raymarkson
Active Member
The last three beers that I dry hopped seemed to have oxidation issues. I am assuming it's oxidation because what happened to the beers seemed to fit the descriptions of the oxidation that I've read about. The hop flavor is gone and it is replaced by a flavor that my palette perceives as wet cardboard. The color has also gone from brilliant gold to a dull brown. It never looks or taste this way during bottling! After two weeks in the bottle, though, it starts changing. After being in the bottle for five weeks or more, the flavor only gets worse and color gets more brown.
I've noticed that this oxidation, if that is what it is, only happens when I dry hop my beer. So, I started thinking that it may be how I'm dry hopping that may be the problem. After reading some suggestions on other threads, I tried dry hopping near the end of active fermentation so that the yeast may be able to consume the oxygen that I am introducing during dry hopping- it did not help because the beer still became oxidized. Also, I do just dump the hop pellets into the primary. Would it be better to put the hops into a secondary and rack the beer on top of them?
I am also aware that the fact that I bottle my beer instead of kegging it could be causing the problem since the beer at bottling is exposed to oxygen no matter how careful I am (and I am very careful when bottling). However, there seem to be many people that I read about in the threads on this forum that do not have oxidation issues when bottling so maybe there is something that I am still doing wrong. I don't know.
I think that I have resolved to not make anymore dry hopped beers until I start kegging.
Have any of the more experienced people in this forum had this problem and then solved it by kegging?
I've noticed that this oxidation, if that is what it is, only happens when I dry hop my beer. So, I started thinking that it may be how I'm dry hopping that may be the problem. After reading some suggestions on other threads, I tried dry hopping near the end of active fermentation so that the yeast may be able to consume the oxygen that I am introducing during dry hopping- it did not help because the beer still became oxidized. Also, I do just dump the hop pellets into the primary. Would it be better to put the hops into a secondary and rack the beer on top of them?
I am also aware that the fact that I bottle my beer instead of kegging it could be causing the problem since the beer at bottling is exposed to oxygen no matter how careful I am (and I am very careful when bottling). However, there seem to be many people that I read about in the threads on this forum that do not have oxidation issues when bottling so maybe there is something that I am still doing wrong. I don't know.
I think that I have resolved to not make anymore dry hopped beers until I start kegging.
Have any of the more experienced people in this forum had this problem and then solved it by kegging?