Flavor question for all you Corny keggers.

[flananuts]

I just tapped my third AG, a winter spiced ale kit from NB, and I'm noticing what is either a flaw in my brewing process or potentially a commonality in kegging.

I cold crash my beer for a couple days in the kegerator before kegging so there's very little to no sediment left when I rack to the keg. My kegs force carb and condition for 3 weeks before tapping. However the first 3 to 4 beers always seem to be good but not great. Once I get past the first few beers, it clears up, and many of the slightly overbearing flavors seem to go away.

Does anyone else have this happen? Is it possible that the particles in suspension that make the beer okay but not great just won't drop out?

By the way, it's 2pm and I'm drunk

 

[flananuts]

A lot of lookers, not too many takers ?

 

[chuggs]

I would think after carbing for three weeks...your beer should be sufficiently conditioned to the point that you should have a pretty even flavor profile. Certain hop varietals fade faster than others. Some residual sugars may continue to slowly ferment out and change the profile some. If you're not filtering...the yeast will continue to floculate out, which will change the profile. But all in all I don't see a smoking gun on this one. You might ask yourself if there might be trapped keg cleaner in the dip tube that is affecting the first pouring...and then gets all flushed out. You mentioned that this particular beer was a spice beer. I think those are probably going to almost always have a little harsher flavor at first as the particles settle out...they usually benefit from slightly longer conditioning...unless it's the intensity of the spice that you're really looking for.

 

[Hoppus_Poppatopolis]

I've kegged a grand total of one time; well, two but the second one just went in this weekend. So take this for what it's worth; I suspect you're still getting *some* sediment which is impacting the flavor.

How long does it take to draw the first 3-4 beers? One hour or three weeks?

 

[flananuts]

Thanks for both of your comments. Depending on how harsh those first few beers are it may take an hour topps . Do you think if finings would improve those first few beers? I do purge the out line with c02 to clear out the cleaner and put a layer of co2 into the keg. I'm going to just make sure I drink the first few beers in private before I open the taps to friends!

 

[mitch171]

I too have noticed the same thing. I have a beer on now that when I first put it in the keg and drew a flat taste it was good. Now some stuff has settled and it just has a little overbearing taste to it. This has happened with my pumpkin ale and this belgian saison. Both have a lot of spice and I think the particles settle and through the balance off at first. The pumpkin ale ended up real good and I haven't drank enough of the sasion to know yet.

 

[Homercidal]

It's probably just some yeast sediment, but TBH I haven't noticed any of my beers having a strange taste. I usually pour out the first pint, maybe two, depending, and then start drinking, just to clear the sediment, but they have not tasted too bad IMO.

Sometimes I will pour a few ounces out of the lines before pouring the pint, but only if it's sat unused for a while.

Does this taste go away after the first couple of pints, or does it come back if the beer has sat in the lines for a few days?

 

[tcklord]

If it is sediment you should be able to see it in the glass though. I usually pour the first pint let it sit for like 5 mins and then drink it leaving the last like half inch in the glass with any yeast that further dropped out.

 

[Coastarine]

Once I started kegging I stopped cold crashing in the primary or using a secondary at all unless called for e.g. by the addition of fruit, etc. Nothing extra settles out in the secondary that wouldn't settle out in the keg. Also, each time you rack the beer you leave a little behind. Instead of going through the trouble racking perfectly clear beer into the keg, I just get it all in there, let it clear, and throw away the first pint. After that it pours clear and clean of any funny flavors from yeast/sediment.

 

[flananuts]

It's only the first few pints, and the beer gets clearer and clearer. The flavor profile is solid and doesn't change after the first 4 pints or so. It's never really cloudy however it does get more transparent as I drink(or maybe my vision is more cloudy). It sounds to me like it's a function of home brewing and I'm not alone.