Hi,
I am really really frustrated with my kegging results and I have not been able to find any solution to the issue.
Ever since I moved to kegging and carbing w/o sugar, I have not been able to produce a single solid beer from a keg. I have read and studied and followed all the various tuttorials, articles, and videos you can find online. Being located in Germany, our homebrew community is not as dense so there is no one to ask around where I live.
Here is the thing: I brew full-grain and the result is super nice until after secondary. Until 6 months ago, I used to add sugar and bottle from secondary - guess the way to usually start. The IPAs' hop flavour was super nice and stayed a long time. Every bottle was exactly how I planned it to turn out.
Six months ago I started kegging for obvious reasons (bottle nightmare, brewing larger batches, wanting to make the next step and so on...). I clean and sanitize the keg, I purge with CO2, I am super careful not to pick up oxygen on the way into the keg. Once done, I use a CO2 calculator to determine the right amount of CO2 for carbing. Usually, I put 30psi for a number of days to carb to the right level at given temperature. Once the pressure is balanced, I put the keg to the fridge. This is usually after a week or so.
And here is the thing: when I test after secondary right before kegging, the smell and the taste is exactly the way it should be for a green beer. I smell and taste the different hop combos making me super happy. BUT - after 2-3 weeks, when I pour a glass from the fridge, the hop aroma is completely gone and instead the flavor is strange. Not sure whether it is cardboard, or any of the other often quoted off aromas and flavors. It simply is not right and not how an IPA should smell and taste. In some batches I see quite a darkening which is likely to be due to oxidation.
I have NO clue what to do and after reading tons of articles online, I am close to getting back to bottling and carbing with sugar or at least carbing with sugar in the keg. It is completely frustrating since not one batch turned out the way I wanted it to be and I have tried to eliminate all possible causes of oxidation / infection which I digged up online.
Anyone gone through that same thing? Is it oxidation/ carb bite / anything else?
helphelphelp please. thx.
I am really really frustrated with my kegging results and I have not been able to find any solution to the issue.
Ever since I moved to kegging and carbing w/o sugar, I have not been able to produce a single solid beer from a keg. I have read and studied and followed all the various tuttorials, articles, and videos you can find online. Being located in Germany, our homebrew community is not as dense so there is no one to ask around where I live.
Here is the thing: I brew full-grain and the result is super nice until after secondary. Until 6 months ago, I used to add sugar and bottle from secondary - guess the way to usually start. The IPAs' hop flavour was super nice and stayed a long time. Every bottle was exactly how I planned it to turn out.
Six months ago I started kegging for obvious reasons (bottle nightmare, brewing larger batches, wanting to make the next step and so on...). I clean and sanitize the keg, I purge with CO2, I am super careful not to pick up oxygen on the way into the keg. Once done, I use a CO2 calculator to determine the right amount of CO2 for carbing. Usually, I put 30psi for a number of days to carb to the right level at given temperature. Once the pressure is balanced, I put the keg to the fridge. This is usually after a week or so.
And here is the thing: when I test after secondary right before kegging, the smell and the taste is exactly the way it should be for a green beer. I smell and taste the different hop combos making me super happy. BUT - after 2-3 weeks, when I pour a glass from the fridge, the hop aroma is completely gone and instead the flavor is strange. Not sure whether it is cardboard, or any of the other often quoted off aromas and flavors. It simply is not right and not how an IPA should smell and taste. In some batches I see quite a darkening which is likely to be due to oxidation.
I have NO clue what to do and after reading tons of articles online, I am close to getting back to bottling and carbing with sugar or at least carbing with sugar in the keg. It is completely frustrating since not one batch turned out the way I wanted it to be and I have tried to eliminate all possible causes of oxidation / infection which I digged up online.
Anyone gone through that same thing? Is it oxidation/ carb bite / anything else?
helphelphelp please. thx.