Ive noticed that the first 3 - 5 beers I pull from a keg are harsher in flavors (bitterness especially). Seems to get better as I pour pints. I don’t get this when bottle conditioning. I’m assuming this is because impurities sink to the bottom of the keg and bottle once chilled. I’m assuming I notice the off flavors in the keg because it pulls from the bottom, and don’t from the bottle because it pours from the top.
I guess my question is, do I just assume that the first 5 or so beers pulled from the keg aren’t good representations of my beer, or is there some other way to combat this? Just wonder what other people have to say about this. And dumping the first 5 beers is such a painful thing to do, as I’m sure you all know
What are your recipe details for the beer in question? mash technique, recipe, fermentation details, etc…
I wouldn’t rush to judgement and point to the keg as the culprit just yet as there could be other issues. Until you rule out all other potential issues then you can look to the kegging process.
You may be getting some yeast bite for the reasons you stated- the undesirable sediment still trending towards the bottom of the keg.
I wouldn’t dump any beer because of this. You might just need to let the keg sit and cold crash for more days. And, you might try some clarification techniques such as adding gelatin or filtering.
