What Makes a Beer Get Drier?

[Clint Yeastwood]

Any idea what could cause a lager to dry out over a week or two, without losing gravity? Seems like it's happening to a beer I brewed. As the beer has cleared up, it has gotten drier. More than I want. Almost seems soapy. Since the gravity is not moving, I don't see how it could be continuing fermentation.

I'm wondering if I left some kind of cleaner residue on the inside of the keg.

 

[OleBrewing]

yeast in suspension can give a beer mouth feel so you could sense a slickness and have different taste. after the yeast has dropped out i would say process issue if "soapy"

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Not sure if it's getting less sweet or just more bitter, but I can't see how a beer could get more bitter.

Then again, I'm pretty sure I had a touch of covid a couple of days ago. Maybe I should wait a week and see what happens.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I think it's covid again. I looked up a forum post I made in January, and the same thing happened then. Lasted two or three days. Just tried my stout, and it's a little off, too.

Really hard to tell what's happening when the symptoms are barely perceptible. I felt a little tired one night, and my nose felt like it wanted to run.

The sad thing is that I wrote up a grain order last night, and I added more crystal malt to one beer because I thought maybe I was not adding enough. Now I have to correct it before I place the order.

Looking forward to Sunday. Should be all better by then.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I'm Googling to find out what types of unfermentable sugars are in beer. I can taste the sugar in Pepsi just fine, but it looks like something is happening with the sugars yeast leave behind in beer. Really interesting. The web says crystal malt contains sugars called dextrins. Not fermentable but still sweet. So why would coronavirus let me taste table sugar but not crystal malt sugars? It's like it turned me into yeast.

 

[OleBrewing]

even sinus infections will affect taste. had a co-worker and parents all come down with no taste symptoms during the covid years. all got tested and were covid free.

then had a buddy that had covid and lost all taste, stated whiskey was the strangest thing couldn't taste it just the burn sensation of it going down the hatch.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I don't know if most people are aware that covid tests are not reliable. Kind of like the incredibly bad vaccines. Lots of false negatives and positives, especially for the rapid tests. I have tested negative when I had the disease. I've only tested positive once.

Losing your senses of taste and smell with covid is not like what happens with the infections we've had with us throughout history. At least not for me. I'm old, and I've had colds, strep, the flu, tonsillitis, viral pneumonia, bronchitis...the taste and smell effects were totally unlike covid. When I lost my sense of smell, which only happened during one bout, I could not smell anything whatsoever. I could hold Vaporub up to my nose and smell nothing. Crazy disease.

 

[OleBrewing]

they were rapid and lab tests.

 

[beren]

I don't know if most people are aware that covid tests are not reliable. Kind of like the incredibly bad vaccines. Lots of false negatives and positives, especially for the rapid tests. I have tested negative when I had the disease. I've only tested positive once.

Losing your senses of taste and smell with covid is not like what happens with the infections we've had with us throughout history. At least not for me. I'm old, and I've had colds, strep, the flu, tonsillitis, viral pneumonia, bronchitis...the taste and smell effects were totally unlike covid. When I lost my sense of smell, which only happened during one bout, I could not smell anything whatsoever. I could hold Vaporub up to my nose and smell nothing. Crazy disease.

The rapid don’t often test false positive if you do it right. It needs a decent viral load to detect so if it’s the start of an infection or early on it may not. Lab PCR tests are quite accurate however.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

You have to do rapid tests at just the right time or they don't work. That's common knowledge, not in dispute. A pathologist with the Cleveland Clinic says only about 80% of people test positive with PCR's when they have covid. Says the other 20% always test negative. I believe it. I've passed two PCR's that were highly dubious, given that I was sick the same weeks I took them. Passed another while I was still sick. Pretty sure I've flown with covid. I've never failed a PCR, and I've been overseas 5 times since the pandemic started. Had to take a number of tests in order to get home. The only positive I got was from a rapid test in my kitchen. Passed another rapid test while sick, though.

You can go on the web and find mainstream medical sites saying the tests are not good. It's not just fringe kooks saying it.

You have to keep up with new revelations as they come out. Things people said were true two years ago are now suspected or known to be false. For example, they told us the virus definitely wasn't from the Wuhan lab. Now our own Department of Energy says it probably is. I hate to imagine the things that will be revealed in the next 5 years. The myocarditis thing looks really bad for mRNA recipients. I refused that shot and would not let my wife take it.

I still remember Biden stating that the vaccines were 100% effective at preventing covid. They gave him bad information, whether deliberately or because his sources didn't know any better. Now we know virtually everyone who gets vaccinated catches covid later. I still remember people saying "breakthrough infection." That phrase died a horrible death.

Anyway, beer is tasting slightly better today, so I guess my crisis is waning. I now think the taste of beer is the most accurate test for me.

 

[beren]

You have to do rapid tests at just the right time or they don't work. That's common knowledge, not in dispute. A pathologist with the Cleveland Clinic says only about 80% of people test positive with PCR's when they have covid. Says the other 20% always test negative. I believe it. I've passed two PCR's that were highly dubious, given that I was sick the same weeks I took them. Passed another while I was still sick. Pretty sure I've flown with covid. I've never failed a PCR, and I've been overseas 5 times since the pandemic started. Had to take a number of tests in order to get home. The only positive I got was from a rapid test in my kitchen. Passed another rapid test while sick, though.

You can go on the web and find mainstream medical sites saying the tests are not good. It's not just fringe kooks saying it.

You have to keep up with new revelations as they come out. Things people said were true two years ago are now suspected or known to be false. For example, they told us the virus definitely wasn't from the Wuhan lab. Now our own Department of Energy says it probably is. I hate to imagine the things that will be revealed in the next 5 years. The myocarditis thing looks really bad for mRNA recipients. I refused that shot and would not let my wife take it.

I still remember Biden stating that the vaccines were 100% effective at preventing covid. They gave him bad information, whether deliberately or because his sources didn't know any better. Now we know virtually everyone who gets vaccinated catches covid later. I still remember people saying "breakthrough infection." That phrase died a horrible death.

Anyway, beer is tasting slightly better today, so I guess my crisis is waning. I now think the taste of beer is the most accurate test for me.

Ah the DoE. The premier virology research branch of the govt. we don’t need to drag that stuff into here. Btw they have “low confidence” of that theory. This is beer talk. Glad your taste is coming back!

 

[OleBrewing]

i like your testing methods.

I will still stand by the stated of yeast in suspension will give a beer a different flavor and mouth feel. haven't brewed a lager for many years and that was an oktoberfest beer and with the malt richness probably hid some flaws.

In the near future i will be trying a lighter crisp lager probably similar that a beer sam adams had years back. remember it was nice and crisp with a nice hop bite that wasn't overpowering.

noble pils that's it.

 

[bwible]

Carbonic acid?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/carbonic-acid.463492/

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Funny how rarely people mention carbonic acid, when it's so important.

The good news is that the beer that tasted gross now tastes nearly normal, so I guess covid paid me a visit.

As for running down the DOE's abilities, better go read up and see if you really want to stick with that position in public.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

i like your testing methods.

I will still stand by the stated of yeast in suspension will give a beer a different flavor and mouth feel. haven't brewed a lager for many years and that was an oktoberfest beer and with the malt richness probably hid some flaws.

In the near future i will be trying a lighter crisp lager probably similar that a beer sam adams had years back. remember it was nice and crisp with a nice hop bite that wasn't overpowering.

noble pils that's it.

I feel like I'm an ale person. I think this is why I tend to push lagers in the direction of more flavor and aroma.

I think Urquell is gross. Flame away.

 

[OleBrewing]

I feel like I'm an ale person. I think this is why I tend to push lagers in the direction of more flavor and aroma.

I think Urquell is gross. Flame away.

The noble pils was a hopped up crisp lager with a good amount of dry hopping. Had nose, taste, and back end taste. Was a great beer discontinued now. Probably due to production time/cost evaluation, full dry hopping vessels don't make room money/room for more product.

 

[bwible]

I feel like I'm an ale person. I think this is why I tend to push lagers in the direction of more flavor and aroma.

I think Urquell is gross. Flame away.

Haven’t had it in quite awhile. Wyeast has their yeast available this quarter though out of their Private Collection. They maintain that one as a limited release and only let it out once in awhile. 2001-PC

https://wyeastlab.com/private-culture-collection/

 

[beren]

As for running down the DOE's abilities, better go read up and see if you really want to stick with that position in public.

It’s more about the ‘low confidence’ part that always gets ignored. I have low confidence it started there too. Lots of circumstantial evidence sure.

 

[wepeeler]

I would anticipate as the beer clears up that it would have more snap to it. I've finally been more patient with my lagers, and I find as they drop brilliantly clear, they are less round and full. Sounds like yours was more COVID-related, so glad to hear that sorted itself out.

Soapy is usually a fermentation issue caused by leaving the beer on yeast too long. Or leaving soapy residue in the serving keg.