatey slightly hoppy beer. Overall I'm happy with it, the front is a little too lite but from there the body is balanced and it finishes slightly bitter and chocolatey. I think we will add a little more bittering hops and try to add more body to the front. What suggestions do you have for adding more body to the front/or nose? Sorry about all the panic, this is my first "dark"(even though only slightly) beer I have done and I was kind of shocked by the taste when I first kegged it, also it's my first batch kegged. You guys have been a lifesaver for me. I was about to leave the state for fear of retribution from my fellow brew buddies.

You can increase body and mouth feel with some flaked barley...Oats...

Ya gotta clean those kegs bro

SandRidgeBrewer said:

Well Brightspot and Others, you were right, all it needed was a little time. It hasn't even been 2 weeks and the taste has changed drastically. The scary bitterness has turned into a rich chocolatey slightly hoppy beer. Overall I'm happy with it, the front is a little too lite but from there the body is balanced and it finishes slightly bitter and chocolatey. I think we will add a little more bittering hops and try to add more body to the front. What suggestions do you have for adding more body to the front/or nose? Sorry about all the panic, this is my first "dark"(even though only slightly) beer I have done and I was kind of shocked by the taste when I first kegged it, also it's my first batch kegged. You guys have been a lifesaver for me. I was about to leave the state for fear of retribution from my fellow brew buddies.

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Great! For body, you can do many things: add oats, wheat malt, carapils, or a number of other specialty malts. Or, increase your mash temp... Deschuttes mashes their Black Butte at 162F (or something crazy like that )

Cheers!