IPA getting dark during bottle conditioning

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@Sam_92 : on the subject of hop varieties and different rates of darkening after packaging, one good starting point is chapter 14 in The New IPA.

 

[Albany brew guy]

I do secondary in a keg. I keep a slow trickle of co2 in the keg. From there - run a little trub out with a picnic tap. Can either force-transfer to a second keg or crack open, add priming sugar, purge, do a low level force carb and bottle. That method of bottling has yielded beers that don't darken appreciably and keep flavor longer

 

[SFC Rudy]

The more hops you use the more your beer is susceptible to oxidation. I only brew one beer that has more than eight ounces of hops, and that is the only beer I have issues with oxidation. I drink it quick to beat the oxidation effects.

 

[Immocles]

I use the Cold Crash Guardian and collect CO2 during fermentation. Then I bottle from the fermenter, priming each bottle, and the CO2 provides enough back pressure to do about 36 12 ounce bottles before I have to loosen and let oxygen in. This is the best I can do without investing in equipment. It works well for me.

Just wanted to add to this. I used my cold crash guardian for the first time on my most recent batch. Fermented 4G of a dubbel in a 6.5G big mouth bubbler. I cant really cold crash, but I did manage to get my fermenter down to 50F in the brew room. With that soft crash, I still had enough fermentation gas to package a 1G ukeg and 22 of my 24 bottles. It worked really, really well and I will probably invest in a second one since I'm hoping to get back to having two batches going at the same time. Also being that I'm just starting to keg (2.5-3G kegs), it will have more than enough gas to get those batches transferred.

 

[rburrelli]

Just wanted to add to this. I used my cold crash guardian for the first time on my most recent batch. Fermented 4G of a dubbel in a 6.5G big mouth bubbler. I cant really cold crash, but I did manage to get my fermenter down to 50F in the brew room. With that soft crash, I still had enough fermentation gas to package a 1G ukeg and 22 of my 24 bottles. It worked really, really well and I will probably invest in a second one since I'm hoping to get back to having two batches going at the same time. Also being that I'm just starting to keg (2.5-3G kegs), it will have more than enough gas to get those batches transferred.

And I am also getting about 48+ bottles now that I have also invested in a stainless steel bottling wand.

 

[Immocles]

Oh? I didn’t even realize that existed. I’m hoping to mostly get away from bottling. If you don’t mind taking the time, what other pros/cons do you have with the new wand?

 

[ChihuahuaTN]

Follow all your steps you have listed in your update.....my only humble suggestion would be to bottle in 25oz sparking wine bottles w/ little head space. This allow less O2 per volume.... as it ages it reduces the oxidation effects over a longer period of time. 99% of my IPA's are in 25oz bottles this made a huge difference for me.