Sample tastes great; beer tastes awful

[ChristaJ]

I took the cylinder back to the first welding shop today - not the one I got it from. I asked him about filling them and what the chances are of putting the wrong gas in it or some other kind of contamination. I figured I'd get a more honest answer that way. He said that putting the wrong gas altogether in it is pretty much impossible because the CO2 fitting is unique. However, contamination is a real possibility.

Apparently they do a lot of business with brewers and winemakers and it's not uncommon for a cylinder to be returned with some beer or wine in it. He said he had a cylinder come back once with three gallons of wine in it. He cracked open the cylinder I was returning and smelled the gas coming out of it and it definitely had an odor to it.

So diagnosis confirmed. One contaminated CO2 cylinder ruined four batches of beer (forgot about one).

This one smells like nothing so no more contamination. Chalk one up to experience.

Hey LovesIPA, I know this in an old post but we are having what sounds like an almost identical problem. Several batches ruined, tastes good out of the carboy, then tastes sweet a few days later out of the keg. So I'm curious - did getting the new cylinder completely resolve your problem long term?

Thanks!

 

[cannman]

racking hose... I'm so paranoid, its cheap enough to replace every time...

 

[LovesIPA]

Hey LovesIPA, I know this in an old post but we are having what sounds like an almost identical problem. Several batches ruined, tastes good out of the carboy, then tastes sweet a few days later out of the keg. So I'm curious - did getting the new cylinder completely resolve your problem long term?

Thanks!

I did finally figure out the problem I was having.

Here's the post I made about it and the solution: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/efficiency-too-high-464223/index3.html#post6310615