I've had a consistent issue of my kegged IPAs tasting somewhat different starting a day after the first connect of the keg, and I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.
After 1-2 weeks of "set it and forget it" force carbonation at around 45 degrees F, the first day I connect the keg to a cleaned and sanitized line and spout, it tastes great. The carbonation is on point and the aroma + taste are exactly as I planned. However, typically the next day or shortly thereafter, while the keg remains connected, subsequent pours of the same beer at the same temperature and what I think/hope is the same balanced pressure, the beer becomes flatter, and the aroma and taste change as well. I have even tried bottling some with a beer gun upon first connection to the keg. The beer coming out of the beer gun on the day of first connection tastes great, but the bottles, which are purged with CO2 before filling, suffer the same flatness when opened a day later.
I'm trying not to have an ego about it, so I won't discount that things may be getting oxidized. The flat taste sometimes can be perceived as papery though the color doesn't change or change much. I'm baffled as to where oxygen may be coming from. I don't leave a lot of headspace in my fermentor during fermentation. I have a small conical fermentor, so I do not transfer to a secondary fermentor for dry hopping. I use a closed transfer system to transfer the conditioned beer into the keg, which I believe is thoroughly purged prior to the fill. I can't think of anything else, and I'm hoping someone can help me figure it out.
This is my first post on the forum. Please forgive any lack of proper etiquette, and please let me know if any other critical information is needed to help me with my problem
Thanks!!
Eric
After 1-2 weeks of "set it and forget it" force carbonation at around 45 degrees F, the first day I connect the keg to a cleaned and sanitized line and spout, it tastes great. The carbonation is on point and the aroma + taste are exactly as I planned. However, typically the next day or shortly thereafter, while the keg remains connected, subsequent pours of the same beer at the same temperature and what I think/hope is the same balanced pressure, the beer becomes flatter, and the aroma and taste change as well. I have even tried bottling some with a beer gun upon first connection to the keg. The beer coming out of the beer gun on the day of first connection tastes great, but the bottles, which are purged with CO2 before filling, suffer the same flatness when opened a day later.
I'm trying not to have an ego about it, so I won't discount that things may be getting oxidized. The flat taste sometimes can be perceived as papery though the color doesn't change or change much. I'm baffled as to where oxygen may be coming from. I don't leave a lot of headspace in my fermentor during fermentation. I have a small conical fermentor, so I do not transfer to a secondary fermentor for dry hopping. I use a closed transfer system to transfer the conditioned beer into the keg, which I believe is thoroughly purged prior to the fill. I can't think of anything else, and I'm hoping someone can help me figure it out.
This is my first post on the forum. Please forgive any lack of proper etiquette, and please let me know if any other critical information is needed to help me with my problem
Thanks!!
Eric