Citrus Flavor Settled Out In Keg

[kgranger]

I was hoping for some help troubleshooting an issue with the flavor of a citrus saison some time after kegging it.

I made a roughly 5.7% ABV Belgian style Saison, racked onto about a tsp of Yuzu juice (Japanese citrus not far from strong lemon flavor) directly in the keg after about 2 weeks of primary/ secondary fermentation. I ended up giving this keg to a friend for their kegerator, and initial feedback was great. Strong Yuzu taste, pleasantly alcoholic, balanced.

They ended up getting back to it about a week later and noticed that it lost almost all of it's Yuzu flavor. After going on vacation for a couple weeks, they come back to it still with no Yuzu, and they claim they were getting drunk off a single beer. They said it tasted immediately boozier.

My first thought was that maybe the Yuzu settled out. I guess I assumed that in juice form, it would have blended with the beer to last a bit longer than a week or so. I would have imagined solid puree settling down quickly, but not a juice. Does this sound right? If so, are there any good methods to mix it back up, like giving the keg a gentle swirl if left untapped for some time?

And I can't explain the higher perceived alcohol content. It is hard for me to say for sure this is the case, as I could not measure it, but they were pretty sure one beer was hitting them much harder than before. I figured maybe they didn't eat enough that day, but they said it was the case for the next week or so until kicked.

Hope anyone has some insight on how to improve this. I know people should just drink it up, and not let it sit in the keg for too long, which is what I would do. But I want to continue to brew up batches for friends, and I know not everyone drinks as much as I do. I am hoping to make this recipe again for them, and I know they prefer keg to bottle.

Thanks!

 

[kgranger]

Recipe for reference:

Method: All Grain
Style: Saison
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermenter volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.041 (recipe based estimate)
Efficiency: 74% (brew house)
Source: Small Wave Brewing
Calories: 184 calories (Per 12oz)


Original Gravity:
1.056
Final Gravity:
1.012
ABV:
5.7%


Fermentables
8 lb German - Pilsner 38 1.6 72.7%
2 lb German - Pale Wheat 39 1.5 18.2%
1 lb German - CaraMunich I 34 39 9.1%

Hops
0.75 oz Crystal Pellet 4.3
0.25 oz East Kent Goldings Pellet 5
1 oz Tettnanger Pellet 4.5
0.5 oz Willamette

Yeast
Wyeast - Farmhouse Ale 3726

Yuzu
1 tsp Yuzu juice at kegging

Fermentation notes
- Slowly raise temperature from 65 to 80°F over 24–30 hours.
- Primary fermentation should take 5–7 days.

Post Fermentation:

- Dry hop when activity subsides.
- Rack off dry hops after 2 days but don’t crash.
- Add 1 oz of Yuzu puree into keg before racking

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

1 tsp does not sound like a lot and you racked onto it I don't know what this stuff is but it sounds like perhaps you did not get a good mix and it just hung out low in your keg. Next time add it on top and after your keg is purged and try swirling it around for a minute.

 

[kgranger]

This juice was much stronger than I anticipated, any more than that ratio when I pulled some samples to blend was too strong of a taste. And when it was first racked and mixed, the flavor was very balanced. It was only with time that it lost flavor. I am afraid if I use more in the hopes that it settles out and mellows, it will just remain too strong to drink for a while.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

This juice was much stronger than I anticipated, any more than that ratio when I pulled some samples to blend was too strong of a taste. And when it was first racked and mixed, the flavor was very balanced. It was only with time that it lost flavor..

Your keg pulls from the bottom where you put the juice its possible no/very little juice mixed with the beer at the top of your keg. Or the 2 never really intermixed is also possible if the density is really far off. Or another possibility is the 2 flavors kept mixing and the 1 became unrecognizable or something killed the flavor off in it like 02.

My GUESS is the juice never mixed with the beer at the top of the keg and just stayed low if there is 0 flavor left

 

[kgranger]

Is that generally expected for a citrus juice? For instance, if adding lemon or lime juice, is it common for it to separate and never mix?

I made an almost identical recipe, and served at a homebrew event. Almost a third the keg served in one day, and it tasted well mixed during that time. I continued to drink it from the kegerator at home for a couple weeks consistently, and it remained flavorful. Seems like the only difference in the case of my friend was that it sat untouched for weeks at a time.

 

[pvpeacock]

I don't know about Yuzu juice, but I can tell you that the first time I made hard cider, I added apple juice concentrate to the keg for back-sweetening before I racked the fermented cider into the keg. I then put the keg in my keezer on CO2 for a week. The first glass I tasted was way too sweet and I thought I had ruined by first batch. After reading a few threads here about cider. I took the keg out, rolled it on the floor for 5 minutes to shake things up and then put it back in the keezer. The next glass was perfect. I can only surmise that the apple juice concentrate did not mix with the cider when I first filled it; it just sat in the bottom of the keg.

Your experience could be something similar, it could be oxidation as noted by OG or it could be that Yuzu juice has fermentable sugars in it that caused the saison to restart fermentation. The latter might explain the decrease in Yuzu flavor and perceived increase in alcohol.

 

[kgranger]

The latter might explain the decrease in Yuzu flavor and perceived increase in alcohol.

This is kind of what I am starting to think. I would be surprised if that small amount increased the ABV enough to feel the difference, but tasting the Yuzu straight was like eating 15 lemonheads, so I guess it is possible. Would filtering the beer post secondary into the keg be recommended to prevent any additional fermentation? Or cold crashing for a longer period of time before kegging?

 

[kgranger]

Would making and using a Yuzu extract be a better route than adding puree to the keg? I am wondering if using an extract vs the actual stuff will add just the flavor instead of the sugary juice that could potentially either ferment out or just fade over time.

Reading up on using fruits in beer seems to point to natural eventual fading of flavor no matter what. I am not sure how to preserve this in the beer for a bit longer than a few weeks.