drinking metal

For to long i have "dabbeled" in home brewing. I got a keg kit 2 years ago cause it was "the next step". 10 batches prior 2 getting the keg no off flavors. I got a nasty metalic taste on the first batch i kegged. I assumed it was cause i did not clean it well enough. the 2nd batch was a belgian tripel which i naturally carbed. it was good flavor wise(no metal) other issues because of line length and foaming. i did two other batches which i force carbed and again with the metal. the last one a continental pils( my 3rd time with that particular kit bottles are great of it) was so bad i could not drink it. after sitting in my fridge for 5 months i dumped it. promptly put my gear away and went back to bottling. that was 1 year ago. I WANT TO KEG MY BEER. any suggestions?

bad CO2 source? maybe icky interior of CO2 tank (not sure if this is possible or not)?

Where you have said it seems to only happen when force carbing, it would lead me to believe it may be the CO2. I have heard that there are two different types of CO2 (at least), for beverage use and for non-beverage use. But I have also heard that this is a big misconception. I'm no expert, so I'm not sure. I know that when I bought my CO2 tank, I was asked if it was going to be specifically used for beverage purposes. Maybe this is where your problem is?

Bought a complete keg setup from NTHomebrew. would like 2 think they would have sold only the good stuff. Lol im gonna go read the tank now just to make sure

I'm not sure if it would say it on the tank. I believe it's the quality level of the CO2 that determines the difference (if there really is), but the tank may still say "Carbon Dioxide".

Was the tank full when you got it, or did you have it filled somewhere? If you bought the tank new, then I'm sure there probably isn't anything wrong with it, but maybe just the gas inside.

tank was full when i bought it. had the luxury of walking out of the store with everything needed. now in theory if it is my gas it will give the same flavor to water if i carb that right

what are you using to clean the keg?
I'd try to isolate it to the co2 or the keg as a start. You could put a batch in a keg and prime it (don't hook it up to co2). Wait two weeks and serve a beer using just the pressure in the keg. If it tastes good, then I'd be suspicious of the co2. If it's metallic, start in with the keg - maybe you're using a cleaner that's removing the oxide layer of the stainless.

I have been using b-brite should i use something else?

How long has the beer been on the gas before tasting? Often you will get an acid bite from beer recently carbed with gas. Also green beer might give metallic off flavors. Could also be cleaning as mentioned or cleaning solution. I use Oxyclean and then rinse followed by some StarSan for sanitizing.

Sometimes people new to kegging forget that they are skipping the 3-4 week lag time of bottle conditioning, especially if they do a quick carb method.

last beer was on line for 5 months b4 i dumped so no "fresh gas" taste going on there.

When you say "force carb" do you mean shaking it at high pressure? If you didn't purge the air out of the head space of the keg after filling and before shaking, you could get instantly oxidized beer, which could come off as metallic.

tchuklobrau said:

I have been using b-brite should i use something else?

Click to expand...

No b-brite should be fine..

You guys have been great. Between what was posted here and my reading every other post about metalic tasts i think i have my problem/problems figured out. Off 2 get new poppits and a rebuild kit for my keg. get the right length line on it(only had 3 ft b4) inline filter for the gas, and carb by setting at the right pressure( no i did not vent b4 after "force carbing"). put my rauchbier in and pray to the beer gods.

I have the same problem. Definitely the gas. Buddy and I split batches and his doesn't have the taste mine does. Bottled beer is fine..

...the tatse is not like a red style?

I have an amber, and an IPA on tap, both have it. Along with one of my previous Pale Ales.

I did some tests with using just h20 and borrowing another tank of gas from my lhbs. Upon further review it was the keg. I purchaced another keg since and have a wonderful Kolsch on tap.