Wild yeast from corny?

[Gravity]

Has anyone ever bottled and kegged the same beer with vastly different results?

I made an 80 liter Märzen batch (20gal) and bottled the majority, while kegging 20 liters of it. The bottles came out great and with no problem - the keg is a different story.

The kegged one came out almost like sour and i'm not sure what happened — I can only assume something was introduced somewhere down the line, however i can't figure out where. Its not undrinkable, and it kinda is growing on me as an unintentional sour, but its definitely not what i brewed and does not match the bottled version.

I don't think its the equipment its self (lines, bucket, etc) as i bottled first and those came out fine – so i've narrowed it down to the keg. I cleaned it with soap and water beforehand, then Starsan-ed. I also boiled the metal top for a couple minutes along with the rubber gasket and starsan-ed those, purged with co2 before transferring, then used a little keg lube for a tight seal on all the o-rings.

Nothing to me there screams "culprit". However, in thinking about it more I have never really deep cleaned my kegs, taking them apart, cleaning the diptube, post/poppets...etc. i usually store them out back in a shed. So i'm sure spiders, cobwebs, and who knows what else gets in there.

i can only assume that something might have been stuck inside the dip-tube or maybe on one of the couplers introducing some wild yeast or the like.

I would write this off as a one off, however, about a year or so ago I brewed/kegged an English Brown ale using Norther Brewer as the bittering hop, and that came out a bit on the wild yeast/sour side as welll. At the time i thought it was the hop and its tendency to be on the wild/earthy/woody side - now i'm thinking i might have used the same keg for both. Just a theory with no evidence - except the taste of the brew

I'll start lableing the keggs and lids to start keeping track as i don't do that now

Has this happened to anyone else? if so, what did you do/find?

 

[VikeMan]

The kegged one came out almost like sour and i'm not sure what happened — I can only assume something was introduced somewhere down the line,

I'd say you are almost certainly correct.

However, in thinking about it more I have never really deep cleaned my kegs, taking them apart, cleaning the diptube, post/poppets...etc.

Kegs should be disassembled and "deep cleaned" after every batch. It's also a good idea to replace the O-rings often.

 

[Gravity]

I'd say you are almost certainly correct.



Kegs should be disassembled and "deep cleaned" after every batch. It's also a good idea to replace the O-rings often.

hindsight is 20/20 for sure - i'll start taking them apart from now on - I can't risk losing any great batches on the count of something totally controllable.

 

[twd000]

yes, I 've experienced this. It happens very slowly, over time. I've split a 10 gallon batch into 2 kegs and had one go sour on me. It foamed like a gusher coming out of the tap. Probably both kegs were contaminated but I drank the first one before it became noticeable.

I'm always amazed at the amount of gunk I find in all the crevices when I do a tear down and clean routine. Check your serving lines too, yesterday I dissembled my ball lock quick disconnects and found some crud under that o-ring.

 

[Gravity]

yes, I 've experienced this. It happens very slowly, over time. I've split a 10 gallon batch into 2 kegs and had one go sour on me. It foamed like a gusher coming out of the tap. Probably both kegs were contaminated but I drank the first one before it became noticeable.

I'm always amazed at the amount of gunk I find in all the crevices when I do a tear down and clean routine. Check your serving lines too, yesterday I dissembled my ball lock quick disconnects and found some crud under that o-ring.

Well...sucks, but glad i'm not alone
I have about 12 kegs, so tommorow will be a tear down day for all of them. Forgot about the gushing part, that has also happned, but i thought it was overcarbed and that i goofed on the c02 levels; thanks for adding that bit.