Oxidized Beer..... Yes I did a search

[Marshal6]

Ok as the thread title states I have searched and not found a definite source of oxidation in my beer. I have recently brewed two batches a pale ale and a n amber both of which taste stale. I am pretty careful not to aerate the beer/wort at anytime in the process of racking it. I auto siphon and the hose is at the bottom of the brew kettle/ carboy/keg and the beer/wort flows in from the bottom and fills from the bottom up. I had tasted the brews post boil and both tasted as expected. A few weeks later when the Pale ale was transfered from the secondary to the keg It tasted stale and lacked any significant hop or malt flavor. Also the amber tasted stale when it was racked from the primary to the secondary. Both received 90 seconds of pure 02 at .5 liters/per min via two air stones, not sure if that is enough to cause oxidation. Any input is appreciated.

 

[bradsul]

Sounds to me like they're just young, give them a few weeks after bottling and I bet they'll taste just fine.

 

[bru-er]

Sounds to me like they're just young, give them a few weeks after bottling and I bet they'll taste just fine.

+1 did you hit your OG?

 

[WBC]

Did you take apart the corny keg posts when you cleaned them? Did you scrub the interior of the pickup tube? What did you use to sanitize them? Dirty posts can cause this.

If you did the above then this most likely is not the problem.

 

[Marshal6]

I did hit my OG, also I did clean all th corny keg parts. It tasted off before I even kegged it. Any thoughts on the 90 seconds of pure o2. Is that too much for an ale of ~1.05X OG?

 

[moger777]

quick question, when you do oxygenate your beer, do you make sure that the temperature has dropped to below 80 degrees? Oxygenation is more likely at warmer temperatures.

 

[Marshal6]

I oxygenate after cooling which brings temps somewhere in the mid 70's.

 

[illinibrew04]

Chances are like bradsul said, they're just green beer. Give them some time. One more thought however. I'm assuming that you remembered to purge the O2 from the headspace in the keg after kegging.

 

[Marshal6]

I am hoping that that is the case I am a pretty green brewerer so they may just be young beers. Additionally i did purge the keg, they had an off flavor prior to even being keged though.

 

[malkore]

also make sure you're not confusing a lack of hopiness in an IPA with actual stale flavor. staleness isn't just a lack of flavor, its an off flavor. wet cardboard is one way to describe it.

the one batch I had oxidize during a 3 hour trip (6 hours round trip)...it seemed ok upon first sip, and then a second later came the stale flavor.

its hard to describe until you taste it yourself. Next time you brew, take the last bit of finished beer and fill half a bottle. Give it a few shakes, then cap it. wait a couple weeks, then chill it and open it. it won't be carbonated, but you should get assaulted by the oxidized flavor/staleness. Its valuable experience at the cost of 6oz of beer.