Changing color and flavor

[elgee]

I made a NEIPA. It was bursting with fruit flavors and slightly orange before carbonating. Once it carbed up, it became pale in color and the flavor died down significantly. I have no idea what happened?

 

[Hammy71]

In my experience, the beer most likely got exposed to oxygen during your transfer to bottle or keg. Once I got my post fermentation procedures under control, my beer kept the neon color and wonderful non-bitter taste in the keg. This is what separates the great commercial NEIPAs from the others. Its the reason places like the Veil in Richmond fill their cans to the very top. Annoying when you open the can and make a mess....but it keeps the beer fresh in the can.

 

[stickyfinger]

you either oxidized it or it is the natural slight reduction in flavor when going from warm uncarbonated to cold and carbonated beer. did you rack to a CO2-purged keg?

 

[elgee]

I racked to a purged keg, but wondering if it got oxidized when transferring it? Same thing happened last time I used A38 Juice yeast. Maybe it’s sensitive?

 

[stickyfinger]

nah, i use it all of the time. how long has it been sitting? did you dry hop after crashing the yeast or when yeast are still in suspension? if you invert the keg does it come back to life?

 

[elgee]

I dry hopped in secondary for 4 days then transferred. Next time I’ll do a pressure transfer. Maybe I can dry hop in the keg to get some flavor back.

 

[day_trippr]

I racked to a purged keg, but wondering if it got oxidized when transferring it? Same thing happened last time I used A38 Juice yeast. Maybe it’s sensitive?

Define "purged keg".

neipas are likely one of the most oxygen-sensitive styles. It's literally critical not to expose them to air post-fermentation.
your use of a "secondary" vessel may have been fatal...

Cheers!

 

[stickyfinger]

fyi, most people omit secondary of any kind on neipa. you don't need a pressure transfer either imho, though it will only help or do nothing.

how do you purge the keg? did you fill it up with water or star san, eliminate all of the air bubbles and then push it out with CO2?

 

[elgee]

Define "purged keg".

neipas are likely one of the most oxygen-sensitive styles. It's literally critical not to expose them to air post-fermentation.
your use of a "secondary" vessel may have been fatal...

Cheers!

What I did was transfer to the keg with open lid, then close it and burp the keg a few times. Maybe that did it. Next time I’ll Use my Ss Cronical and do a closed transfer.

 

[elgee]

fyi, most people omit secondary of any kind on neipa. you don't need a pressure transfer either imho, though it will only help or do nothing.

how do you purge the keg? did you fill it up with water or star san, eliminate all of the air bubbles and then push it out with CO2?

I’m lazy, I used star san, emptied it and racked into the keg, then after transfer was done, I closed the lid and burped it a few times with co2 before fully carbonating it. I also hurt carbed it, maybe that did something?

 

[stickyfinger]

if you racked into a purged keg with the lid open, that is your issue most likely. sorry! i'd look into the LODO threads for insight on how to reduce oxygen exposure. the gist of it at a minimum is you take the CO2 dip tube out of your keg and cut it back so that it is flush or even a bit shorter than the ceiling wall of your keg. then, you fill your keg with star san solution and put on the lid. then, you rack star san from a bucket into your keg and invert the keg and then put it upright and burp out all of the bubbles from the CO2 in post - do that several times keeping in mind where the air bubbles will travel from the bottom of the keg up to the top and out of the CO2 in port. does that make sense? there is a lot of air in the keg after filling it with star san and sealing it up. then, when you push out all of the star san with CO2 you have a beautiful purged keg with very low O2, not as good as a fermenation-purged keg but it's good enough for my needs and much better than the sloppy approach you used on this one (sorry, but it's sloppy but now you know!)

you will see a huge improvement in neipa when you are fanatical about O2 exposure. anyone who makes neipa would agree with that.

 

[elgee]

if you racked into a purged keg with the lid open, that is your issue most likely. sorry! i'd look into the LODO threads for insight on how to reduce oxygen exposure. the gist of it at a minimum is you take the CO2 dip tube out of your keg and cut it back so that it is flush or even a bit shorter than the ceiling wall of your keg. then, you fill your keg with star san solution and put on the lid. then, you rack star san from a bucket into your keg and invert the keg and then put it upright and burp out all of the bubbles from the CO2 in post - do that several times keeping in mind where the air bubbles will travel from the bottom of the keg up to the top and out of the CO2 in port. does that make sense? there is a lot of air in the keg after filling it with star san and sealing it up. then, when you push out all of the star san with CO2 you have a beautiful purged keg with very low O2, not as good as a fermenation-purged keg but it's good enough for my needs and much better than the sloppy approach you used on this one (sorry, but it's sloppy but now you know!)

you will see a huge improvement in neipa when you are fanatical about O2 exposure. anyone who makes neipa would agree with that.

Wow, thanks! It still tastes good but not as good as it was before racking. I now know what to do next time!

 

[stickyfinger]

yeah, try it and see how it goes. again, there is a lot of info. in the LODO threads. IMHO, the oxygen-free or minimized receiving vessel is way more important than a closed transfer but if you can do the closed transfer all the better! good luck dude!

 

[stickyfinger]

if you are desperate, you can try adding in 1-2 oz of hops in a sack to the keg and invert a few times over a few days. it might make it taste better, or not, lol.

 

[elgee]

yeah, try it and see how it goes. again, there is a lot of info. in the LODO threads. IMHO, the oxygen-free or minimized receiving vessel is way more important than a closed transfer but if you can do the closed transfer all the better! good luck dude!

Thanks!