Lawrence Brewers Guild

Just did a Irish Red about a month ago. It went into the keg about 2 weeks ago and was forced CO2 carbonated. After a day, we had some and it was excellent. When I brought some to the meeting, I noticed it was taking on off notes. Thought it was the plastic container I brought the beer in. Well today I pulled a draw...there was this thick, heavy head that took up 90% of the glass, the beer was "muddy" brown, smelled off and tasted like crap. Hard to explain the off smell and taste, but it has gone south.

The keg was clean and sanitized, beer was transferred by CO2 pressure to the keg (the other beer I kegged that day turned out great) and has been at 40 F the entire time.

This every happen to anyone? Anyone have any idea what may have gone wrong? Did my beer get a bug? Or is this just a case of "!@#$ happens"?

Thanks

Jason

Without explaining the off smell and taste, I'm not sure I can offer anything. Sounds like a bacterial issue, but without more to go on, I can't be much help. Sorry.

You may find this link helpful: http://www.kroc.org/Links/TroubleshootingGuide.htm

Matt

Jdl973 wrote:Well today I pulled a draw...there was this thick, heavy head that took up 90% of the glass, the beer was "muddy" brown, smelled off and tasted like crap.

This sounds like the first pull from a keg that contained alot of yeast trub. Was this beer secondaried in something other than the serving keg? Also using the link Matt provided, does any of this seem like your aroma your experiencing?

Now that you have had time to ponder the beer, don't throw it out.

Bring the beer back to room temperature and let it finish out.

What was the final Hop IBU of the beer?

What is the final gravity of the beer now?

No one's career is at stake here

A little more info...

The smell was of rotten paper and the taste was like dirty soapy laundry (not that I drink that on a regular basis)

The OG was about 1.060 FG 1.010, IBU 15.4,

This was put in a secondary, and about 1L had been pulled from the keg when it started to get funky (after about 2 weeks in the keg) so I do not think it was yeast or an incomplete fermentation.

Here is an idea...

I have 8 taps and the ones I am not using I flush with PBW. Let it sit for a couple of days then flush with StarSan. I pressurize the keg first, then hook it to the beer out line to insure none of the stuff in the lines goes into the keg. On this line, I do not think I ran StarSan through the line, and I think I hooked up the beer line out first before it had pressure. If I did this, the PBW in the line could get into the keg before the pressure pushed it out. If there was a critter in my line, it could have contaminated the beer. Just an idea. What do ya think?

Chris, I pitched the beer in frustration.

thanks for the input and help.

Jason

Is this a isolated problem with the one keg? Was this a 10g batch and if so, did the other keg have the problem? And, have any of your other batches been problematic?

Soapy flavors can be caused by leaving the beer on the yeast trub for to long. How long was this beer left in primary?

Having played this over in my mind, I think Andy is close on the yeast trub. The other thing is oxygen.

I have not figured the oxygen element out. You fermented the beer for two weeks and transferred to a keg. You forced carbonated the keg with CO2. You pulled a beer and it tasted great. The keg sat for 2 weeks at 40f (with CO2 hooked to the keg?)

or was the beer at room temperature without pressure and chilled, a vacuum was pulled on the keg and O2 was drawn into the finished beer. Don't see this because you kegged and rolled for a forced CO2 carbonation.

PBW would have an O2 component. The slug of yeast would be foamy, forming a site for the CO2 to form and look muddy and would have fatty acids to form soap.

Where did the cardboard taste come from?

Don't think you have a bug but something went wrong with the process.

I like Denny Conn's advice; If you are throwing some beer out, you are not brewing enough (or something like that).

Cardboard flavor's are common on hoppy brew's that are exposed to oxygen. The hop oil's are oxidized. This is common on bottled beers that have to travel. I do not know of a way to take this out/ reduce after it is in solution. The best way to keep from incuring this is that once the primary fermentation takes place, only allow Co2 to come in contact with the beer. Always,Always flush the secondary and serving keg's or bottels with Co2. Do not splash any more than necessary.

This has happened to Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye. I have had quite a few from them in the 22 oz bottle that are "cardboard tasting". It does not seem to show up in many commerical kegged beer's.

It's always advised to drink hoppy brew's young.

John Pepin

the keg was sanitized, purged with CO2, then the beer was racked into the keg under CO2 pressure. when the keg was full, the head-space was purged with several volumes of CO2, was then force carbonated at 30psi and placed back in the cooler. the next day, was hooked up to tap system (40F) at 12 psi ish.

go figure

J

go figure

J

This what I gather, considering your procedure.

Denny covers the bases. I threw out a 60 shilling and never did figure out where the process went wrong. It didn't taste bad but it was not what I wanted.

Did you go straight to keg from primary or did you secondary before kegging. If you secondaried before kegging, what temp do you condition at?

Also, what yeast strain did you use? Im asking because im playing off Chris. If you went straight to keg from primary and you used a low floc yeast, then there is your yeast trub for the PBW to play off of.

Went back and reread, you did secondary. So i ask again, how long, what temp, and what strain?

Irish ale, wlp004, on secondary for 1 week at 60 F, cold crash at 34-35 F for 1 week before kegging