Off flavor last few batches

[ballen]

Hey All,

I wouldn't say I'm a beginner but I'm far from an expert. That being said, my last few batches have had the same sort of off flavor. I've followed some clone recipes exactly but once they hit the keg and are carbonated they lack hop aroma and flavor and the overall taste is sort of bland/bitter if that makes sense. Could this be due to turnaround time and being "green?"

For example I just brewed this:

Harpoon Brewery: Harpoon IPA
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.057 FG = 1.013
IBU = 42 SRM = 7 ABV = 5.9%

Ingredients
10 lbs. (4.5 kg) 2-row pale malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Munich malt (10 °L)
0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) Briess Victory® malt
7.8 AAU Columbus hops (60 min.) (0.6 oz./17 g at 13% alpha acids)
5 AAU Cascade hops (10 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 5% alpha acids)
5 AAU Cascade hops (0 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 5% alpha acids)
1.5 oz. (43 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min.)
White Labs WLP007 (Dry English Ale), Wyeast 1098 (British Ale), or Lallemand Nottingham yeast

I let it go for 2 weeks (1 week primary, 1 week dry hop) and now its in the keg. In the keg, I'll be honest....it sucks but its drinkable. I plan to see how it changes over the next week or so but right now it seems lousy.

From my understanding most infections taste terrible. This beer is tolerable, just not good.

And yes I know similar questions have prob been asked and I prob posted in the wrong forum etc so apologies in advance

Thanks everyone for any advice....brewing is frustrating right now.

 

[balrog]

what is your process?
Bland hop flavor to me first thought is exposure to air

 

[ballen]

what is your process?
Bland hop flavor to me first thought is exposure to air

I use a cooler mash tun with a false bottom, boil in a mash and boil and then ferment in carboys typically. When I put the beer in primary I use a bung and tend to tape around the edges. I either use a blow off tube or an airlock. Once fermented out I don't have a closed transfer system so I tend to just siphon into a sanitized keg then carb.

I know I could prob use some system upgrades but that's not in the cards at the moment.

Any advice on reducing air exposure then is welcome.

Thanks!

 

[balrog]

@day_trippr has some nice pics on fairly closed xfr from carboys to kegs

 

[ike8228]

What are you fermenting in? If a bucket maybe the seal on the lid is bad. Maybe air is getting in and oxidizing the hops. Something that progressed and now you see a change. Or it got some scratches in the plastic and there’s bacteria you aren’t able to get to during cleaning/sanitizing.

Maybe do a sterilization of your equipment. A little bleach goes a long way. Only on glass/plastic/rubber. Bleach will harm your brass/copper/stainless anything metal especially brass/copper. Think of a rusty teal penny. So be careful.

Do you keep notes? Look back or try to recall, have you done something different. Isolate what you changed if any and stop it.

Are you using your tap water? Maybe something Changed with that. Are they doing construction near you? Maybe the messed something up or swapped out a pipe. Just spit balling.

 

[MikeCo]

Maybe clean or change your keg lines.

 

[RM-MN]

What temperature are you storing your kegs? Much of our sense of taste is actually a sense of smell and the smell of the hops depends on the temperature. Much advertising of commercial beers stress cold but they don't have the hops that give aroma. Try warming your kegerator about 10 degree and sample your beer then.

 

[TurnipGreen]

I might think oxygenation, but you say it still has plenty of bitter? Is there any color change? I’d try to reduce you head space, check for bubbles in the transfer to keg. If you are naturally priming the kegs, try force carbing.

Deep cleaning of everything is always good practice after an off brew.

 

[Day-Day]

If you're sure your sanitation and cleaning procedure is good, I would guess that it's oxidation, as others have mentioned. If you have a glass carboy you can easily do pressure transfers for cheap, and they will greatly improve the quality of your hoppy beers, if everthing else is right.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ptrcarboypremium.htm

You can buy one of these tools ^ or build one.

Also water profile plays a huge role in flavor profile, especially for hoppy beers. So if you think your cleaning and brewing process is good (hitting numbers, temps, etc.), I'd look at water, and oxidation. Bru'N Water is free and a great tool to build water profiles, then you can save the spread sheets for the next time you brew.

 

[ike8228]

What is Bru N water? An app or site?

 

[Bigdaddyale]

What is Bru N water? An app or site?

https://www.brunwater.com/

 

[ballen]

Thanks everyone..all of this is really helpful! I like to think my sanitation is really solid but I'll pay extra attention to it next time. What jumps out to me are potentially changing my keg lines and switching to a closed transfer system. And yes the color has darkened the last couple so that probably means oxygenation too I think?

 

[Day-Day]

In my expereince darkened beer is def a sign of oxygenation. Not sure how old your keg lines are, but I clean mine after each keg. I also take apart the faucet and clean it as well ( I actually clean all my faucets weekly because they get sticky) . Closed transfers are a must for me when packaging hoppy beers, I now do closed transfers on all of my beers because it's fun

 

[rburrelli]

Yes. Darkening is a definite sign of oxidation. But if your beer is bland from the start I would look at water more than anything else.