slight stale taste at priming

[BIYbrewityourself]

Hi all,

I've just joined the forum, and am on my 4th batch. This one is an all grain IPA, 1.062 OG, 1.012 after priming (forgot to take a sample before adding dextrose) 4oz of priming sugar added to 5 gallon batch.

I racked from the primary after a week and dry hopped into a glass carboy. I have just transferred into a king keg, the beer is very clear and smells nice and hoppy, citra in the boil centennial dry hop..... But

There is a slight stale taste, might be due to keeping the carboy in the garage for 3 weeks which is getting a bit damp now with winter arriving, or could be the muslim I used to dry hop, which I made sure to boil and sanitise before I added it, but poss has introduced some bacteria. Or maybe oxidation, but I am always very careful to ensure the syphon is below liquid level in the receiving vessel, no splashing.

Which ever the reason is there a chance this slight stale taste will subside after carbonation. Ive got the keg inside now to bring the temp up a bit as quite cold in the garage now.

 

[JAK]

Hi all,

I've just joined the forum, and am on my 4th batch. This one is an all grain IPA, 1.062 OG, 1.012 after priming (forgot to take a sample before adding dextrose) 4oz of priming sugar added to 5 gallon batch.

I racked from the primary after a week and dry hopped into a glass carboy. I have just transferred into a king keg, the beer is very clear and smells nice and hoppy, citra in the boil centennial dry hop..... But

There is a slight stale taste, might be due to keeping the carboy in the garage for 3 weeks which is getting a bit damp now with winter arriving, or could be the muslim I used to dry hop, which I made sure to boil and sanitise before I added it, but poss has introduced some bacteria. Or maybe oxidation, but I am always very careful to ensure the syphon is below liquid level in the receiving vessel, no splashing.

Which ever the reason is there a chance this slight stale taste will subside after carbonation. Ive got the keg inside now to bring the temp up a bit as quite cold in the garage now.

How long did you dry hop for? Would you say your getting a grassy note from your tasting? If you leave you hops stewing in your beer for too long you will pull off grassy tastes as well as your hoppy aromas?

If you have introduced any microorganism you'll likely see a film ontop of your beer by now and sooner or later the spoil with overpower your hoppy smell and be fairly obvious.

Most likely it just needs a little more time conditioning, the amount of times I've made something and tasted it early and not been impressed for it to turn into something really nice with time.

 

[rodwha]

I highly doubt it was your muslin bag.

 

[BIYbrewityourself]

Hi JAK,

Thanks for the reply. There was no film or mildew in the secondary, and really clear. The hop bag was in for 3 weeks, put it straight in after transferring from the primary, so maybe thats it then, just in there a bit too long. They were pellets and still smelled nice in the bag after I removed them from the carboy though. I've been reading up about oxidation off tastes and it seems as though it would be very obvious If that was the case, and it's only a slight stale taste, so hopefully all will be OK after a few weeks. Fingers crossed. It'll still get drunk either way!

As the beer is very clear, will there still be enough suspended yeast for carbonation. If not I read you can add a bit of the same yeast strain to boost it, but wouldn't a Co2 bulb do the same job later on if its not getting much pressure.

 

[rodwha]

3 weeks is a bit too long from what I've read. Most do 3-7 days. I've done as many as 14 w/o incident, but have since dropped down to 7 as I read the aroma begins to dissipate at this point.

No grassy flavors?

 

[JAK]

Hi JAK,

Thanks for the reply. There was no film or mildew in the secondary, and really clear. The hop bag was in for 3 weeks, put it straight in after transferring from the primary, so maybe thats it then, just in there a bit too long. They were pellets and still smelled nice in the bag after I removed them from the carboy though. I've been reading up about oxidation off tastes and it seems as though it would be very obvious If that was the case, and it's only a slight stale taste, so hopefully all will be OK after a few weeks. Fingers crossed. It'll still get drunk either way!

As the beer is very clear, will there still be enough suspended yeast for carbonation. If not I read you can add a bit of the same yeast strain to boost it, but wouldn't a Co2 bulb do the same job later on if its not getting much pressure.

Its a little like stewing a tea bag for too long, if you pulled that tea bag out and smelt it it'd still smell like nice tea. But the tea left behind isn't going to taste right due to having extracted too much from the bag.

Although grassy flavours from dry hopping are going to be different to the stale taste you mentioned so perhaps this isn't the case for you. You could maybe look at dry hopping with fresh hops in your keg to really punch through any stale notes with a slap in your face of hops you get in IIPA's.

I wouldn't worry about it too much though, sit it out and see how it develops. If after conditioning you still get off flavours make some notes and work backwards to improve your next batch.

It seems your using both methods of carbonation, I wouldn't prime if I was to use a keg as the CO2 bulb will force carbonate.

 

[BIYbrewityourself]

3 weeks is a bit too long from what I've read. Most do 3-7 days. I've done as many as 14 w/o incident, but have since dropped down to 7 as I read the aroma begins to dissipate at this point.

No grassy flavors?

---------------------
Hi rodwha,

Yeah sounds like I over did it. Just had another quick taste, and it is a kind of grassy staleness. So hopefully it won't be too bad after a week or so, was a bit worried it could be something more detrimental, as long as I don't have to sling it I don't mind too much.

 

[BIYbrewityourself]

Its a little like stewing a tea bag for too long, if you pulled that tea bag out and smelt it it'd still smell like nice tea. But the tea left behind isn't going to taste right due to having extracted too much from the bag.

Although grassy flavours from dry hopping are going to be different to the stale taste you mentioned so perhaps this isn't the case for you. You could maybe look at dry hopping with fresh hops in your keg to really punch through any stale notes with a slap in your face of hops you get in IIPA's.

I wouldn't worry about it too much though, sit it out and see how it develops. If after conditioning you still get off flavours make some notes and work backwards to improve your next batch.

It seems your using both methods of carbonation, I wouldn't prime if I was to use a keg as the CO2 bulb will force carbonate.

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Will definitely try fresh hops next time, and not leave them in so long.

This is the first time I've used a keg, have been bottling until now. Never thought I could just skip the priming bit! You live and learn. Oh well, just have to leave it now a bit longer, every days a school day.

This is a great forum, good to get feed back from more experienced brewers. Thanks for the advice.

 

[rodwha]

An additional dry hop may help.

 

[BIYbrewityourself]

Good idea, should freshen it up. So it seems that dry hopping more frequently for less prolonged periods is key. Rather than just leaving the same ones in. Depending on how hoppy you want it. Obvious now I think of it.

 

[rodwha]

Yes. I've read of people swapping out dry hops every 3-7 days for a very pronounced aroma. If this is a bit grassy/stale it likely can help to some degree. On the other hand if it's fairly bad you may just be wasting hops.

 

[BIYbrewityourself]

I'll give it a go, worth a few quid to liven it up.

 

[Green Ninja]

I'm slightly worried about the muslim!

 

[rodwha]

I certainly wouldn't soak one in my beer!

 

[BIYbrewityourself]

I feel so foolish, hahahaha, one of my more amusing typo's!

The good news is I dropped some fresh vacuum packed citra hops into the keg, topped up with 2 co2 bulbs and had a few glasses last night. worked a treat and really hits the spot.

Luckily the muslim had no ill effects!

 

[rodwha]

Nice! Glad it worked out!