The saddest day ever for my brewery...

[TheDutchman]

So, I decided after two years of home brewing it was time to brew a couple special beers as Christmas gifts for some of my closest friends. After some thought, I decided on two: an imperial coffee/chocolate oatmeal stout (similar to Founder's Breakfast Stout) and Pliny (the Bastid). I brewed the stout first to give it some time to age before Christmas. Everything went smooth. It's aging in bottles for a few weeks already.
Next I brewed Pliny. The brew went great. Fermentation went great. Dry hopping went great -- twice. Tonight I tried to bottle it. To understand tonight, we must first understand a couple other key bits of information:
-Whole leaf hops are a real #$$%^^& to get into a carboy
-Vinnie says, "These hoppy beers oxidize sooo easily."
Genius solution methinks! Dry hop in a corny keg! Purge O2 with CO2 and we're golden. WRONG!
I learned tonight that their is no good way to remove beer from a corny when its also full of hops that keep breaking the siphon (and full of both whole and pellet hops, so regular dispensing was a no go).
So now I have 4.5 gallons of massively oxidized Pliny in my bottling bucket on the counter -- hops included. I had to dump the last three gallons in from the keg. This will be my first dumped batch...and it tastes awesome right now
NO PLINY FOR CHRISTMAS.
(and really no time to rebrew before then)

Sorry, I had to vent to people who'd understand the tragedy here.

 

[samc]

Don't dump it. Put it in a corny, carb/chill & drink.

Kegs are great for dry hopping, next time use a bag for them.

 

[shek]

...and it tastes awesome right now

If it tastes awesome, I stay the course and see what happens. Unless you don't have room in your pipeline, go ahead and keg or bottle and wait. I've got two kegs of mildly infected beer that are actually starting to grow on me; sometimes things just have a way of working out...

 

[Zen_Brew]

Agreed if it tastes awesome right now carb it up. Worst case scenario if you start tasting oxidation creeping in you just drink it quickly. I realize it may or may not make it till Christmas, and that is sad, but certainly no cause for dumping if it tastes great now.

Lessons learned for next time maybe dry hop with whole hops in a hop bag in the keg. Tie the bag off to the top of the dip tube.

 

[skeeordye11]

If it tastes awesome, I stay the course and see what happens. Unless you don't have room in your pipeline, go ahead and keg or bottle and wait. I've got two kegs of mildly infected beer that are actually starting to grow on me; sometimes things just have a way of working out...

+1 I also had 3 batches that I am certain got infected, but I decided to take a chance and keg or bottle all of them. The funkiness has subsided and I have even given them to friends and taken them to club meetings and no one has even questioned if something was wrong with the beer. You can always dump later, but you should never dump out beer.

 

[TheDutchman]

You have all given me hope. Thanks. I'll keg it. Maybe I can serve it to the family at Thanksgiving.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Yeah, just drink it faster! Oxidation effects the beer over time. If you drink it quick enough you'll be fine!

 

[IrregularPulse]

+1 to everyone.
"it tastes awesome right now" and Dumping don't exactly go in the same paragraph.

 

[david_42]

You might look into a Sure Screen. I got one a couple years ago after having problems with a blackberry cider. It's a fine wire tube that goes over the end of the outlet tube.

Alternately, put your dry hops in a bag next time.

 

[humann_brewing]

Hurrry, drink it up I would not dump a beer like that though, that beers takes a lot of time, effort, money and some more time... don't dump it

 

[maida7]

I've heard of people attaching a pot scrubber to the end of the siphon tube to help strain out the chunky bits. Maybe something to consider for next time.

 

[Synovia]

and full of both whole and pellet hops, so regular dispensing was a no go)

I've got an Amarillo IPA that has green chunks floating in it because I dry hopped in the keg. It tastes fantastic.

 

[greenbirds]

Here's how I siphon my dry-hopped beers...

Take a paint strainer bag, soak it in star san for a couple minutes. Put your sanitized auto-siphon into this paint strainer bag, then push the whole thing into your vessel. I never lose siphon this way, I think because the folds of the paint strainer bag create more surface area for beer to flow through on its way to the siphon, decreasing the compacting of the hop sediment/leaves and slowing the beer flow enough to break the siphon.

 

[Homercidal]

+1 on drinking. Oxidation doesn't happen overnight.

Also, I have not tried it, but someone once suggested putting a Stainless Steel Scrub pad over the end of your dip tube. I planned on trying that in my boil kettle next time, just to see how it works. I have seen them in McMaster-Carr for like $2-3 each. I think you could use 1/2 of one.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I've heard of people attaching a pot scrubber to the end of the siphon tube to help strain out the chunky bits. Maybe something to consider for next time.

+1 on drinking. Oxidation doesn't happen overnight.

Also, I have not tried it, but someone once suggested putting a Stainless Steel Scrub pad over the end of your dip tube. I planned on trying that in my boil kettle next time, just to see how it works. I have seen them in McMaster-Carr for like $2-3 each. I think you could use 1/2 of one.

This is what I use for my Boil kettle. Just a Copper diptube turned 90° down to the middle of the keg with about an 1/8" clearance, then a SS Mesh Scrubbie around that. I buy the scrubbies in bulk at Sams. Something like $8 maybe (it's been a while since I bought them) for a pack of 10 or so. I don't bother trying to clean the scrubbie, just toss it and use a new one the next time. Works great with Pellet and whole leaf hops. Worked great when I did BM's Wit with corriander, orange peel and black pepper too.

 

[Saccharomyces]

I have read that you can reverse oxidation damage to some degree by krausening. A nice side effect is you get naturally carbonated beer in the keg. The yeast take up all the oxygen you introduced into the beer so it won't break down alcohols and turn it into cardboard-tasting muck.

I have a beer starting to oxidize while barrel aging right now. My plan for it is to krausen in the keg... I'll rehydrate some Nottingham, pitch it into a small starter of wort and when it gets busy I'll pitch it into the keg and rack on top of it. I have a spunding valve to attach to relieve excess pressure, if you don't have one you could just vent the keg periodically to relieve the pressure.

 

[TexLaw]

From what I've understood, krausening does not reverse oxidation (i.e., it does not reduce the aldehydes back into ethanol). However, it certainly can minimize the damage from oxygen exposure. As the others have mentioned, oxidation does not happen immediately. You can have molecular oxygen dissolved in the beer for a while before the oxidation reaction actually happens. Krausening can minimize the oxidation by giving some yeast a chance to take up some (or even all) of the dissolved oxygen.


TL

 

[TheDutchman]

hmmm.... I'll add a few ounces of corn sugar tommorrow. We'll see what happens. I'll update in a couple weeks.

 

[TheDutchman]

UPDATE:

My keg of Sticke Alt blew yesterday, so I threw this beer on in it's place. The aroma is great, the taste is very Pliny-esque, and it recieved a great review from a brewing buddy who enjoys craft beer but has not yet had the privelege to taste the real deal.
We'll see how it lasts, but it would appear that the refermenting in the keg kept oxidation at bay somewhat. Also, the high alchohol and hop content seems to have suppressed any nasties that may have gotten in during the the bottling debacle.
Chalk this one up to another RDWHAHB. Thanks for all your help everyone.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Great to hear! Thanks for sharing the update.

 

[Soybomb]

You might look into a Sure Screen. I got one a couple years ago after having problems with a blackberry cider. It's a fine wire tube that goes over the end of the outlet tube.

Alternately, put your dry hops in a bag next time.

I loved the sure screen for dry hopping in the keg with whole hops.

 

[glockentalk]

I recently put some hop pellets into a keg of IPA. I thought they would float. When I tried to tap, the beer line quickly jammed. I let out the pressure on the gas side. I was really lucky that the gas line didn't jam, too: that would have spelled disaster because, with both my lines jammed and no relief valve, there would have been no way to get the beer out. Anyway, I relieved the gas pressure and hammered open the top, getting a face full of IPA. I transferred cleanly to another keg. Lesson learned: NEVER put a solid in the keg that isn't in a sock.

 

[bentonre]

I use a "tea ball", one of those wire mesh balls for tea and spices made in several sizes. I hook the attached chain onto a wine cork so it hangs/floats in the beer and can more easily be fished out of the keg. Maybe a little more elegant than a sock, but generally only a couple bucks where they sell kitchen gadgets....

 

[schweaty]

Next time consider using a paintball tank with a regulator and a hose. After you sanatize your dry hop carboy and hose, purge the carboy of oxygen with the CO2. Since CO2 is heavier it will rest at the bottom and as you fill the carboy with beer it will push the CO2 and any oxygen that might still be in there. This way you don't have to worry about oxidation.