Since I've started kegging I've been always bottling a six pack of every batch. I've done this with a carbonated keg and a beer gun, but foaming was an issue and I always made a mess. I figured an easier and cleaner way would be to bottle immediately after I rack to the keg while the beer is still flat and drop a carbonation drop in each bottle.
Two particular batches, a honey blonde ale and a light scotch ale, have both tasted awesome in the keg all the way to the last drop. I just recently tried a bottle of each of these beers, and both have a strong clove character, almost like a saison aftertaste. Ive bottled for a couple of years and have never had an infection or another beer with a similar flavor. The only source of contamination would be my beer gun and hose, the bottles, or the carbonation drops. Ive only used my beer gun half a dozen times and always clean it after each use and sanitize with star san before each use. My bottle sanitation is the same as its always been.
My initial thought was the flavor was coming from the carbonation drops, as Ive only used them in this case. Ive search the threads and it seems this is not likely. The yeast I used for both was US-05 and I fermented around 60 °F, and since the kegs tasted fine, I dont think fermentation or yeast is the issue. I used a beer gun to bottle the flat beer from the kegs, but didnt purge the bottles with CO2. I wouldnt think it would be oxidation as when I used to bottle normally, I never purged the bottles.
The only other variable thats new to my process is the use of gelatin in the primary before kegging for both of these brews. Is it possible that the gelatin had stripped out so much yeast, that the remaining yeast in the bottles got super stressed when carbing and produced this off flavor?
Im just curious if anyone else has had a similar issue.
Two particular batches, a honey blonde ale and a light scotch ale, have both tasted awesome in the keg all the way to the last drop. I just recently tried a bottle of each of these beers, and both have a strong clove character, almost like a saison aftertaste. Ive bottled for a couple of years and have never had an infection or another beer with a similar flavor. The only source of contamination would be my beer gun and hose, the bottles, or the carbonation drops. Ive only used my beer gun half a dozen times and always clean it after each use and sanitize with star san before each use. My bottle sanitation is the same as its always been.
My initial thought was the flavor was coming from the carbonation drops, as Ive only used them in this case. Ive search the threads and it seems this is not likely. The yeast I used for both was US-05 and I fermented around 60 °F, and since the kegs tasted fine, I dont think fermentation or yeast is the issue. I used a beer gun to bottle the flat beer from the kegs, but didnt purge the bottles with CO2. I wouldnt think it would be oxidation as when I used to bottle normally, I never purged the bottles.
The only other variable thats new to my process is the use of gelatin in the primary before kegging for both of these brews. Is it possible that the gelatin had stripped out so much yeast, that the remaining yeast in the bottles got super stressed when carbing and produced this off flavor?
Im just curious if anyone else has had a similar issue.
