JohnVitamvas
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2008
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Hello all, new to posting on the forums but I've browsed here for years.
I have a strange problem I'm encountering. I have an off-flavor that only comes out when I keg and force carbonate my beers. I made a "control" batch of Oktoberfest several months ago. I bottled half and kegged the other half. The bottled beer (carbonated using carb-tabs) tastes fantastic. Malty, balanced, and extremely clean-finishing. The kegged, forced-carbonated beer has a noticable bitter component to it and a much less clean finish.
My Co2 tank was bought new (purged) and filled with CO2 by the local welding gas shop. My regulators and gas lines were bought new from northern brewer.
I have used soda kegs that I cleaned thoroughly using PBW and hot water rinse, and then sanitized using five-star sanitizer per the instructions (correct dilution, soak for 10min and drain thoroughly with no rinse). Same treatment for my valves, dip tubes and lines. I rebuilt the kegs prior to putting them in service with new valves, o-rings and used the proper food-safe o-ring grease from northern brewer.
I force carbonated the Oktoberfest to 15psi with the regulated freezer set to 45 degrees F. I purged the head space in the keg with CO2 after siphoning the beer into the keg. Here's the kicker - I bottled the beer after it had sat in the keg uncarbonated (again, it was purged of oxygen) for about two weeks. The bottled beer tastes great! After bottling the beer, I force-carbonated the beer in the keg.
It seems to me that it's linked to my forced carbonation setup. Is it possible my regulators got contaminated and need to be cleaned? If so, how do I go about cleaning them / sanitizing them?
Thanks for any advice and I apologize if this is a newbie question.
John V
I have a strange problem I'm encountering. I have an off-flavor that only comes out when I keg and force carbonate my beers. I made a "control" batch of Oktoberfest several months ago. I bottled half and kegged the other half. The bottled beer (carbonated using carb-tabs) tastes fantastic. Malty, balanced, and extremely clean-finishing. The kegged, forced-carbonated beer has a noticable bitter component to it and a much less clean finish.
My Co2 tank was bought new (purged) and filled with CO2 by the local welding gas shop. My regulators and gas lines were bought new from northern brewer.
I have used soda kegs that I cleaned thoroughly using PBW and hot water rinse, and then sanitized using five-star sanitizer per the instructions (correct dilution, soak for 10min and drain thoroughly with no rinse). Same treatment for my valves, dip tubes and lines. I rebuilt the kegs prior to putting them in service with new valves, o-rings and used the proper food-safe o-ring grease from northern brewer.
I force carbonated the Oktoberfest to 15psi with the regulated freezer set to 45 degrees F. I purged the head space in the keg with CO2 after siphoning the beer into the keg. Here's the kicker - I bottled the beer after it had sat in the keg uncarbonated (again, it was purged of oxygen) for about two weeks. The bottled beer tastes great! After bottling the beer, I force-carbonated the beer in the keg.
It seems to me that it's linked to my forced carbonation setup. Is it possible my regulators got contaminated and need to be cleaned? If so, how do I go about cleaning them / sanitizing them?
Thanks for any advice and I apologize if this is a newbie question.
John V
