How do you keep your kegged IPA's fresh for extended time?

[KyBeer]

I love my IPA's but after I tap the keg they change (freshness), over the month It takes me to finish the key. Are there any ways to keep the flavor at its peak over a two month time span?

 

[DonT]

Don't know what your process is, but I would start with limiting oxygen uptake.

 

[palmtrees]

I love my IPA's but after I tap the keg they change (freshness), over the month It takes me to finish the key. Are there any ways to keep the flavor at its peak over a two month time span?

Do you purge oxygen from your kegs? If so, how do you do it? And how do you transfer your beers to the keg? Do you cold crash? If so, how? Those are all the points in the process where oxygen ingress happens the most, so some detail on your processes here would help figure out where you can improve.

For reference, I purge my kegs by filling with starsan then pushing that out with CO2. Then I do a closed transfer of the beer using a floating dip tube in a Fermonster. I push CO2 into the fermenter, hook up the dip tube post on the fermenter to the out post on the keg, and then have an airlock on the in post of the keg. I've brewed tons of NEIPAs and west coast ipas, and they've kept just fine for months. Slight mellowing over time as they condition, but still plenty of bright hop aroma and flavor, plus no color change.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

Have a look at your local water report if on city service, or do a water test if on a well. Then talk to your LHBS about water adjustments using mineral salts. This was an absolute game changer for me.

 

[KyBeer]

I use DI water and salts. When I transfer to from the secondary to the keg, the keg has been sanatized and purged with CO2. I purge the head space at least three times after the lid is installed. As the only beer drinker in the house it just takes a long time to finish 5 gallons. That might be my issue.
In my 20+ years of brewing I have had almost every issue a brewer can have and made a few mistakes. My brew system has progress from the stove top to a turkey fryer to an electric 15 gaqllon system that is now fully automated. This is still the best hobby a beer lover can have.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

I do also use an inline hop infuser and switch the hops out whenever I notice a decline in the aromatics.

 

[balrog]

Ferment and serve in keg with floating dip tube.

 

[Beermeister32]

On IPA’s, I add 4-4.3 oz corn sugar to carbonate the keg and reduce O2. I also use ascorbic acid in the keg which is an anti-oxidant.

I use 15 purge cycles, I read somewhere a graph showng you need about 15 cycles to clear the headspace of oxygen.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

Also, if you keep the IPAs above about 7% abv it helps with keeping them fresh longer.

I purge my kegs, once.

 

[KyBeer]

Thanks for all the feed back. I have been going over on the hops and trying to reduce the ABV to make a session style IPA. 3.5 - 4 %.
Just brewed a Pliny yesterday that was supper hopped but the ABV will finish close to 9%. Short session beer!

 

[Bobo1898]

On IPA’s, I add 4-4.3 oz corn sugar to carbonate the keg and reduce O2. I also use ascorbic acid in the keg which is an anti-oxidant.

How much ascorbic acid are you using for your batch size? Do you mix it in your sugar solution? I imagine you're brewing 5 gallons with that amount of sugar.

 

[Dgallo]

You need to close transfer them from the fv to the a completely purged keg

 

[Beermeister32]

Here is the procedure in detail:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/pliny-the-elder-clone.296940/page-24#post-9011944

 

[marc1]

How are you preventing O2 ingress when transferring to secondary? How about during dry hopping?
3 purges of the keg isn't enough for O2 sensitive beer.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/keg-purging-with-active-fermentation.628658/#post-8004741

 

[tracer bullet]

I started doing closed transfers and swapped my lines to EVA Barrier at the same time. One or both extended my "yummy hops flavor" period from just a couple days to about a month. Well, at least 3 weeks if I'm being critical. I've got a Pale Ale hitting 2 months and it's changed enough I'm really not drinking it any more and it'll be dumped soon to make room for a brown ale I currently have fermenting.

Not sure how to get to 2 months or more. LODO is out there as an option but I haven't had time to study the methods yet.