Flavor changes while kegged?

[caphector]

So I recently switched to kegging from bottling and overall I love it.

However, I've been noticing a reasonable amount of flavor variance as I go through kegs; it's a bit odd. On my ginger stout there would be days when the ginger was quite tasty and others where you wouldn't notice it at all.

Something similar is happening with my 60/-, where the flavor varies day-by-day.

I've kegged two beers so far, so this may be an issue with a small sample size. Kegging has been done simply: Sanitize keg, rack beer into keg, sanitize posts, hook up gas+beer line, wait 1 week for carbing, and drink. Pulling 1-3 pints a day off a keg.

Is this normal or have I missed something?

 

[malkore]

serving temperature?

I wonder if your thermostat has too much variance...meaning some days you're getting much colder beer than other days.
Ice cold beer doesn't want to release as much hop and malt aroma, and sense of smell is like 75% of your taste perception.
Plus colder means CO2 wants to stay in solution rather than pop out and release the flavor.

That's honestly the only thing I can think of that makes sense, since all the racking has given a homogenous solution inside the keg, each pour should taste the same (or get progressively better as it ages or worse as oxidation or an infection takes hold). The intermittency makes me think 'temperature'...

 

[caphector]

I'll need to start keeping an eye on temperature; the 'fridge for the kegs is in my garage and is a bit old, but I don't *think* that the temp is swinging too much. Will need to check on that…

 

[dougf]

Check the temp like said above. Ive noticed the same thing. If my beer is served and ends up 5 degrees warmer, it will taste different then if it ends up 10 degrees warmer... How you pour could effect flavor, as well as the amount of liquid in the glass, and different types of glass release scent and deliver the beer to your mouth different ways, thus creating a different flavor. So many variables!

 

[ksbrain]

I find the same thing but just figure it's the beer changing with time. But I always felt like bottle-to-bottle was sometimes different each time, too. It really depends on so many factors, like what you're eating, what else you've drank, etc.

 

[944play]

I had a Pils/Hallertau SMaSH lager that was a butterbomb for 3/4ths of the keg. I poured three pints within two hours, and the third was almost diacetyl-free, along with the rest of the keg!:cross: