I hate beer that starts off great only to evolve to crap...

[rmb]

Is there a good scientific explanation for this phenomenon?

 

[kh54s10]

Doing something wrong while brewing or keeping light beers for too long.

It has never happened to me.

 

[timrox1212]

Anything that I brew that has a bunch of extra crap in it (fruit, coffee, vanilla) always is good for like 3-4 weeks after bottling then turns into a dumper batch. So from now on I stick to just the basics and my beers always age well.

 

[Warthaug]

Pretty much any beer style should hold their own for a few months at cellar temps - most will even improve. It sounds like you're developing off-flavours during storage. This is most often due to low-level bacterial or wild-yeast contamination.

If this is happening every batch, its likely a sign that somewhere in your fermentation system there is an established colony of something bad. If this is the case, carefully clean & sanitize anything glass/metal that contacts wort post-boil. Boil it, treat it with bleach, etc, but clean the s**t out of it. Be sure to concentrate on any noocks and crannies - i.e. valves, connection points, etc. Sadly, anything plastic (siphons, plastic fermenters/etc) needs to be tossed & replaced.

If this is an inconsistent phenomena you need to improve your sanitation routine; likely at the bottling/kegging phase of your operation (and you likely need to replace any plastic components in this part of your operation). There are a lot of posts here on HBT that cover good sanitation, so I'd direct you to those.

A less-likely (but still possible) cause of your off-flavours is improper storage of the packaged beer. If it gets too warm, or is exposed to the sun, you can develop off flavours as a result.

Bryan

 

[aiptasia]

None, other than you suck at brewing. So you have two options:

Wuss out and give up brewing or...

Keep brewing and get better and better at it with each batch. Every brewer that's worth their weight in hops has produced some colossally bad beers. How some of the beer out there actually makes it to market is beyond my comprehension (Rogue VouDou Doughnut, i'm looking at you!!).

Practice makes perfect. Work on some simple recipes until you have your techniques and procedures down pat and can make a solid drinkable ale before moving on to bigger and better things.

 

[feinbera]

"crap" is a pretty broad range of bad tastes.... could be sanitation or storage issues, but, if you're brewing hoppy beers with lots of late/dry hops, those hop flavors and aromas will naturally fade with time, leaving you with a different- and possibly worse-tasting beer, even if you're sanitizing to Biohazard Level 4 standards and storing your beers in a temperature- and humidity-controlled darkroom.

TL;DR: "crap" is not specific enough to know what's happening to your beer

 

[ktblunden]

I had an issue recently where my utility company suddenly started using a lot more chlorine than they had previously. Three batches that were brewed close together started out tasting excellent and developed a heavy phenolic character after a few weeks in bottles. I started filtering my water and haven't had any issues since.

 

[Travestian]

I had an issue recently where my utility company suddenly started using a lot more chlorine than they had previously. Three batches that were brewed close together started out tasting excellent and developed a heavy phenolic character after a few weeks in bottles. I started filtering my water and haven't had any issues since.

Also, a lot of companies are switching to chloramine for tap water. This unfortunately does not get filtered out by a standard carbon filter (unless you flow it at a trickle). Untreated it can cause some extra bitterness that will be more detectable over time. Campden tablets are the trick to get rid of chloramine. You can find whole threads on how they work and how to use them on this forum.

 

[ktblunden]

Also, a lot of companies are switching to chloramine for tap water. This unfortunately does not get filtered out by a standard carbon filter (unless you flow it at a trickle). Untreated it can cause some extra bitterness that will be more detectable over time. Campden tablets are the trick to get rid of chloramine. You can find whole threads on how they work and how to use them on this forum.

Yeah, the first thing I thought was that they had switched to chloramine, but they swear they only use chlorine. Regardless, my filter takes care of it.