Bright and Hoppy to Dull - Overnight?

[slurms]

I brewed a beer a few weeks ago (hoppy pale ale, mix of chinook and cascade, heavier on the chinook). When I sampled after kegging, it had a night bright aroma, tasted good, but was a little thin. Whatever. After a week or so in the keg, tried some, tasted the same. Had one last night, tasted fine. Having one right now, and the flavor is just completely changed. It doesn't have that nice aroma, a bit heavier mouthfeel, and now leaves a weird cheap alcohol aftertaste (not a burning thing, but this gross flavor that just lingers).

Now, how can that happen?? I've got CO2 on the primary during cold crash and a closed transfer. The only time the beer would see any oxygen would be during dryopping, when I unscrew the fermonster lid to dump in the hops, though I have CO2 flowing during that time.

Really not sure what to make of this. The flavor could maybe be earthy, or soapy? I have a hard time figuring out what things taste like apparently. Any one have a clue what's going on?

 

[DuncB]

Loss of taste and smell can be a symptom. Are you feeling okay?

 

[sibelman]

Never thought beer could be COVID test!

Seriously, though, @slurms, @DuncB as a good point. Even with less attention to avoiding oxygen, beer shouldn't change that fast. Get tested just in case, unless everything else tastes /smells as usual.

 

[slurms]

Appreciate the concern, but my other beers and food and stuff all taste normal.

It's just strange. Was in primary for ~2 weeks and has barely been in the keg for 2 weeks. I know some will say "give it time", but more time won't be getting that aroma back.

 

[BrewZer]

Have you checked your lines and fittings for leaks? Maybe your aromas are being carried out of the keg by a breeze...

 

[Steven Barrett]

@slurms I too have struggled with this. Oxygen is the most likely culprit but I will offer you other considerations:

1) Yeast tends to strip hop aroma. Ensuring fermentation is complete, crashing and transferring to the keg before dry hopping may help.
2) Sounds like you had good aroma prior to carbonation. May want to investigate if that’s somehow introducing oxygen.
3) What is your batch size? The larger the batch size, the more effective dry hopping will be.
4) Is there a lot of headspace in your fermentation vessel or keg? Minimizing this should help.
5) Ensure you are tasting at a relatively warm temperature - cold temperature will inhibit aroma
6) Contamination can do strange things. Don’t think of contamination as binary - my beer *is* or *isn’t* contaminated. All beers have some level of unwanted microbes. Do the best you can with sanitation, especially anything porous like plastics and soft tubing.

 

[slurms]

Have you checked your lines and fittings for leaks? Maybe your aromas are being carried out of the keg by a breeze...

Nope, no leaks. Got the CO2 tank on a scale to check for that.

While oxygen could be a/the cause, I find it hard to believe. I could understand how it mutes the aroma, but it shouldn't change the flavor of the beer that quickly (less than 2 weeks out of primary).

The yeast comment is interesting to me. I've read a lot of posts about people dry hopping at around 75% complete fermentation, where the then any introduced O2 would be eaten up (not sure how accurate that is). I tossed mine in when most of the krausen receded. But, maybe that could do it?

I guess I wouldn't rule out an infection of some type. That one makes more sense just based on the timeline.

I might give this recipe another go using centennial or something of the sort in replace of chinook. Try to rule out the hops.