Hazy beer went from hazy to brown why?

[SteveA92]

I brewed a hazy ipa, i kegged it on Saturday. Poured a little to see what it looks like and it looked great. Turned co2 up so I can carb in about 4-5 days. For sh*ts and giggles went and poured a little for tonight and it was brown. Why did this happen?

 

[Jag75]

Hello and welcome to HBT.

Unfortunately what you have there is oxidized beer . O2 is the enemy after fermentation. Especially with hoppy beers.

 

[SteveA92]

Hello and welcome to HBT.

Unfortunately what you have there is oxidized beer . O2 is the enemy after fermentation. Especially with hoppy beers.

Yeah, I’m wondering why did it happen? I did a close transfer. And the pic on the left was the first beer after kegging, and the beer in the right was the second beer today.

 

[day_trippr]

Yup, that poor thing has gone to Hazy Heaven. The style is one of the most trying to get a respectable shelf life because it is so highly reactive to post-fermentation oxygen exposure.

Tips: avoid the use of "secondary" fermentation vessels as that racking can be all it takes to end up brown. Don't cold-crash without providing some means to avoid sucking oxygen into the fermentor as the head space chills and contracts. When transferring to a keg the receiving keg must be purged to near zero O2 ppms, and a good way to do it is to totally fill a sealed keg with no-rinse sanitizer then push it all out using CO2...

Cheers!

 

[Jag75]

Yeah, I’m wondering why did it happen? I did a close transfer. And the pic on the left was the first beer after kegging, and the beer in the right was the second beer today.

What's your process?

 

[tdf]

These pictures are 24 hours apart? I've not seen such dramatic oxidation happen in that time frame before.

Pour a few more pints and see if they look the same.

 

[AlexKay]

What are the liquid lines in your kegerator made of?

 

[mac_1103]

What are the liquid lines in your kegerator made of?

And how long are they? IOW, did the second short pour come entirely from the liquid line?

 

[glick]

Could it just be crap setting to the bottom? That drastic of a change that fast seems odd to me.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

Did it turn brown after cold crashing?

Was it a "clean" transfer?

How does it taste?

 

[Jag75]

Enquiring minds want to know

 

[YeastFeast]

Hazy's are extremely challenging. I make them all the time (my last 6 of 7 brews). I take every precaution to avoid oxygen and my last one turned on me between 5 and 6 weeks. Even if I drink it all before that time frame I purposely leave some so I can see when it goes bad.

I built a dry hopper so not to expose when drop hopping, closed transfer, fill receiving keg full with sanitizer mix and push it out, changed the lines in my kegerator to EVA barrier. There's still other things I'm sure I'm missing....all because I'm obsessed with making a great Hazy IPA!

 

[crazyjake19]

Hazy's are extremely challenging. I make them all the time (my last 6 of 7 brews). I take every precaution to avoid oxygen and my last one turned on me between 5 and 6 weeks. Even if I drink it all before that time frame I purposely leave some so I can see when it goes bad.

I built a dry hopper so not to expose when drop hopping, closed transfer, fill receiving keg full with sanitizer mix and push it out, changed the lines in my kegerator to EVA barrier. There's still other things I'm sure I'm missing....all because I'm obsessed with making a great Hazy IPA!

I don't brew them nearly that often - maybe 3 or 4 per year for me. I've been fermenting and serving mine from the same keg with great results. Nothing fancy on the dry hop - just open the lid and gently lower in my dry hop bag. The longest I've had one in the keg was 4 weeks and had no signs of oxidation.

 

[Bobby_M]

Yeah, I’m wondering why did it happen? I did a close transfer. And the pic on the left was the first beer after kegging, and the beer in the right was the second beer today.

Closed transfer is a concept with a lot of nuances. Describe exactly what you did step by step.

 

[seatazzz]

That's a pretty dramatic change for only 24 hours. What struck me is that you poured the first glass on kegging, and the second (brown) glass after you started force carbing. How much trub (gunk from the bottom of fermenter) got in the keg? If you are force carbing through the liquid-out post (as many do), the co2 would have stirred all that gunk back up from the bottom into the beer, possibly causing that brown color. I wouldn't suspect oxidation that fast, but that may just be me. I would let the keg settle a couple of days, then try again. What did the 'brown' glass taste like? Oxidation has been described as a 'wet cardboard' taste. If the beer tasted very yeasty, slightly phenolic (think old bandaids), that's trub.

 

[wepeeler]

Leak somewhere? I autosiphon all my hazy ipas, and they are never that color, even after 2 months.

 

[wdavis2003]

That's a pretty dramatic change for only 24 hours. What struck me is that you poured the first glass on kegging, and the second (brown) glass after you started force carbing. How much trub (gunk from the bottom of fermenter) got in the keg? If you are force carbing through the liquid-out post (as many do), the co2 would have stirred all that gunk back up from the bottom into the beer, possibly causing that brown color. I wouldn't suspect oxidation that fast, but that may just be me. I would let the keg settle a couple of days, then try again. What did the 'brown' glass taste like? Oxidation has been described as a 'wet cardboard' taste. If the beer tasted very yeasty, slightly phenolic (think old bandaids), that's trub.

That's not trub.. You can actually see in the first pic the beginnings of oxidation. We've all seen oxidized hazy's before and that's exactly what the 2nd pic is. As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, that's oxidized. You bet your bottom dollar, that's oxidized.. I want to throw more puns in but I can't think of any right now

To the OP, look into using ascorbic acid in the mash. I haven't had an oxidized hazy since I started using it

 

[wepeeler]

That's not trub.. You can actually see in the first pic the beginnings of oxidation. We've all seen oxidized hazy's before and that's exactly what the 2nd pic is. As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, that's oxidized. You bet your bottom dollar, that's oxidized.. I want to throw more puns in but I can't think of any right now

To the OP, look into using ascorbic acid in the mash. I haven't had an oxidized hazy since I started using it

I add ascorbic to the keg when racking, and I feel it's made a big difference in all my beer. Could be anecdotal, but it's cheap as hell, so why not?

 

[mac_1103]

It's unfortunate that the OP hasn't been back. It would be nice to know if the whole keg is like that photo or just the beer in the serving line.

 

[wdavis2003]

I add ascorbic to the keg when racking, and I feel it's made a big difference in all my beer. Could be anecdotal, but it's cheap as hell, so why not?

You may be right. Using ascorbic acid in the mash might be doing diddily squat but my beers are pouring just as bright orange as they were in the fermenter.

 

[seatazzz]

That's not trub.. You can actually see in the first pic the beginnings of oxidation. We've all seen oxidized hazy's before and that's exactly what the 2nd pic is. As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, that's oxidized. You bet your bottom dollar, that's oxidized.. I want to throw more puns in but I can't think of any right now

To the OP, look into using ascorbic acid in the mash. I haven't had an oxidized hazy since I started using it

I still find it odd to have complete brown oxidation in 24 hours, with a closed transfer; unless there's something else in OP's process that we don't know. I'm not trying to start an argument, and yes I know oxidation can happen quickly if you mishandle beer. I guess we need more input from OP. I've been brewing an NEIPA for a couple of years now, and even before I had the capability of closed transfers I've never had one oxidize that bad. As someone noted above, maybe OP did a secondary which WOULD introduce the oxygen necessary to cause that.

 

[wepeeler]

I still find it odd to have complete brown oxidation in 24 hours, with a closed transfer; unless there's something else in OP's process that we don't know. I'm not trying to start an argument, and yes I know oxidation can happen quickly if you mishandle beer. I guess we need more input from OP. I've been brewing an NEIPA for a couple of years now, and even before I had the capability of closed transfers I've never had one oxidize that bad. As someone noted above, maybe OP did a secondary which WOULD introduce the oxygen necessary to cause that.

Agreed. I auto-siphon my neipas into the keg, and I've never had oxidation like this. And I've had some mishaps during the transfer that would introduce extra O2.