Bottled Biab Losing Flavour And Not Ageing Well

[hoppy2B]

Actually, revisiting the yeast thing. Some yeasts will strip colour and fruit flavour out of a wine. An example of this would be CL23. Good if you want a clean crisp wine.
Might be the yeast you're using. Could try a different yeast. Wine yeast varieties seem to have a much better description provided by yeast companies than do beer yeasts.
If you're using s05 then it might be better to switch to say s04 and see if that helps. Other than that I can only suggest doing a bit of research into yeast.

 

[J.T]

Thank Guys,

I might give re-hopping a try.

Otherwise Im not sure what it is, I haven't discounted my process just yet. I only put a couple extract beers through my kegs prior to going AG and didn't really notice it then, not this much anyway.

As of last night the DSGA has lost most of its aroma a fair bit of its flavour, has thinned out a bit and has taken on a flavour that i cant put my finger on. I brewed that mid June 2012, i think the keg is about half full. 1272 II Yeast.

The chocolate stout (sweet) was an absolute cracker and loved by all 'non beer' drinkers. It gradually lost its chocolate and roast characters and roundness from the crystal, oats, golden syrup, lactose etc....I put a fair bit of lactose in that one, but its now very cloying and no good. That keg is nearing its end so its not the end of the world to turf it. This one was 3v, I carbed it on Good Friday. S04 Yeast.

The LFPA is perhaps fairing the best, Carbed 29 June, still lost most aroma/flavour and as above with the DSGA taken on a flavour that i cant pick and shouldn't be there. 1272 II Yeast.

The IPA is the most disappointing, although i did have some issues with what i thought was a stalled ferment etc with US05. I couldn't get it any lower that 1020 from 1066, tried all the usuals. (Starter first, repitch, swirling, warming up, transfer) In the end the only thing i could think of was that my thermometer may have been giving me dodgy readings which could have resulted in a higher than 68c mash temp.
I carbed that about 18th August. Aroma out of the fermenter and the keg for the first week was unreal - Mango, Peach, Citrus, Passionfruit, (like one of those fruit juice ice blocks!) But now thats all but gone and can faintly pick up that fruitiness.

If nothing else, I've learnt that I need to keep better notes..... or drink it faster!

PS - Just a thought, and remembering a few things...I reckon I made a starter from stored 1272 slurry and one from stored S05 slurry could that be it? The both kicked off fine and smelt good before pitching though.

JT

 

[hoppy2B]

I just finished some wet hop brews I did in March which I pitched US05 into and they just got drier and drier the longer they had to age.
I'm thinking of using SN9 and some other wine yeasts in future to brew some authentic IPA, age it for a fair while and then krausen it down from 15 abv to 8.

 

[Yob]

I carbed that about 18th August. Aroma out of the fermenter and the keg for the first week was unreal - Mango, Peach, Citrus, Passionfruit, (like one of those fruit juice ice blocks!) But now thats all but gone and can faintly pick up that fruitiness.

If you can smell it during the ferment, you are driving those volatiles off, With an IPA a heavy handed Dry hopping at various times through the ferment is not without merit.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

A few things to consider.

CO2 will over time strip aroma and flavour and depending on how high you are carbing you can get a bit of acidic bite.

What is your process for filling your kegs? How much are you purging them?

I always have the keg full of star san or boiled water and run it off into another keg, leaving the original keg as close to oxygen free as possible.
I then transfer the beer from fermenter through the beer out post.

I have noticed that my kegged beer takes a hell of a lot longer to start going downhill and i drink it pretty slow.
EDIT: Sorry i should add that i originally just purged the keg by giving it a few blasts of CO2 then filling and purging again.
Beer was great after a week through to about 2 months mark then i could definitely notice some staling going on, from there it was a rapid downhill decent.
I have started bottling more tallies now and kegging less, i find a bottle once mature and kept in the fridge is as fresh as a daisy.

 

[sim]

No mention of oxidation yet. I would say if you're loosing flavour and aroma abnormally quickly it might pay to have a bit of a think about all the points were oxygen might be being picked up in the process from after pitching yeast, and also that beer stored cold will slow oxidation (and other staling reactions).

 

[Nick JD]

My bottled IPAs lose flavour too. After about 6 weeks the hoppiness really starts to wane.

I don't keep the bottles cold. The yeast are probably very active and eating anybloodything they can.

 

[Markbeer]

I started this thread over a year ago after my second all grain didn't taste as good as time went on.

To fix the issue I found that keeping the bottles in the fridge maintains malt and hop flavour longer and keeps the beer fresher. Probably why Sierra Nevada do this.

Again a surprise for me after using can kits for so long.

and some yeasts are kinder to long term storage. S05 does not for me appear to be one of them. The English strains appear to be more kind.

My bottled IPAs lose flavour too. After about 6 weeks the hoppiness really starts to wane.

I don't keep the bottles cold. The yeast are probably very active and eating anybloodything they can.

 

[J.T]

Splashing anytime after the ferment is not good. I let a brew splash into the keg with no CO2 and within two weeks it had lost all hop flavour/ aroma and had the cardboard taste kick in. So it does happen. It was a lager as well so no place to hide flavour wise. I don't splash anymore...

This is a comment that i found while searching and sounds familiar. Not sure that the taste Im picking up is cardboard though.
Perhaps oxidation is where i should be looking, admittedly i have been getting a little 'splashier' with my transfer into the keg of late. I religiously purge air a couple times after filling, but hadn't thought of purging the oxygen from the keg first.

I have room for 4 kegs in my fridge which is where they stay.

Thanks all!

 

[sim]

Not sure that the taste Im picking up is cardboard though.

Yeah, i think "taste of carboard" is probably at the more extreme end of oxidation (found that out by royally aerating finished beer when filtering it :icon_vomit: ), and at the milder end of symptoms is things like loss of flavour and aroma, stale malt character, and overall dull-ness.