Can I save a (slightly) infected cream ale?

[FrozenOcean]

I've got about four gallons of cream ale (the famous "cream of three crops" recipe) sitting in a keg that doesn't taste so great.

It seems like it has developed a bit of an infection. I had it off the tap for about a month, and when I hooked it back up it was seriously overcarbonated. I've got that under control now, but the beer doesn't taste great. Kind of a green-apple taste... It's not terrible, but i've definitely encountered this flavour before during my bottling days when one or two bottles got the odd infection.

Since it's in a keg, and since it doesn't taste terrible, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas for possibly saving this beer by turning it into something different. Maybe something that could mask that flavour a bit.

Some ideas I've been thinkng about:
-Throw some other sort of bugs in there along with some sugar and really sour it.
-Throw some fruit juice or fruit puree in the keg to mask the off flavours.
-Dry hop it with something fruity

Think any of that will work?

 

[Deckers_Beers]

So it tasted fine when you had it hooked up originally? No off-flavor at that point?

 

[FrozenOcean]

Right. Tasted fine for a month or so. One of those slow infections.

 

[RM-MN]

Beer that is slightly infected is like your girlfriend being slightly pregnant. It's pretty hard to reverse. You might improve it with bugs if you like that sort of thing. That just lets you choose what kind of bug is in it.

 

[FrozenOcean]

Lol, good point. I guess I'm not trying to reverse it. Just dress her in baggy clothes for a little while so no one notices.

The thing is, it's not terrible. But it's a fairly delicate beer to start with, even a little off-flavour like this is noticeable. I guess got the skinny girl pregnant.

I dunno, I haven't tasted it for a month or so. Maybe it's getting worse. Infections tend to do that. Maybe I'll just mix it 50-50 with grapefruit juice in the glass and call it a Radler.

 

[RM-MN]

I've got about four gallons of cream ale (the famous "cream of three crops" recipe) sitting in a keg that doesn't taste so great.

It seems like it has developed a bit of an infection. I had it off the tap for about a month, and when I hooked it back up it was seriously overcarbonated. I've got that under control now, but the beer doesn't taste great. Kind of a green-apple taste... It's not terrible, but i've definitely encountered this flavour before during my bottling days when one or two bottles got the odd infection.

Since it's in a keg, and since it doesn't taste terrible, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas for possibly saving this beer by turning it into something different. Maybe something that could mask that flavour a bit.

Some ideas I've been thinkng about:
-Throw some other sort of bugs in there along with some sugar and really sour it.
-Throw some fruit juice or fruit puree in the keg to mask the off flavours.
-Dry hop it with something fruity

Think any of that will work?

I missed this hint when I first read about your infection. Green apple taste comes from acetaldehyde, a byproduct of fermentation. It usually gets cleaned up by the yeast late in the ferment but it can appear in the finished beer if oxygen is accidentally introduced. If you didn't purge your keg before racking the beer into it, that could be the cause.

http://www.picobrewery.com/askarchive/acetaldehyde.html

Note that this reaction of ethanol to acetaldehyde is reversible. Read the article carefully, then read it again. I think you can save this beer.

You'll have to let the keg warm up to get this to work.

 

[FrozenOcean]

All right, I'll give that a try.