the strangeness of beer results

[hoppymonkey]

So I brewed a batch that ended up being almost 7 gallons thanks to some process changes. I fermented as a normal and when it came time to transfer to kegs of course 1 keg ended up with just 2 gallons i it. Fast forward 3 months and I had totally forgot that i had done that was thinking almost the entire time that the keg with the small amount in it was starsan solution and not beer. I hadnt been taking care of it at all and moved it around the garage without any concern for temps. Last night I figured out what I had done and stuck it on the tap. It tastes WAY better than the other portion of the batch does. No way I am recreating that accident. :rockin:

 

[Monkey55]

That's interesting. I would have thunk it would have tasted awful.

E

 

[djfriesen]

I imagine you put CO2 on it when you sealed it up? If so, I guess all you did was bulk age it. Did you still have some of the other stuff left to compare them side by side? Or was the full keg already kicked? If it was kicked, it could just be that the extra conditioning time helped it taste better.

 

[hoppymonkey]

I imagine you put CO2 on it when you sealed it up? If so, I guess all you did was bulk age it. Did you still have some of the other stuff left to compare them side by side? Or was the full keg already kicked? If it was kicked, it could just be that the extra conditioning time helped it taste better.

I have both beers on tap now and there is a very noticeable difference. They even look different in a side by side.

Monkey,

You are correct that I put it on gas first.

 

[Toga]

I am assuming the full keg has been refrigerated for the bulk of the time while the partial keg was not until recently. When beer is refrigerated the conditioning process slows down. The colder it is the slower it ages (barring freezing it of course). Higher temps will age it faster. This would account for the difference in taste.