Stale taste after bottling

[mordecai38]

I've made two 1 gallon all-grain batches so far and both have had a stale cardboard taste after bottling and it gets worse the longer they're settling in bottles. Both times the beer tasted fine before bottling, so I'm guessing I'm doing something wrong transferring it and the beer is getting oxidized. I've been using an auto siphon I try to make sure the beer doesn't get stirred around much. Any suggestions or tips would be much appreciated.

 

[kristiismean]

you have oxidized the beer.

some auto siphons will do it no matter how hard you don't want it to. You could just try a racking cane which would be my #2 choice, after a bottling bucket, but with a 1 gallon batch It would be a waste.

This is how I would bottle small batches (2 gallons or less)

use carbonation drops, put 1 in each bottle before filling.

then use fully sanitized hose, pull the airlock and put hose in through the grommet. to right above the sediment, then put the bottle up high.

then do the three hose siphon trick. and fill it that way to keep oxygen out of the beer. it's not any more complicated and much better than using an autosiphon.

 

[PitRow]

then do the three hose siphon trick.

What is the "three hose siphon trick"?

 

[kristiismean]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=25774

but with a bottling wand.

 

[PitRow]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=25774

but with a bottling wand.

Thanks!

 

[daisy87]

The beer tastes stale due to oxidation. Oxidation is a result of the unnecessary splashing of fermented beer. When transferring beer from one vessel to another prevent splashing by transferring the beer with tubing rather than pouring them straight in. Keep the ends of the transfer tubing beneath the liquid line and avoid getting air pockets in the transfer tubing. Also, keep exposure of wort to outside air at a minimum. Hot side aeration refers to wort becoming oxidized while it is hot. Warm liquid is more inclined to absorb oxygen and therefore, it is recommended that when wort is over 80ºF, splashing be avoided. During and directly after the boil splashing is not much of a concern, as oxygen can’t really dissolve into liquid that hot. Cool wort as quickly as possible and do not aerate wort until it is under 80ºF.When bottling, only leave about ½” of headspace. The use of “oxygen absorbing” bottle caps may help keep oxygen out of the bottle. When kegging, purge kegs with Co2 to flush oxygen out of the headspace.