Phenolic smell in old kegs.

[BrewVerymore]

Hello all. I've had 3 kegs that were sitting around for almost 6 months in my back yard in 80-90 degree weather while I was out of the country. The beers in there were an IPA. I've never had a phenolic off-flavor in any of these beers, but when I was cleaning these kegs I noticed they had a strong phenolic/clove smell.

I've had dirty kegs sitting for a month or two, albeit indoors where it's cooler and it's never smelled this way. And the water I used has always been RO water with just gypsum addition. The yeast used in these was US-05.

Is there something about the heat that would cause that smell? Or was it most likely bacteria growing in there (not sure how it would've gotten in)? Just curious. I've had dirty kegs sit for a couple months, albeit indoors where it's much cooler, and they never developed this smell so I was just curious.

Thanks!

 

[powerpunk5000]

had to be the heat, But there will clean up just fine

 

[ba-brewer]

Could be you may have had something wild in your system or that batch of beer but at a low level. The extended time of sitting may allow it to grow to point it was evident.

 

[BrewVerymore]

Thank you guys! Geez I've hit it with some PBW, soaked it up and it looks clean but still has that scent. I've taken the spears apart completely to give them a better cleaning. Thanks for the input!@

 

[Pappers_]

After some soaking with PBW, I would probably hit those with some boiling water. Also, probably rebuild them - i.e. replace all the rubber rings. If they were outside in 90 degree weather, that means it was 120 degrees in your keg sometimes probably - you probably had a swamp growing in there.

After PBW, boiling water and new rubber parts, I'd leave them open to the air for a few days and see if you can get rid of the smell, too.