Keg Gusher--Infection??

I was going to tap a blackberry hefe last night and was instead treated to a beer shower. The creation was a quick can of hopped lme with an equal amount of dme. After primary, I racked it over 5lbs of fresh picked balckberries that I had heated to 160* for 15 minutes.

I thought something was up when I racked it to a keg for clearing, it didn't tasted good; kind of like the smell of a beer mug hours after it has had beer in it. No biggie, says I, it just needs some aging.

Fast forward to last night, I'm groggy, rushed, etc. and put the QD on the out post and open the valve. NO rush of CO2! I realize my mistake and pull it off. There is a lot of foamy beer pouring out of the post. I yank the keg out of the keezer and commence removing the post. Once the post cleared, the dip tube rose out of the keg as if possessed! I see why the poppet couldn't work, #&$% blackberry pulp holding it open. I also see why the dip tube is standing up almost free of the keg; it was plugged also. I cleared the tube and a geyser hit the ceiling of the patio, drenching me in the process. Half the keg is gone before I can cap that sucker! Before capping, I must confess that I drank some like it was a water fountain. Bad news, the funny taste is still there. BTW, I looked this morning, and the out post is still seeping. I'm guessing an infection has recarbed it.

Any other ideas? I will treat it like it is a goner.

I'm no pro, but my first guess would be that the excessive carbonation is coming from the sugars in the blackberries. When you added them to the beer, you gave the yeasties a whole new food source to dine upon.

Did you do a secondary, then rack to the keg, or did you use the keg for your secondary? If there's enough pulp to clog up your keg, that's certainly a problem. Of course, I don't need to tell you that.

How long did you do the secondary? Again, with the added sugars from the blackberries, you'd probably have to let them ferment out before kegging (unless venting to control the carbonation levels). It might have tasted funny because fermentation wasn't finished. If you added sugar for priming before the fermentation was complete, that would compound the overcarb situation.

I tend to agree with Chris. berries = sugar = renewed fermentation.

coupled with 'yanking it out of the kegerator'...it became agititated, and all that CO2 wants to come out of solution.

funny taste could be a lot of things. when you say it tasted like 'old beer left out'...that sounds like oxidation...not an infection.

I'd still ride it out. You've already invested yourself in this beer...what's 2 more weeks in the keg to see if it ages out or tastes worse?

I have nothing useful to add other then that I agree with the 2 comments above. I feel like being a post whore tonight. So sue me.

ChrisS68 said:

I'm no pro, but my first guess would be that the excessive carbonation is coming from the sugars in the blackberries. When you added them to the beer, you gave the yeasties a whole new food source to dine upon.

Did you do a secondary, then rack to the keg, or did you use the keg for your secondary? If there's enough pulp to clog up your keg, that's certainly a problem. Of course, I don't need to tell you that.

How long did you do the secondary? Again, with the added sugars from the blackberries, you'd probably have to let them ferment out before kegging (unless venting to control the carbonation levels). It might have tasted funny because fermentation wasn't finished. If you added sugar for priming before the fermentation was complete, that would compound the overcarb situation.

Click to expand...

Primary--week hydro said it was done fermenting

Secondary over berries-12 days, no hydro

Keg-1 week.

I have the half that is left, I will let it ride for awhile, but will need the keg in the not so distant future.