Off Flavor about 2 weeks after Kegging...

[jslive4now]

I'm at a loss.. Several of my last batches all seem to develop and off flavor after about 2 weeks in the Keg.. I've done everything I can think off.. I've replaced hoses, recently replaced my Syphon.. cleaned kegs and lines in both Oxy and Star San soaks for days at a time.. I've used store bought water and now filtered water through a carbon block filter.. test strips all show no chlorine or chloramines in my brew water.. I adjust ph with 5.2 or phosphoric acid where needed... and it always end up the same... Great out of the fermenter, awesome after carving and about 2 weeks in bam.. harsh bitterness up front.. use to carb at high pressure for a day then lower to just above serving pressure..

This last batch in order to rule out possible over carving I set the psi at 11psi .. based on temp and time... and still very bitter up front..

it's a Honey Brown Ale that had a great roast flavor and now all I can taste is the upfront very bitter flavor...

So please help.. very frustrated and don't want to just give up... I have a Pale Ale in the fermenter dry hoping and is going into a brand new Keg that's never been used.. but I'm afraid it's gonna turn out like my last 6-8 batches...

Thanks in advance

John

 

[bobeer]

That is indeed frustrating. When did this start?
Id bottle a few and let them naturally carbonate. If they end up ok then you know it's something to do with your keg setup.
Has this off flavor all been out of the same c02 tank? Maybe something with the gas is causing it?
Have you cleaned your faucets, poppets, dip tube?
Did you buy new beer line?

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[derekcw83]

Are the hops you're using fresh and vacuum sealed and stored in freezer?

 

[jtp137]

I'm at a loss.. Several of my last batches all seem to develop and off flavor after about 2 weeks in the Keg.. I've done everything I can think off.. I've replaced hoses, recently replaced my Syphon.. cleaned kegs and lines in both Oxy and Star San soaks for days at a time.. I've used store bought water and now filtered water through a carbon block filter.. test strips all show no chlorine or chloramines in my brew water.. I adjust ph with 5.2 or phosphoric acid where needed... and it always end up the same... Great out of the fermenter, awesome after carving and about 2 weeks in bam.. harsh bitterness up front.. use to carb at high pressure for a day then lower to just above serving pressure..

This last batch in order to rule out possible over carving I set the psi at 11psi .. based on temp and time... and still very bitter up front..

it's a Honey Brown Ale that had a great roast flavor and now all I can taste is the upfront very bitter flavor...

So please help.. very frustrated and don't want to just give up... I have a Pale Ale in the fermenter dry hoping and is going into a brand new Keg that's never been used.. but I'm afraid it's gonna turn out like my last 6-8 batches...

Thanks in advance

John

Holly **** same thing just happened to me let me explain a little history

I moved about three years ago and brewed a couple of Belgian beers and got that harsh bitterness you described I chocked it up to either water or bittering hops at the time I had leftover chinook. The next couple beers I adjusted water for PH and used different hops and it seemed to go away

I moved back to Pittsburgh in November and brewed two beers so far the first was a Scottish ale and was perfect the last beer I brewed was a belgian tripel I brewed 15 gallons into three separate carboys I pitched big started used oxygen and wyeast nutrients. Started at 65 degrees and raised it to 77 over a week. it fermented down in 7 days I kept the carboys in my chamber for 11 days I was curious about the conditioning process and wondered if I could tell the difference in the beer If I would cold crash one carboy for three days and fine with gelatin and the others I kept in a closet in the basement to naturally drop the yeast

My plan was to taste the beers after two month carbonated in the keg and compare the one I crashed and the one that yeast flocculated naturally so I keged the cold crashed beer two days ago with psi of 20 and last night I tasted some It was obviously still pretty flat but had that awful harsh bitterness that I remember I used to get

It tasted completely fine in the fermentor before I crashed it and the two carboys still in the closet also taste normal in fact I was a little afraid it was going to be too sweet even though it fermented down to 1.008 with all pilsner malt and sugar only around 22 IBU what the hell could it be

I might start to blame the wlp 550 yeast I remember it was the same yeast I used before when I got that harshness

 

[Jim311]

I had some kind of funk in the lines/tap of my setup once. It would make the first pint taste funky/gross, but then once that funk was cleared out of the tap the second pint was fine. I soaked everything in PBW and then let sanitizer sit in the lines/kegs and it went away.

 

[ImNoExpert]

Do you sparge and, if so, do you acidify your sparge water below 6? If the PH increases during sparge as run off completes, it can pull tannins out of the mash. I'd say tannic astringency could be called an "up front very bitter flavor".

 

[brewcat]

Are you purging the keg? Are these previous recipes you have done? What is the CO2 volume you are shooting for?

 

[jtp137]

Do you sparge and, if so, do you acidify your sparge water below 6? If the PH increases during sparge as run off completes, it can pull tannins out of the mash. I'd say tannic astringency could be called an "up front very bitter flavor".

Interesting thought I dont want to highjack the thread but I did acidify the sparge water on the Scotish ale and not the tripel I was afraid that I would be using too much lactic acid and end up tasting it in the final beer

But why would that develop over time once keged it taste perfectly normal in the fermentor and isnt tannin extraction a function of all three sparge temp, PH and crush

The only one I can rule out is the sparge temp it was only 160 or so. I used a mew mill and crush kind of scared me a bit so you may be on to something

 

[bignick270]

Last month I ran into a similar issue on two different beers which ultimately were poured out. The flavor was fine at transfer to keg and during the first week in the keg, but by the second week it had a over powering flavor that was i guess bitter but very strange, almost like vanilla or something close. The flavor was so overwhelming that it covered any flavor from the malt or hops, including a pumpkin spice stout! The off flavor was in the keg and not the draft line as I tasted it while dumping into the sink.

These were small batches that I was placing in my older 5G kegs. Ultimately I bought new 2.5G kegs and replaced my siphon lines and my current batch is doing fine after 2 weeks. I also built a pump powered keg cleaner to make sure I get the posts and liquid line sanitized. I do not have an explanation other than possible oxygenation. I purged the kegs but with so much head space in the 5G kegs, I probably didn't get it all out.

 

[jslive4now]

Do you sparge and, if so, do you acidify your sparge water below 6? If the PH increases during sparge as run off completes, it can pull tannins out of the mash. I'd say tannic astringency could be called an "up front very bitter flavor".

I do treat Sparge water... should I not???

 

[jtp137]

I do treat Sparge water... should I not???

Im going to clean the hell out of my draft lines when I get home so I can eliminate that

Since you pay attention to PH maybe your problem is not tannin related

 

[jslive4now]

Are you purging the keg? Are these previous recipes you have done? What is the CO2 volume you are shooting for?

Yes I purge my kegs as soon as I fill them... I like most my ales at about 2.4 volumes.. I use to ramp the psi up to about 25 to 30 psi for a day then drop back down to about 9-10psi.. so I thought I was possibly over carbing.. but with this last batch I took to the carb chart and based on temp and volume needed I set at 11psi and let it sit for a week at about 38°... then dropped to serving pressure... carbed fine but about a week later right back to the harsh bitterness up front on the tounge

 

[derekcw83]

Hops were doing this to me. Old, oxidized hops.

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

When you clean your kegs are you breaking them down and cleaning your posts, poppets and dip tubes?