Why does this happen?

[DrJez]

Just recently started kegging and by the looks of it I'm just about to blow my first keg at 2 weeks old (a hop forward pale ale)

Questions:

1. Seeming I cold crash before transfer, and it all crashes all the time in the kegerator and the syphon is at very BOTTOM of the keg, why does beer turn murky at the end? Seriously, this seems quite a mystery to me at the moment

2. This last pint tasted and smelled absolutely incredible!! Is this always the case that the last beer is best? Just due to aging?

 

[ABG]

nless you are filtering, you will still have yeast in your beer regardless of the fining material you're using. The murkiness is just that yeast continuing to flocculate and sink while the keg remains motionless and cold. Conditioning explains why your last beer is generally the best tasting - the exception can be with beers like Neipas where oxygenation causes the hops to go brown and lose their flavours. Bear in mind, I've only brewed 2 Neipas and both in buckets - maybe those brewing and transferring under pressure don't experience this problem. I'm super careful about oxygen ingress and have never had issues, even with hoppy IPA's, but have had with both batches of Neipa I've kegged.

 

[MHB]

Taking the second first try replacing aging with Maturing might give you a clue..

The mud at the end one is fun, the keg is mostly a cylinder, as the beer matures and if its kept cold enough lagers (proteins and polyphenols combine and precipitate) a fine layer of sediment builds up on the bottom.
The bottom is a dome, while the beer is in the parallel part of the keg the sediment doesn't get disturbed, but once the beer starts to flow over the surface of the domed part of the keg it drags some of the fine trub with it into the pickup tube and into your glass.
Mark

 

[DrJez]

Thanks Mark, that makes complete sense

 

[DrJez]

Maruration happens faster than I would have logically assumed, I must say in the cold. It's surprising

 

[DrJez]

nless you are filtering, you will still have yeast in your beer regardless of the fining material you're using. The murkiness is just that yeast continuing to flocculate and sink while the keg remains motionless and cold. Conditioning explains why your last beer is generally the best tasting - the exception can be with beers like Neipas where oxygenation causes the hops to go brown and lose their flavours. Bear in mind, I've only brewed 2 Neipas and both in buckets - maybe those brewing and transferring under pressure don't experience this problem. I'm super careful about oxygen ingress and have never had issues, even with hoppy IPA's, but have had with both batches of Neipa I've kegged.

Cheers. Can't say I noticed any hop aroma degradation whatsoever in this first keg. In fact, it actually seemed to pick up as it matured! I even purged alot too being a noob. At this stage I don't believe aroma is lost due to purge but definitely kept due to co2

My bottled brews were the complete opposite, aroma just flew out the door within days due to a few factors (oxygen and secondary)

 

[labels]

Maruration happens faster than I would have logically assumed, I must say in the cold. It's surprising

MHB spelled it out pretty thoroughly. Proteins drop out, they cause haze but have minimal impact on flavour. Polyphenols, commonly known as tannins have astringency. Astringency isn't so much a flavour based problem but more of a mouth-feel problem - think eating immature grapes or eating a quince... So when they drop, your beer tastes a lot smoother and more refined without the over-riding astringency problem getting in the way.

 

[DrJez]

Very good explanation and info Labels, thanks! Resonates with me well