I kegged a pale ale last week and experienced something really confusing, hopefully you guys can give me some ideas.
The beer going into the keg from the fermenter tasted great. After about 24 hours under 30 PSI, it was partially carbonated, and tasted overly tart. It was so tart and strange tasting that I got out my pH meter.
The new pale ale was at pH 3.7! My other beers on tap were 4.1 (hefeweizen) and 4.2 (mango wheat).
Unfortunately, I did not check pH of the un-carbed beer at the time I kegged it, but I was in love with the warm, flat sample. If I warmed a tart sample to room temperature, it was not the taste I remembered. I am as sure as I can be that the beer changed after kegging.
I thought I might have had an infection and started a thread asking about overnight souring. I was told that is unlikely, which I expected.
After a few more days of chilling and carbing at 10 PSI, I presumably blew out some more settled yeast and hop specks, and the beer tasted good. The pH is now up to 4.2!
Why would a beer gain tartness after kegging, and then lose it? And this isn't just a perception issue, pH definitely changed.
The only thing that kind of makes sense is hop and yeast residue settled, changed the taste, and taste improved as settled material was dispensed. But I have never had this happen before.
What happened?
Other details that might be important:
- I did adjust the mash water with minerals and some phosphoric acid (thanks Bru'n Water), mash pH was 5.44. I can provide mineral details if needed.
- I don't think I got a good hot break. (New electric system, being conservative while I learn how to not scorch.)
- Yeast was US-05
- Hops were Magnum (60 min bittering) plus Citra and Galaxy. There were about 2 oz late/whirlpool hops and 3 oz dry hops, all pellets. This is the most dry hops I've ever used and the first time I've dry hopped with loose pellets. This is really the only thing majorly different about this beer.
- Transfer to keg was done under CO2 as best as I was able (100% co2-filled keg, siphon from bottom of fermenter to keg out post)
- Beer was NOT cold crashed in the fermenter in an effort to avoid oxygen intake (my first heavily dry hopped beer, trying hard to preserve hop flavors)
- Beer is still very cloudy, presumably due to lack of cold crashing in the fermenter plus possibly a poor hot break.
- Some hop specks and yeast made it into the fermenter, but not what I'd call an unusually large amount.
The beer going into the keg from the fermenter tasted great. After about 24 hours under 30 PSI, it was partially carbonated, and tasted overly tart. It was so tart and strange tasting that I got out my pH meter.
The new pale ale was at pH 3.7! My other beers on tap were 4.1 (hefeweizen) and 4.2 (mango wheat).
Unfortunately, I did not check pH of the un-carbed beer at the time I kegged it, but I was in love with the warm, flat sample. If I warmed a tart sample to room temperature, it was not the taste I remembered. I am as sure as I can be that the beer changed after kegging.
I thought I might have had an infection and started a thread asking about overnight souring. I was told that is unlikely, which I expected.
After a few more days of chilling and carbing at 10 PSI, I presumably blew out some more settled yeast and hop specks, and the beer tasted good. The pH is now up to 4.2!
Why would a beer gain tartness after kegging, and then lose it? And this isn't just a perception issue, pH definitely changed.
The only thing that kind of makes sense is hop and yeast residue settled, changed the taste, and taste improved as settled material was dispensed. But I have never had this happen before.
What happened?
Other details that might be important:
- I did adjust the mash water with minerals and some phosphoric acid (thanks Bru'n Water), mash pH was 5.44. I can provide mineral details if needed.
- I don't think I got a good hot break. (New electric system, being conservative while I learn how to not scorch.)
- Yeast was US-05
- Hops were Magnum (60 min bittering) plus Citra and Galaxy. There were about 2 oz late/whirlpool hops and 3 oz dry hops, all pellets. This is the most dry hops I've ever used and the first time I've dry hopped with loose pellets. This is really the only thing majorly different about this beer.
- Transfer to keg was done under CO2 as best as I was able (100% co2-filled keg, siphon from bottom of fermenter to keg out post)
- Beer was NOT cold crashed in the fermenter in an effort to avoid oxygen intake (my first heavily dry hopped beer, trying hard to preserve hop flavors)
- Beer is still very cloudy, presumably due to lack of cold crashing in the fermenter plus possibly a poor hot break.
- Some hop specks and yeast made it into the fermenter, but not what I'd call an unusually large amount.