New Kegger Problem

[TyGuy716]

Hello everybody,

So I recently started kegging, and given how much less work it takes compared to bottling I plan on kegging a lot more. But I've noticed that my beers are coming out a lot more yeasty in flavor than the beers I've bottled. I know the problem lies in the fact that the yeast in the beer is dropping out while in the keg and since the keg is drawing the beer from the bottom of the keg I'm getting a lot more yeast in my pours than if it were poured from a bottle.

For me it's not the worst flavor I could get in my beer, but I'd ideally like to drink a beer that's closer to the way i intended it to taste. I figure this has to be a problem other homebrewers have dealt with, and I'm sure solved. I'd like to point out that I cannot cold crash due to lack of refrigerator/kegerator space.

I've heard of some chemical that you add to the beer when you want it to stop fermenting by killing the yeast. Has anyone tried this? If so does it affect the beer in any other way (flavor,aroma, shelf life?). Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

 

[lamdachiguy]

Not knowing your steps or brewing procedures, my initial reaction is you are not allowing your beer to fully ferment. The yeast is still suspended and doing its thing. Otherwise it would flocculate and fall to the bottom. You will get a nasty first poor but will be happy after that.


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[BrewWNC]

I could crash using a $5 Tupperware bucket from Walmart and a couple bags of ice. Seems to work just fine. I'm guessing you could try gelatin.

 

[LakeErieMonster]

Hello everybody,

So I recently started kegging, and given how much less work it takes compared to bottling I plan on kegging a lot more. But I've noticed that my beers are coming out a lot more yeasty in flavor than the beers I've bottled. I know the problem lies in the fact that the yeast in the beer is dropping out while in the keg and since the keg is drawing the beer from the bottom of the keg I'm getting a lot more yeast in my pours than if it were poured from a bottle.

For me it's not the worst flavor I could get in my beer, but I'd ideally like to drink a beer that's closer to the way i intended it to taste. I figure this has to be a problem other homebrewers have dealt with, and I'm sure solved. I'd like to point out that I cannot cold crash due to lack of refrigerator/kegerator space.

I've heard of some chemical that you add to the beer when you want it to stop fermenting by killing the yeast. Has anyone tried this? If so does it affect the beer in any other way (flavor,aroma, shelf life?). Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

The first few pours of a carbonated keg are going to be the yeast that has dropped out of suspension (assuming your carbonated keg is in a refrigerator/keezer/kegerator or use gelatin). These are to be discarded, unless you are trying to get your probiotic on.

The chemical addition to kill yeast (K-meta, potassium metabisulfate) will not eliminate the yeasty off flavor as the yeast will still be in the beer.

Maybe you have an extremely low taste threshold for this flavor and it can be amended by switching to a neutral flavored yeast such as US-05 or WLP001.

Again, not much can be said for sure without knowing your process.

 

[TyGuy716]

Hey,

Thanks for the responses. To address both of your replies.

1. For the yeast to still be suspended I'm a bit skeptical, for this particular beer, Blonde Ale, it was fermenting (in the carboy) for at least a month. Although I don't have the OG (forgot to take a reading) it was only about 8 pounds of grain. I can't imagine it'd still be fermenting after a month, but I could be wrong because I only take a FG when I bottle to calculate ABV (which I didn't do anyway because I never took a OG), not really to tell if it's done fermenting.

2. For gelatin, does this affect the beer in any other way asides from clarifying the beer? Also, I gave it a quick google and found that most people add it into their secondary. I usually don't secondary any more, would it be okay to add gelatin into my primary instead? And how long does it take for it to do its job? (sorry to follow up with a bunch of questions).


Also, a thought occurred to me while perusing other posts and I found one similar about yeast flavor. One poster mentioned that their beer had a "delicate" profile. I figure the current beer I have the Blonde Ale, is fairly "delicate" since the hops don't over power and I tried to keep the malt profile on the crisper side. Could it just be my palate is picking up the yeast taste because I'm used to hoppier or malt heavier beers?

Thanks

 

[TyGuy716]

the first few pours of a carbonated keg are going to be the yeast that has dropped out of suspension (assuming your carbonated keg is in a refrigerator/keezer/kegerator or use gelatin). These are to be discarded, unless you are trying to get your probiotic on.

The chemical addition to kill yeast (k-meta, potassium metabisulfate) will not eliminate the yeasty off flavor as the yeast will still be in the beer.

Maybe you have an extremely low taste threshold for this flavor and it can be amended by switching to a neutral flavored yeast such as us-05 or wlp001.

Again, not much can be said for sure without knowing your process.

Yeah, I can't post much about the process because the only notes I have on this brew are the ingredients I ordered. But I'll try and recreate my process from memory.

Used Star San for every point of this brew except prior to boil and the boil.

1. First the ingredients:
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.50 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
American Ale Yeast


2. Made a starter which consisted of 1/2 pound DME and about 1/2 gallon of water (I do this for every brew)
3. Mashed at 150 F. for 60 minutes.
4. Mashed out (is this the right term?) cannot get correct temp due to lack of note taking but added 1 gallon (or 1/2) of boiling water and let sit for 10 minutes.
5. Sparged at 170 F.
6. Brought to boil for 60 minutes.
7. Hop schedule:
0.50 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min) And 1 Teaspoon of Irish moss
0.50 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)

8. Chilled wort with copper immersion chiller probably took 10 minutes or less.
9. Transfered wort to fermentor when I realized I messed up my sparge because I was about a gallon short of what I wanted to be. I added another gallon of Poland Spring water to it (used poland spring for all the water in this beer)
10. Decanted (hope I used this term right, because I made a starter and I dumped the top of the "beer" but kept the yeast that dropped down) then pitched the yeast.

11. Let it ferment for about 4 weeks.

12. Siphoned into the keg and force carbed at 25 PSI.

Again, sorry if I can't be more specific, I've been doing a terrible job taking notes. Just been enjoying the brew too much to care about writing things down.

Let me know if you need more clarification on anything and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks!

 

[jekeane]

Gelatin does nothing but collect yeast and other haze forming particles and helps them drop out. For gelatin to work its best your beer must be cold. Using gelatin in the keg is fine it is what I do. After the gelatin does its thing for 2-3 days you will pour off 1-2 pints of gunk after that your beer will be clearer. Here is a video on how to use gelatin http://youtu.be/cYaVaCyT2yY

 

[stevem86]

I was going to link to the DonO video.
He does a great job of explaining processes.


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[jekeane]

I was going to link to the DonO video.
He does a great job of explaining processes.

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yep!

 

[TyGuy716]

Gelatin does nothing but collect yeast and other haze forming particles and helps them drop out. For gelatin to work its best your beer must be cold. Using gelatin in the keg is fine it is what I do. After the gelatin does its thing for 2-3 days you will pour off 1-2 pints of gunk after that your beer will be clearer. Here is a video on how to use gelatin http://youtu.be/cYaVaCyT2yY

Seems like I'm going to go with this route, however he never addresses whether or not the gelatin will affect flavor but it seems nonexistent (anyone who has used gelatin please correct me if I'm wrong). Only downside I saw was the "gunk" from the first few pours, but that really doesn't bother me.

I appreciate the response! And this video was very helpful!
Thanks,

 

[SharonaZamboni]

I don't know what your kegerator setup is, but I plugged my temp controller into my single tap, generic type keg dispenser and set the temp low to cold crash. (I was also using it to control fermentation temps until I got a dedicated ferm fridge.)
The cold crashing helps a lot to get yeast to drop. I keep the temp low during keg carb-up time, too.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Perhaps you just haven't gotten fully acclimated to kegging yet. It's not the same as bottle conditioning. It also sounds like you're working with a beer that you've never brewed before. So how would you know that it tastes more yeasty than a bottle conditioned equivalent? How long did you let the keg sit before you tapped it? Is the beer cloudy (to any degree) or crystal clear? The longer it cold conditions, the clearer it will be and the better it will taste. Unless it's a very hoppy beer, I prefer for my kegs to sit in the fridge for a month before I start drinking them. You shouldn't be getting any more yeast in the keg than you got in your bottles. Granted, you can't pour the beer off the yeast, but once the yeast settle out and paste to the bottom of the keg you should only be pulling yeast on the first pour and when the keg kicks. I would give things more time before you start drawing conclusions. Keg a few more batches and maybe even brew the same beer twice. Keg one and bottle one. That will give you a better idea of what the differences are between kegging and bottle conditioning.

 

[strambo]

I haven't noticed this issue, I don't use gelatin or any other clarification products, I just cold crash for a couple days before kegging.


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[BigFloyd]

I haven't noticed this issue, I don't use gelatin or any other clarification products, I just cold crash for a couple days before kegging.


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+1. If you have the ability to cold crash the primary after fermentation has completed, this will help to drop out excess yeast so that, as long as you're half-way careful racking, very little makes it into the keg. I cold crash at 35*F for 5-7 days and don't often use gelatin, yet the beers turn out quite clear with no "yeasty" flavor.

Do you do anything to control your ferment temps?

Does the yeasty taste you're describing go away over time or does it remain after the beer has been sitting cold in the keg a few weeks?

 

[CraigKing]

I just want to make sure I'm getting this right for starting to keg:

1. Brew beer, do my primary fermentation
2. Transfer to secondary, if I choose to do a secondary
3. At the end of secondary, cold crash the secondary container for a few days.
4. Then transfer to keg
5. Then store keg in fridge/keezer, or whatever for a few weeks, upwards of a month
6. Then enjoy?

 

[BBL_Brewer]

I just want to make sure I'm getting this right for starting to keg:

1. Brew beer, do my primary fermentation
2. Transfer to secondary, if I choose to do a secondary
3. At the end of secondary, cold crash the secondary container for a few days.
4. Then transfer to keg
5. Then store keg in fridge/keezer, or whatever for a few weeks, upwards of a month
6. Then enjoy?

Add some CO2 and a carbonation chart to the mix and yeah that's pretty much all there is to it. Cold crash is optional, but not a bad idea. I usually skip it unless I'm working with a stubborn, low floc strain.

 

[BigFloyd]

I just want to make sure I'm getting this right for starting to keg:

1. Brew beer, do my primary fermentation
2. Transfer to secondary, if I choose to do a secondary
3. At the end of secondary, cold crash the secondary container for a few days.
4. Then transfer to keg
5. Then store keg in fridge/keezer, or whatever for a few weeks, upwards of a month
6. Then enjoy?

That sums it up well, except I'd skip #2 unless you're long-term aging/lagering or adding fruit. If you cold crash the primary, there's no point at all to racking to a secondary. Why add an extra step and increase the risk of oxidation?

 

[strambo]

Yeah skip secondary for most beers. As far as a few weeks to a month in the kegerator before drinking, not really. I force carb at 30 psi for 24hrs then turn it down to serving pressure. It is decent at 2 days. It is good at a week, at its prime at 2-3 weeks, at least that's my experience.


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[CraigKing]

Any particular reason to skip the secondary? Is this only when planning to keg your beer?

 

[BigFloyd]

Any particular reason to skip the secondary? Is this only when planning to keg your beer?

Lots of us skip the secondary because for most beers it's an unnecessary step that increases the risk of oxidation. It doesn't matter if the batch is going to a keg or bottles.