Issue With My American Amber Ale From Brewing Classic Styles

[bevdawg]

So I've just kegged my American Amber Ale from the recipe in Brewing Classic Styles. It was tasting great out of the fermenter and apart from not hitting the FG I wanted it had gone well. Needed the fermenter space I decided to rack into no chill cube (one of those blue water carriers from Bunnings) and put it in the beer fridge overnight to chill to 4c for kegging. I didn't taste it again before I put it in the keg, but it def had a nice hop note and sweetness to it like I was going for.

Anyway, cut to a few hours ago and where I may have made a stuff up. I took the cube out of hte fridge and went to chuck the tap on it. Removed bung (cube was on its side, forgot to put tap on before hand, new cube), anyway pull the bung off and discover of course that I need to drill the hold out! This not being possible now, I decided to just carefully and gently pour the chilled beer into the keg. It made a tiny amount of foam, but not much. I quickly connected it to my co2, and force carbed for 50 seconds at 300kpa. Vented some gas, poured a little, and it tastes totally different to what I was expecting. Quite dry, no real hop flavor or aroma...

Hmm, what have I done wrong? A few things perhaps! Could it be I didnt vent all the oxygen first? Or was this somehow too aerated when I poured it into the keg?

 

[razz]

First things first, let it sit on the bench for a little to warm up then try it again.

 

[bevdawg]

Will do...

I just managed to get some of the final drips out of the blue cube I chilled the beer in, and to be honest it has a similar taste, and I'm starting to think it's more a bittering issue than oxy or the co2... hmm.

AND I've just thought about it, and this was the first time I no chilled due to my immersion chiller needing a leak repair. OK, so now going to assume my 35ibu's is prob more 50-60ibu's and is not leveled out by anything else.

I rekon if I dry hop it in the keg it'll help level things out a little. What do you think?

 

[razz]

The bitterness will still be there and you should get your aroma/flavour back. What were the starting and finishing gravities?

 

[bevdawg]

SG was 1.053 and FG was 1.018 (was aiming for 1.015)... will this be a cause?

 

[razz]

I don't think so, the high FG would give more mouthfeel and residual sweetness so should subdue the bitterness compared to a FG of 1.015

 

[bevdawg]

Another forum member mentioned that the bitterness could be accentuated by carbonic acid from the co2?

So I just adjusted my beersmith recipe and added 15min onto all of the hop additions, for a rough idea on the IBU's... it's now around 50IBU over the expected 35IBU... what would be a good amount to dry hop in the keg with the level this out?

Also, could it be worth adding lactose into the keg to give it a little more sweetness?

 

[seemax]

Brew another AAA at 10IBU.... drink half the keg or tip it... top it up with the new brew

 

[razz]

Another forum member mentioned that the bitterness could be accentuated by carbonic acid from the co2?

So I just adjusted my beersmith recipe and added 15min onto all of the hop additions, for a rough idea on the IBU's... it's now around 50IBU over the expected 35IBU... what would be a good amount to dry hop in the keg with the level this out?

Also, could it be worth adding lactose into the keg to give it a little more sweetness?

I think the latter rather than the former for the increased bitterness. Just try one thing at a time, go .5 to 1g per litre for dry hopping for up to 7 days then try the beer. I've not used lactose so can't comment, if you let the beer mature for a few weeks then some more malt flavours will start to come through although this can be at the expense of hop flavour. Good luck