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kegged beer looks.... Dirty?

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ejf063

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Joined
Feb 18, 2013
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Location
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I can’t seem to find anything on this. It seems every time I move my kegs, the beer comes out looking…. For lack of a better term….. dirty. It looks like there is dirt or grit in the beer. Not that you can see dirt or grit, but the beer itself looks like it is shadowy. I can even tell when the beer is coming out of the faucet that it looks different. Now, I have had this problem whether the beer itself was freshly kegged and the residual particles are settling out due to the cold crash, or if I have had the beer on tap for a while (already completely crashed) and beer pulled from the bottom so clean and clear…. but its moved, for say a party or something it gets this dirty look to it.
The latest case just happened. I have the new fast-ferment. The first beer for this vessel was a heavily late hopped IPA, with an additional 3 ounces of dry hops. All hops were contained in hob bags to minimize particle release (during boil and dry hop). After I dropped my sack of dry hops into the fast ferment, I let it sit for 7 days. There is a ball on the bottom of the fast ferment, and the liquid inside had plenty of gunk. (btw, I did already remove the first ball after the beer fermented, I replaced it with the second ball and to no one’s surprise, it had the described gunk). I know the fast ferment does not allow all of the beer’s particles to settle into the ball, in other words, some still sticks on the side of it vessel. But, when I transferred the beer to the keg, all looked good. I hooked it up, forced carbed it, and when I pulled my first beer out of it, it looked….. dirty. Like a grey haze. I held it up to the light, and it does not appear to be a chill haze, it looks dirty. Sure, there is chill haze as the beer is also cloudy, but what I am experiencing…. And have experienced is this kinda shadowing dirty haze. It tasted way bitter, too. But I suspect this to be hop particles, which dissolved and fell out of my paint straining bag. Underneath the extra bitterness, I can taste the beer and how it’s supposed to be…… this is hard to explain.
Could that be the answer? That this is nothing but roused hop particles and yeast?. Multiple pours of this beer result in the same dirty haze about 5 pints total. I did not gelatin this beer…. Yet….. but I may. Even on beers I have gelatined, I get this dirty look whenever the keezer is moved. It usual clears up after a couple of pours, though.
I am looking for people who have experienced this same situation. I am also looking for answers to my thoughts.
Yes, everything was properly cleaned with Straight A and sanitized with StarSan. So I don’t believe it to be an infection. My dry hop bag was boiled for 10 minutes, dunked into StarSan and hops added, (like I have done many times before). Do I need to gelatin, do I need to pull a few more pints, what is the haze? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Yeast and hop sediment that gets stirred up any time the position of the keg gets disturbed. This is common. I normally don't move my kegs once they are on tap. If I know I will need to move them, say to take to a party or something, I'll let them settle in the fridge for a couple of weeks and then do a keg to keg transfer into a fresh keg. The result is clear beer in the new keg with most of the sediment left behind in the old one.
 
Yeast and hop sediment that gets stirred up any time the position of the keg gets disturbed. This is common. I normally don't move my kegs once they are on tap. If I know I will need to move them, say to take to a party or something, I'll let them settle in the fridge for a couple of weeks and then do a keg to keg transfer into a fresh keg. The result is clear beer in the new keg with most of the sediment left behind in the old one.

That's exactly the case- moving the keg means that all of the settled solids, like yeast and hop debris, get restirred back up.

The easy answer is to not move the keg, but if you must than "jump" to a new keg once the first one is clear. I do that- let the keg sit until pouring clear, and then using two black quick disconnects and a short length of beer line, I just move the beer to a new keg via c02. Then I have clear, sediment free beer in a keg that I can take anywhere. I take three kegs across the country each winter, and can pour a beer as soon as I get to my destination as the beer is so clear and sediment-free.
 
Ok.... thanks so much guys.
I have jumped a keg before, but never thought about doing that to clear things up even more. Thanks for that. i just need to let the cold crash happen before I try that.....?
How long before this stuff settles? should I just let it sit in the keezer for a couple more days? Since this beer is so hoppy, will there be more time to wait?
thanks again
 
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