My beer turned brown...

[ChemEMc]

Ok, not completely BROWN, but it has substantially darkened. Background:

It's the cascade orange APA recipe from on here. It is my second time brewing it, only differnce this time was I dry hoped it, fine the first time.

On this batch i moved it to the keg a bit early and it tasted green for, well, most of the time it was on tap. Just really hoppy, green dry hop taste I have had in other brews that eventually faded to a glorious delicious taste. The color out of the tap was a hazy white/tan/orange. To make room I bottled the rest of the keg after about a month on tap, it was about 20 bottles.

Now after some time in the bottles (a month?) the beer is A LOT darker, nearly the color of the reused sierra nevada bottle I poured it out off (and still hazy, not clear at all), the green taste has faded, but the taste is still a bit... off. This brew has corriander, orange peel and a good bit of hops, so it's hard to pin point an off flavor, and I am willing to accept that it may just be the color change messing with my perception of the mix of tastes.

So my question: Is there something that could cause my beer to turn darker in the bottles? Any infections?

 

[JVD_X]

This has happened to me.

It is my understanding that this is caused by exposure to too much air after fermentation. Maybe you didn't take as much care in transfer as you thought you did.

 

[ChemEMc]

That could be, though I have not had that problem with any other beers I have treated in exactly the same way. Maybe i forgot to purge the air from the head space after I filled the keg and before I shook it for carbonation...

 

[samc]

I'd agree with oxidation. I'd also suggest moving past the keg shaking technique and let the CO2 work by itself. Do high pressure for a 24-48 hour period if you are in a rush and then set back to serving pressure.

 

[ChemEMc]

Eh, I'm usually too impatient to wait, and I'm much more comfortable setting the pressure to the desired carb level and shaking. Pushing the pressure up higher is 1) a PITA since I have multiple kegs and only one regulator (though I do have a valve for just this) and 2) makes me run the risk of over carbing (mostly only a concern if I forget about it).

In a perfect world I'd have enough beer that I could wait and not shake, but I'm in grad school, so that's not likely to be any time soon.

 

[garbs]

The darker color could be due to the yeast finally dropping out. Just a thought...

 

[brewingkitty]

i thought it read: "my beer turned me DOWN"

but i don't know this English language so well i guess. carry on.

 

[weirdboy]

I recently made a white ale that darkened like crazy when I dry hopped it. I put a BUNCH of hops in there though.

 

[northernlad]

Eh, I'm usually too impatient to wait, In a perfect world I'd have enough beer that I could wait and not shake, but I'm in grad school, so that's not likely to be any time soon.

Sweet jesus, its a good thing you don't bottle.

 

[ChemEMc]

Sweet jesus, its a good thing you don't bottle.

Haha, yes, i bottled my first batch, then immediately got a keggin system (had most of it before i started brewing, for dispensing from sanke kegs)

And to the "might just be yeast dropping" well, it's still really cloudy. And beyond that the color change was too drastic for me to believe that. The yeasty bottom is even more brown though...