Okay, so I have been kegging for 6 months. My process is always the same using a very gentle siphoning directly into the keg. I understand that this isn't the preferred way but from what I've heard and read, it shouldn't ruin my beers too early. All my dark beers or light non hoppy beers last quite a while without diminishing flavors or aroma. My IPA's on the other hand demonstrate typical oxidation symptoms, loss of aroma starting after a few days in the keg, then slowly lose bitterness and taste, along with a sweeter, maltier, kind of buttery flavor developing more and more over time. When I was bottling, I limited oxidation by filling bottles higher and just before learning to keg, I was getting far better results. I purge each batch of ipa at least 15 to 20 times. I dry hop in the keg by inserting a small mesh stainless dry hop container in the keg prior to syphoning. So... the only variable I haven't tried yet is to do everything the same, but rather than refrigerate immediately after kegging, instead leave the keg out a few days to let the remaining yeast consume the little bit of oxygen from siphoning or dry hopping. Does that make sense to try? My thought process is that possibility the yeast are immediately going fully dormant and the oxygen is getting to work ruining my hoppy goodness. Please help!
Help me with my ongoing oxidation issue
- Thread starter derekcw83
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
You can try what I am doing now...may help, may not. I ferment in the keg, transfer to a serving keg which I first fill completely with water so there is no air and then push out the water with CO2. I then transfer from the fermenter keg to the serving keg. I have an IPA that is a month old and has not changed a bit from the first pour until the two I had last night...YMMV and best of luck!
I'm trying to avoid having to do that, though. I try to keep everything as simple as I can without needing more equipment or more work in the transferring process. From what I've gathered I shouldn't have so much oxidation in such a short time just by my transferring process. I'm trying to figure out if I can do something slightly different to avoid oxygen in my finished beer.
1. Should I allow the beer to stay at room temp a few days after transferring (on co2 of course) to allow some oxygen to be consumed by yeast?
2. Should I put a tiny bit of corn sugar in the keg prior to transferring to kick start a very small fermentation to encourage oxygen consumption by the remaining yeast?
1. Should I allow the beer to stay at room temp a few days after transferring (on co2 of course) to allow some oxygen to be consumed by yeast?
2. Should I put a tiny bit of corn sugar in the keg prior to transferring to kick start a very small fermentation to encourage oxygen consumption by the remaining yeast?
#2 is a good option. Lowoxygenbrewing.com has some good reads on the cold side practice. It explains methods that can be used to control the oxygen content of your final product. They demonstrate how difficult it is to control oxidation at packaging at the home brew level, but there are some ways we can control it with minimal investment. The best way is to have active yeast upon transfer to consume any oxygen pickup. Adding priming sugar and waiting an hour before transfer is one of those options. I've noticed improvement in my beer since employing their cold-side recommendations. I have implemented keg spunding into my routine which naturally carbonates the beer at the end of fermentation. Regardless of people's opinion of the HSA conversation, I do find the cold side information extremely valuable.
Its also important to note that dry hopping can add a level of oxygen to your wort, and there is a process that addresses that as well. Essentially you add the hops with a few gravity points remaining so the yeast can scavenge the oxygen that is introduced. All this sounds like a lot of additional work, but its not.
Its also important to note that dry hopping can add a level of oxygen to your wort, and there is a process that addresses that as well. Essentially you add the hops with a few gravity points remaining so the yeast can scavenge the oxygen that is introduced. All this sounds like a lot of additional work, but its not.
I hear ya! Simple is always better, but there are some steps that you cannot skimp on. Try what others are saying as they may make more sense to your setup. I have the time and budget to work in the process I described and am very happy with the end results. Please report back if you get great results with less effort and I will experiment with those changes to my setup as well! Cheers!!
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
Sounds good. I'm going to start with 2 things:
1 start dry hopping in the fermenter toward end of fermentation (let yeast eat up oxygen introduced)
2 add a tablespoon of corn sugar to the keg prior to kegging, kick start a little fermentation to have yeast eat up the oxygen I introduce by transferring, and then let sit for 4 days at room temp before putting back in keezer.
1 start dry hopping in the fermenter toward end of fermentation (let yeast eat up oxygen introduced)
2 add a tablespoon of corn sugar to the keg prior to kegging, kick start a little fermentation to have yeast eat up the oxygen I introduce by transferring, and then let sit for 4 days at room temp before putting back in keezer.
Do you use water or sanitizer? Or do you sanitize first then use water to purge the keg of all air?
Similar threads
