A Tale Of 2 Beers!

[Gout]

Brewers, i brew 50Lt batches - strange number now i think of it.

25Lt in each fermenter and then i keg x2 + 1/2 keg and some bottles for storage. Any way i did a US pale ale - keg 1 was great, but keg 2 seems to lack any of the hop aroma/flav.

I split my yeast starter between the 2 fermenters, both in the same fridge so same wort, yeast, fridge.

what could cause this?
a) i drank the first keg so now i am used to the beer and hence the hops dont stand out now?
B) no idea??

i am at a loss

 

[Mearesy]

Did the 2nd keg sit while u drank the first? Hop flavour and aroma can reduce over time....

Ben

 

[Gout]

i agree, however the last one ran out yesterday and i started the second keg.

both kegs on the same CO2, same pressure, in the same fridge

Its not infected (as far as i know) its like a plain ol beer with more malt and body. The hops seem to have gone on holiday.

I could imagine mates would love this beer as nothing stands out, the other keg they would have asked whats that flavour (hops overload)

its most strange

 

[WitWonder]

How long between cracking the first keg and the second? Hop aroma/flavour does tend to fade over time and as been discussed here the only way around it is - more hops! I've personally started using campden tabs to assist with the stability issue. I've noted it mostly with kegs that sit half full for a while - volitiles tend to dissapate in the empty headspace of the keg, rather than your glass.

 

[Gout]

time between kegs was one pint say 10 min

i have had a few today while i work on the reno and its not the same beer - most strange

It not even like it is lighter on hops - there is no hop flavour so i now wonder if a infection can do this?

 

[WitWonder]

Hmm, that's odd. Dirty lines going to your taps? Dirty taps? Dirty keg/not cleaned or sanitised properly?

 

[Quintrex]

Brewers, i brew 50Lt batches - strange number now i think of it.

25Lt in each fermenter and then i keg x2 + 1/2 keg and some bottles for storage. Any way i did a US pale ale - keg 1 was great, but keg 2 seems to lack any of the hop aroma/flav.

I split my yeast starter between the 2 fermenters, both in the same fridge so same wort, yeast, fridge.

what could cause this?
a) i drank the first keg so now i am used to the beer and hence the hops dont stand out now?
B) no idea??

i am at a loss

Seing as they came from 2 fermenters, did you keg them at the same time, i.e. did one sit on the yeast in the fermenter longer than the other?

 

[Gout]

same beer line and tap. and both fermenters where cleaned, starsan'd and filled / fermented then kegs all within 15min

I can only think of a bug thats stripped the hops - they are 2 different beers

the more i drink of the second keg the more i dislike it

 

[donburke]

nfi ... but ...

1) the yeast starter that you split ... was it exactly split in half ? if one fermenter got more yeast than the other, could have been a more vigorous ferment that stripped the hop flavour from that batch ???????

2) did the hops from the boil end up settling in only one of the fermenters ? any late hops could have sat in one fermenter only, slowly adding more hop flavour during the ferment ?

 

[Kai]

Bugs won't strip hop character but oxidation will. You mention you use star-san which iirc isn't an oxidising sanitiser, but was there any difference in handling between fermenters and kegs that could have resulted in more oxy pickup in the second?

 

[Gout]

both fermenters where filled from the same boil - i guess one could have got more hops but i would have thought it would have been a very similar beer.

both fermenters got a star san - same mix - tipped from one to the next then down the drain so i assue its equal

its a shame one was great and the other average at best


i have never had this before and i always double batch - i am normally very clean too so its hard to explain

RE yeast starter - its 50:50 within a few ml and i stir it up then tip so it should be mostly equal

 

[Kai]

What about the keg, was there anything between them that could explain the difference?

 

[donburke]

this has become a real conundrum, wednesday night trivia at the local ....

how many full kegs do you have ? have you mixed up your kegs ? is this not the keg you think it is ?

were both kegs put in the fridge at the same time ? or did one age at room temp ?

did you eat something that would change your taste perception ?

 

[Bribie G]

Unless I've missed it in the reading, with the second keg did you immediately take it up to a gas disconnect and give the headspace a good flush-burp-flush-burp with CO2 before putting aside? Cornie Keg headspace compared to a bottle is a lot more percentage, if you are filling up to that weld line as most do, so oxidisation could be a candidate.