This is my first post, so bear with me...
I've brewed about 4 or 5 batches (exclusively one gallon) this year so far. Usually an IPA-type of beer but also a porter and two american wheats. Given that I'm fairly new to home brewing, I like the idea of trying the beers weekly after bottling, just to see how the tastes change during conditioning.
For the most part, they all tasted pretty good the first week after bottling, and second week, and for some of them, the third week. However, as they continue to condition, the same taste pops up with all of them, regardless of beer style. From what I can tell, it seems to fit the description of oxidation; it starts to darken, the flavor of the style diminishes and it starts to get a sweetness to it (not sugar sweet like an under attenuated beer).
From what I gathered from looking through forums, oxidation usually presents itself at least 3-4 weeks from bottling (assuming the oxygen is introduced a that time). So, it's possible the change in flavor/color is attributed to this. I use an auto siphon to rack the beer from the carboy to my bottling bucket. I don't put a lid on the bucket since it doesn't take terribly long to bottle the 8 beers, so how much oxygen could really be absorbed into the beer during this time (right?). I've got a metal bottling wand attached to the bucket spigot with a short piece of tubing (2 inches or so) and no bubbles form in the tube and foaming in the bottles is a minimum.
However, I've read some posts that say you pretty much need to pretty much purposely oxygenate (shake the beer, etc.) to really show signs of oxidation, and that would be after weeks in the bottle for it to be present. So then I was thinking, maybe it's not that.
Is it possible that an infection can be introduced at the time of bottling? I'm wondering if there is some unknown scratch in the bottling bucket/spigot that is harboring some type of bacteria. Since it's the same off flavor, it could be caused by the same bacteria. I make sure I get off any crud from any surface the beer will be in contact with and sanitize with StarSan (though, I recently read that StarSan has a shelf life of 1-2 years after opened and admittedly, this is much older than that...).
I guess the last thing it could be is that the beer just needs to condition in the bottle for a longer period. However, I let the porter I brewed sit in the bottle for ~5 weeks and the flavor was more prevalent than ever, which leads me to believe this might not be the case for this off-flavor (the flavor should be improving after that amount of time, right?).
My process has been pretty consistent. After the boil, the wort is poured into a carboy through a funnel and topped off with either a blowoff tube or a 3 piece airlock (everything cleaned and sanitized, of course). Sits in primary for a minimum of 2 weeks (been going for 3 weeks recently) in the basement which is ~65F, racked to the bottling bucket and carefully bottled through the wand (bucket is open to air as I mentioned before, at least I think I mentioned it.). Bottles are stored in the basement until chilled and tasted.
Just a note, this last beer I made (american wheat) was in the primary for 3 weeks and after only one week of conditioning, that flavor was mildly present. After two weeks it was overwhelmingly there... Anyone have any suggestions on what could be going on? Have the same thing happen to them? I'm sure some people will say just to drink them before it happens, but that doesn't get to the cause of the problem.
Sorry for the long post...
I've brewed about 4 or 5 batches (exclusively one gallon) this year so far. Usually an IPA-type of beer but also a porter and two american wheats. Given that I'm fairly new to home brewing, I like the idea of trying the beers weekly after bottling, just to see how the tastes change during conditioning.
For the most part, they all tasted pretty good the first week after bottling, and second week, and for some of them, the third week. However, as they continue to condition, the same taste pops up with all of them, regardless of beer style. From what I can tell, it seems to fit the description of oxidation; it starts to darken, the flavor of the style diminishes and it starts to get a sweetness to it (not sugar sweet like an under attenuated beer).
From what I gathered from looking through forums, oxidation usually presents itself at least 3-4 weeks from bottling (assuming the oxygen is introduced a that time). So, it's possible the change in flavor/color is attributed to this. I use an auto siphon to rack the beer from the carboy to my bottling bucket. I don't put a lid on the bucket since it doesn't take terribly long to bottle the 8 beers, so how much oxygen could really be absorbed into the beer during this time (right?). I've got a metal bottling wand attached to the bucket spigot with a short piece of tubing (2 inches or so) and no bubbles form in the tube and foaming in the bottles is a minimum.
However, I've read some posts that say you pretty much need to pretty much purposely oxygenate (shake the beer, etc.) to really show signs of oxidation, and that would be after weeks in the bottle for it to be present. So then I was thinking, maybe it's not that.
Is it possible that an infection can be introduced at the time of bottling? I'm wondering if there is some unknown scratch in the bottling bucket/spigot that is harboring some type of bacteria. Since it's the same off flavor, it could be caused by the same bacteria. I make sure I get off any crud from any surface the beer will be in contact with and sanitize with StarSan (though, I recently read that StarSan has a shelf life of 1-2 years after opened and admittedly, this is much older than that...).
I guess the last thing it could be is that the beer just needs to condition in the bottle for a longer period. However, I let the porter I brewed sit in the bottle for ~5 weeks and the flavor was more prevalent than ever, which leads me to believe this might not be the case for this off-flavor (the flavor should be improving after that amount of time, right?).
My process has been pretty consistent. After the boil, the wort is poured into a carboy through a funnel and topped off with either a blowoff tube or a 3 piece airlock (everything cleaned and sanitized, of course). Sits in primary for a minimum of 2 weeks (been going for 3 weeks recently) in the basement which is ~65F, racked to the bottling bucket and carefully bottled through the wand (bucket is open to air as I mentioned before, at least I think I mentioned it.). Bottles are stored in the basement until chilled and tasted.
Just a note, this last beer I made (american wheat) was in the primary for 3 weeks and after only one week of conditioning, that flavor was mildly present. After two weeks it was overwhelmingly there... Anyone have any suggestions on what could be going on? Have the same thing happen to them? I'm sure some people will say just to drink them before it happens, but that doesn't get to the cause of the problem.
Sorry for the long post...