RPh_Guy
Bringing Sour Back
You have some kind of liquid-filled airlock, I presume? During fermentation you can see whether the fermenter has positive pressure and therefore is sealed.
Oxidized beer issues
- Thread starter vin8n1
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
moreb33rplz
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2014
- Messages
- 667
- Reaction score
- 335
Eh, I don't mean the oxidation occurs when the beer is already sealed in the bottle. It occurs when you open that giant bucket lid and open transfer it to another bucket and keep it open for 30 minutes while you bottle everything. Traditional bottling methods expose the beer to tons of air. Kegging allows for closed transfers or using the keg as a unitank, which essentially exposes the beer to zero air, at least compared to bottling out of a bucket.
That said, yeah, who knows what the actual problem is, I do kinda agree that oxidation is the current homebrew forum boogeyman but it could be anything
Larry Berkovsky
Member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2020
- Messages
- 8
- Reaction score
- 14
To address your ques about sediment getting into the fermenter, I tackle whatever is leftover in the fermenter when I bottle. What I’ve done is take a piece of stainless steel mesh screen (I think mine is 100 mesh) and cut it to about the same diameter as the inside of your bucket right above the spigot. Get it to sit off bottom above the spigot making sure to keep space between the bottom and the screen w the spigot in between. My last batch I dumped 5# of mangoes and 3# of persimmons and 1 oz of citra in my bucket after active fermentation had settled. I bottled it thru the spigot w hose and a wand w a check valve w very little, if any fruit/hops sedimentation plugging the lines or entering the bottle. If I need more screening for a hopped up IPA I wrap the SS screen w a mesh bag that painters use to strain paint. Put it in the bottom before wort transfer from kettle. Works well. Don’t forget to sanitize it before you put it in your fermenter. Best of luck in you endeavor. Great post for brainstorming. Thanks.
I know there is some debate about transferring trub into the fermenter and the impact it has (say on oxidation or head retention). I typically dump the entire contents of my kettle into the fermenter (using a coarse strainer to filter out the majority of the hop matter). I feel like I am making some incredible beers that have won a few medals. This is with BIAB, which produces quite a bit of trub.
In the past I have tried different methods of transferring and found very little difference in the quality of the beer. Trying to leave the trub in the kettle added more time and left behind liquid in the kettle. Transferring all the trub into the fermenter meant more would settle at the bottom of the fermenter, but I would be able to get all the liquid into packaging.
It is worth playing around with different methods and seeing what works for you and what the impact it has on your beers. I am just not personally convinced that trub has much impact. (On the other hand, I do feel like I have gotten harsh hop characters when transferring hop matter into the fermenter.)
RPh_Guy
Bringing Sour Back
Lipid oxidation off-flavors don't necessarily present a problem if keep your beer cold, and the trans-2-nonenal remains bound/flavorless until it is consumed. Please be aware that while this may be true for you, excessive lipid content (trub going into the fermenter) does present problems for other brewers. I taste lipid oxidation products in something like 90% of commercial crafts beers; it's a fairly common problem. Also, because it's such a widespread problem among commercial craft beer, it can also be easy to overlook in one's home brew.
Professional textbooks and scientific articles overwhelmingly support removing as much trub as possible in order to improve flavor stability. Granted, it sounds like the OP needs to worry about improving the cold-side process before worrying about the hot side.
How would you describe the taste of oxidised lipids?
RPh_Guy
Bringing Sour Back
Papery/cardboard.
Solid bottling practices can be used as well as poor kegging practices. It is all in the application. The term "kegging" for a new brewer is pretty wide, so that is why I replied. The worst situation for oxidation is time. When you trap O2 inside a bottle or keg and give it time and access to affect the wort/beer. Open containers without any agitation do take up O2 in to the liquid, but at a fairly slow rate. Add any agitation and the rate goes way up. So my point is, the exposed beer in the bottling bucket is not that bad if the end result in the bottle does not trap O2 for the long run. Hopefully the active yeast will consume whatever was in there as well as what little that was added during bottling.
Closed kegging transfers is great but takes some forethought to have a system in place. I am not against kegging as I have done it for many years but I am still working on improving my setup and transfers. Active yeast sure cures a lot of ills...
Oxidation is a tough one for the homebrew crowd because it involves taking things away. I have focused on it for the past four years and it is a whole different world. I don't believe it is a boogeyman, just a move more towards professional brewing imho.
