A couple of weeks ago I brewed a pale ale. I kegged it last night, and the sample from the fermenter tasted GREAT. Today, about 24 hours later, I tasted it from the tap. It is still undercarbed, but it tastes like a different beer. It's kind of sour. Even when it warms up, it's still a little sour. I tried dispensing through some different lines, but there was no difference.
I checked the pH of the pale ale and it is 3.7, which seems low. I tested my other 2 beers on tap and they were 4.1 (hefeweizen) and 4.0 (mango wheat).
I added a TINY bit of baking soda to a pale ale sample, and the sourness dissipated. It hit pH 4.5 and tasted much better other than the gross mineral note from too much sodium.
So: If I got something like a lacto infection when kegging, could it sour a keg overnight?
More data:
- Mash was pH adjusted and I added minerals, but all the pH values checked out. (mash pH 5.44)
- Fermenter is stainless
- Beer was dry hopped 7 days before kegging (I just dumped 3 oz of pellets into the fermenter.)
- Samples tasted great throughout fermentation and on kegging night
- I kegged by purging a Star San filled keg with CO2, then used a line from the fermenter valve to the OUT post on the keg. Keg gas purge valve was locked open to release CO2 as the keg filled.
I can't think of any sanitation mishaps but the fermenter valve or the transfer tubing/liquid post could have been poorly sanitized. Other than that I am out of ideas, and if y'all tell me that a beer can't sour overnight then I am really stumped. I guess I could have gotten an infection when dry hopping but it would be strange for it to really kick in on day 8.
I checked the pH of the pale ale and it is 3.7, which seems low. I tested my other 2 beers on tap and they were 4.1 (hefeweizen) and 4.0 (mango wheat).
I added a TINY bit of baking soda to a pale ale sample, and the sourness dissipated. It hit pH 4.5 and tasted much better other than the gross mineral note from too much sodium.
So: If I got something like a lacto infection when kegging, could it sour a keg overnight?
More data:
- Mash was pH adjusted and I added minerals, but all the pH values checked out. (mash pH 5.44)
- Fermenter is stainless
- Beer was dry hopped 7 days before kegging (I just dumped 3 oz of pellets into the fermenter.)
- Samples tasted great throughout fermentation and on kegging night
- I kegged by purging a Star San filled keg with CO2, then used a line from the fermenter valve to the OUT post on the keg. Keg gas purge valve was locked open to release CO2 as the keg filled.
I can't think of any sanitation mishaps but the fermenter valve or the transfer tubing/liquid post could have been poorly sanitized. Other than that I am out of ideas, and if y'all tell me that a beer can't sour overnight then I am really stumped. I guess I could have gotten an infection when dry hopping but it would be strange for it to really kick in on day 8.