Poured out a keg

[Sailingeric]

I poured out my second bad keg of beer in about 3 years of making beer. I made a yummy summer wheat beer last year that was yummy and a hit at the 4th of July BBQ. I made it again and this time it just tasted off. Not bad but not pleasing either and it smelled yeasty but in a stale way. The only thing I did differently was use some lemon zest in the last 5 minutes of the boil. I am just wondering of the lemon zest was the off flavor. I will try it again soon without the lemon zest and see how it turns out.

 

[BigCrazyAl]

I just brewed a lemon blonde using lemon zest last weekend so it's still fermenting. The advice that I got was to use organic lemons, wash them well, and use only the yellow of the skin (no white at all) for the zest.

I'm not sure if that helps but it's all I got. Good luck with the next brew!

 

[oceanic_brew]

It's funny cause I've poured out four kegs of beer in over 85 batches (more didn't make it to the keg) and they were all wheat beers with wyeast 3068 yeast

 

[BigCrazyAl]

That yeast is very finicky with pitch rates and fermentation temperature with respect to the flavors it will produce in the final beer. I actually used that my last batch and tried to get more of a clove flavor but it ended up being a bit banana forward and unbalanced. I still enjoy it but it wasn't what I'd planned. Still not sure what would cause that stale flavor though.

 

[Sailingeric]

Maybe stale taste is the best way to describe it. I suspect the yeast flavor and the lemon zest just did meld so well. I know it is a good recipe and the cost of grains is minimal so I will just try again, with out the lemon zest. I am also giving the keg a good soak in star sans just in case.