A few months ago, I made a 3 5gal corney kegs of beer, Belgian Triple, Alt and an Oktoberfest. After sitting for a few weeks, 2 of the three developed what I could only describe a very strong taste that overpowered everything about the beer. I thought that I had screwed up the recipe, so the next few batches I made I bottled, and they turned out fine.
I made another 2 batches a few weeks ago, cleaned and santised the crap out of everything and kegged them again, with the intent of having them available for National Homebrewers day. I sampled it last Saturday, and it tasted awesome. I also noticed that my newly refilled CO2 was almost empty. There was a noticible lack of carbonation, but it still tasted fine.
By Sunday, the tank was empty, so I took it to be refilled on Monday. Got it back on Tuesday, hooked it up and discovered a leak at the regulator/tank connection. Sorted that out and let the Beer (Belgian Tripel and Dark Wheat) sit for a day at 12psi (apparently the middle ground for all beer). Sampled the Belgian Tripel and that strong overpowering taste is back.
So I’m begining to wonder if there is such a thing as too much carbonation, and if so, would it impact the flavour as violently as this?
well, you may be tasting Carbonic Acid from the CO2. one way to tell is to take the beer that you thought had this negative flavor, leave it sit in an open mug for a bit, maybe even stir it gently to encourage the CO2 to degass. then taste it and see if that flavor is no longer there. if that’s not it, can you further describe the overpowering flavor? give us more to work on.
funny you should mention that. l took my time drinking the mug that I’d poured, and it did start to taste less violent. I’m sorry, but I lack the wherewithall to give you an accurate description of what it tasted like.
I have since drained all the CO2 in the two kegs, and set the psi to 8.5. Will this work? or should I let the whole thing sit with no gas for a day then try to recarbonate?
What temperature are you carbonating at? If you’re at 40 F, 12psi is about 2.5 volumes…not a huge amount for a Tripel. I would look at your regulator to make sure it’s not wonky. Do they seem extremely carbonated when you pour them?
37 degrees in the fridge right now, I tasted the two again this am, there’s still that flavour in the Trip, although not as bad. The Dark Wheat is ok.
I read somewhere that once kegged, one shouldforce carb for a period of time, then shut the CO2 off only to be turned on when needed to apply enough pressure to serve. Any truth to this?
The moment I start force carbing, my beers never leave the gas. I start out with a cold keg, pressurize at 30 psi, shake the crap out of it for a minute. Leave it at 30psi for two days, vent and then set at 10 psi, which is roughly my serving pressure. (9-10 psi) I’ve never heard anything about taking your beer off the gas. The whole point is to equalize the pressure from the regulator to the keg. It takes a few days to equalize the pressure. And yes you can “de carb” this way too, much to my dismay, I found out, by leaving a Pale Ale at 4 psi for a few days, unknowingly, poured a glass and it was hardly carbed like it was the week before…
As long as your system is tight (ie no leaks) then there is no reason to take it off of the gas. If your system leaks, then putting pressure on the keg and then shutting off the gas isn’t a bad idea.
But most likely I think that advice comes from someone who has not balanced their system for the beers they are serving.
Thanks for the welcome, and the advice thus far. Assuming it is carbonic acid, is there anything I can do to reverse the effects? I’ve shut off the line to it and vented the keg. Anything else?
Well, beer is flat, and I’m happy to say it appears that it’s returned to it’s delicious self. Now, every place I’ve looked, I’ve seen ppl say that a Tripels volumes must be this…only problem is that everyone has different volumes ranging from 1.4 to 4.7.
What is the best, most fool proof way, to get a good level of carbonation? Start low and sample periodically until I find a level that works for me? Choose a specific carb guru’s opinion and stick to it?
Ok, so I drained off the co2 in the keg, used the chart and set the psi 9psi, which is 5psi lower than what I had it at (I was trying to carbonate two beers at the same time as I don’t have a multiple secondary regulator), and after one day at that psi, that nasty taste is coming back.
So, I’ve blown off the co2 again, adjusted the psi to 5psi, but beyond that I’m at a loss.
I’m a little miffed, because its lost a lot of flavour.
Do I just bottle it next time? Naturally carb in the keg and use co2 to serv?
Odd, because the consensus was that the off taste was as a result of carbonic acid. Once it was blown off, that over powering flavor dissipated. Now since the reintroduction of co2, albeit at lower volumes it seems to be returning. If not co2 what could it be?
you weren’t able to describe the flavor to us very well. carbonation is a possibility, seems to fit, but…
do you have a keg of another beer without this flavor? if so, you might over-carb that beer and see if it has the same flavor to your taste. if so, then that nails down carbonation as the problem. if not, it’s probably something else specific to that one beer. do you have a homebrew club in your area or other access to BJCP trained judges? try to get their opinion. it’s difficult to diagnose digitally without better descriptions.
Sadly I dont have a brew club near to where I live. I do have a second keg, a dark wheat which is just fine. The closey description to the taste would be rubbing alcohol. Let me ask this: is a Tripel an ale? Woild a high APV beer need special considerations?
yes, a tripel is an ale. no, a high abv beer doesn’t need special consideration in kegging.
however, your rubbing alcohol description leads me to believe you may have some fusels or higher alcohols. though, that wouldn’t generally go away with lower carbonation. puzzling. for the future, higher alcohols are more prevalent with warmer fermentation temps. so get your beer down to low 60’s before you pitch the yeast, and try to keep the ferm temps below 68-70 in the future.
If by “natural fermentation in a keg”, it works fine but you end up with a bunch of sediment in the keg. You need CO2 anyway to serve so why not use it to carb? CO2 is CO2 no matter what the source, so there is no difference in beer flavor between the 2.
