How did it all go so horribly wrong?

[Dr_Unkenly]

So I brewed an AG AIPA.

55 IBU's, 5.5% ABV, a bit of orange peel in the boil and 60g dry hop pellets and then packaged in to 4 mini kegs.

The first two kegs were outstanding, nice smooth bitterness, huge hit of citrus moving to passion fruit and a nice lime zest aftertaste.

5 days after finishing the second keg, I open the third keg, really looking forward to it, but it's all gone horribly wrong.

The bitterness has dulled, those sharp hoppy flavours have disappeared and the beer tastes quite chalky with a somewhat artificial strawberry/bubblegum quality to it.

Maybe there's something wrong with that keg? So I tapped the fourth keg - exact same thing. I am gutted of course but also have no idea what's caused the flavour to change like this.

Does anyone have any ideas what may have caused this, er, chalky bubblegum?

 

[Bodleigh Head]

Is it not just the natural evolution of the beer ? 4 kegs is a lot to get through if you are drinking it all by your lonesome ... even by my standards. I would suspect it is just an age thing. I find that two months in a keg is about the limit for any of my beers.

I brewed a Nelson Sauvin APA a couple of years back, it was bottled. It went from major citrus, grapefruit, wildly hoppy to mild mellow peachy, fruity almost Dandelion & Burdock ... in about six months. :-?

 

[Dr_Unkenly]

They are 5L mini kegs so I can smash one out over a weekend no problem (is that bad? :-?)

Beer is now 4 weeks old and has gone from "OMG AMAZEBALLZ!!!" to "Ugh, there's something wrong with this beer" in 5 days.

I've just tried another sample. Not as bad as yesterday - a bit more citrus coming back.

I've noticed the beer is cloudy, it was hazy but clear previously. Could I have somehow stirred up some sediment in the two new kegs and that's causing the off taste? It is quite lively coming out of the party star tap.

 

[Sadfield]

Cloudy? Extra carbonation? Fruity/Bubblegum esters? Chalky (could this be earthy?). All looking indicative of a Brettanomyces contamination.

Sounds like its heading towards being Orval.

 

[Bodleigh Head]

Mini kegs ... that changes things ... 5 litres ... that's enough for breakfast ! :lol:

Sounds like the beer has been infected ... were the kegs recycled ? I had a pressure barrel that got infected, the fermentation just kept going and going and going. And I couldn't get the thing clean afterwards so it ended up being binned.

 

[Dr_Unkenly]

Cloudy? Extra carbonation? Fruity/Bubblegum esters? Chalky (could this be earthy?). All looking indicative of a Brettanomyces contamination.

Sounds like its heading towards being Orval.

So, what do we reckon? Plug the keg with a pressure valve, leave it a few months in the warm and see what happens? Might be a winner!

I'd definitely say chalky/minerally rather than earthy.

Fruity/bubblegum is definitely there, sweet artificial fruit flavouring kind of taste. Like somewhat like bubblegum sticks or strawberry opal fruits.

 

[Dr_Unkenly]

Mini kegs ... that changes things ... 5 litres ... that's enough for breakfast ! :lol:

Sounds like the beer has been infected ... were the kegs recycled ? I had a pressure barrel that got infected, the fermentation just kept going and going and going. And I couldn't get the thing clean afterwards so it ended up being binned.

Phew, nothing like feeling you're an uncontrollable alcoholic on a home brewing forum! LOL!

Kegs were Bitburger kegs many months ago. Drunk and re-used several times by myself (without issues, other than inappropriate behaviour).

I have maybe 30 mini kegs so I don't mind chucking them (or possibly using them for mad experiments?)

Do we reckon if it is an infection, it's just in the kegs as the other two were ok?
How on earth did that happen anyway? Do I have a shelf full of ticking time bombs?

I'll probably have to sterilise my Party star tap now I guess, to avoid cross contaminating the other kegs I have? Any top tips on that guys?

 

[Bodleigh Head]

The major problem I had with my pressure barrel was that I couldn't get in to give it a scrub. Despite putting in causic soda then sulphuric acid then bleach and then boiling water ... I couldn't get the gunge out. (biofilm) So any beer that went into the thing was okay for a week or two until the infection got going again.
... your other kegs might well be fine ... check the rubber bits is the usual advice.
I have to be particularly careful in the summer, there are fruit trees in the garden and they are good at harbouring wild yeasties. So no open windows when bottling in the summer.

 

[The Idiot]

Many people suspect wild yeast who beer goes 'off', but often it's just something many in the kit or an external issue (movement, temperature, etc.).

As someone who captures wild yeast for spontaneous fermentation, it's a hard thing to achieve. In fact, it's difficult to a point of requiring a whole load of effort!

If the zest is coming back, I reckon you should let is sit for a bit.

 

[Sadfield]

Many people suspect wild yeast who beer goes 'off', but often it's just something many in the kit or an external issue (movement, temperature, etc.).

As someone who captures wild yeast for spontaneous fermentation, it's a hard thing to achieve. In fact, it's difficult to a point of requiring a whole load of effort!

If the zest is coming back, I reckon you should let is sit for a bit.

As in wild yeast that hasn't been sufficiently cleansed from kit?

Is it that it's difficult to collect and propagate wild yeast to the point where a full fermentation is possible?

Given the regularity that pellicle photos appear on forums, anecdotal evidence suggests they thrive when given a helping hand by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[Covrich]

It could be that it has been stirred up causing the off flavour of the trub but if its cloudy much more lively and has funny off flavours even after plenty of conditioning it suggests something has possibly got in and taken hold in there even from possibly an bit of scud from a previous beer.

Is it every keg?

 

[Dr_Unkenly]

I was *ahem* sampling the beer again last night. The taste is starting to come back to how it was before, especially now it's coming out with normal amounts of pressure.

I'm really hoping it's not a yeast infection, especially as I sanitise the kegs by filling them with reusable Starsan. I have subsequently used the same batch of Starsan on at least two other brews!!!

 

[Dr_Unkenly]

It could be that it has been stirred up causing the off flavour of the trub but if its cloudy much more lively and has funny off flavours even after plenty of conditioning it suggests something has possibly got in and taken hold in there even from possibly an bit of scud from a previous beer.

Is it every keg?

Just the last 2 out of 4 kegs. First 2 were outstanding, as were the sample bottles.

Gap between the last 'awesome' keg and first 'dodgy' one was 5 days.

 

[Covrich]

leave it then, if its coming back then maybe it will setlle out.. if it was just one keg I would isolate it to that maybe having some scud in (star san obviously would't clean that)

 

[Dr_Unkenly]

I'm thinking I must have stirred all the trub up in the kegs when tapping them.

I tried the beer again and it was good. A bit too good, I finished the keg!

 

[Covrich]

There you go

.... And lived happily ever after

 

[Dr_Unkenly]

I'm going to have to drink the other keg later, just to make sure.