Zymurgy Online Extra "Oxidation: Good Beer Gone Bad"

Check out the most recent Zymurgy Online Extra - Oxidation: Good Beer Gone Bad to learn what you need to know about tasting and, more importantly, preventing oxidation in your homebrew. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/zymurgy/online-extras/oxidation-good-beer-gone-bad

Cheers!

Great info! Here’s a question though. I just had a DFH Worldwide Stout from '07 at their brewpub and it had a tawny port quality to it, does that mean it was close to it’s end? Or being such a big beer (18% abv) would it still have plenty of life left in it?

AFAIAC, big beers like that benefit from oxidation.  It mellows and melds the flavors while adding other inter sting notes.

Thanks for the quick info Denny. It would be a shame if the glorious beer came to untimely end, lol

nice article…I recently had a keg of IPA go bad (oxidize) after a week. I think I forgot to purge the keg before I transferred the beer into it.  The beer’s flavor changed completely and became basically undrinkable >:(

'07 WWS better not be getting to it’s end . . . I’ve got cases of that going back to 2004!  Every year my dad goes and gets me a case when it goes on sale, then keeps it in his basement.  Then every few years he drives from NJ to Seattle and brings it out to me.  It’s a great birthday present. :slight_smile:

We did a tasting of '04-'07 last summer, they were still great.  People had their preferences, but none of them were bad.

Undrinkable?  Are you sure it was oxidized?  Even without purging a keg it shouldn’t be that bed.

I also doubt that oxidation happens so fast to make an IPA undrinkable in a week.  Transferring beer to a keg that hasn’t been purged seems unlikely to cause immediate staling.  I quietly siphon beer into the bottom of unpurged kegs all the time. 
Could it have been something else that caused the off-flavor?

The beer had a harse, bitter taste and almost cardbord.  I know IPA’s are supposed to be bitter, but this was different.  I also racked this beer to free up a fermenter and dry hop and I think this might have contributed to the oxidation.  The beer tasted great for the first week and definitely changed.  I am probably my own worst critic because my friend thought it was OK and finished off the keg after a couple weeks.  So, the beer was undrinkable for me when I had others that were much better around to choose from.  At least I don’t forget to purge the keg anymore :slight_smile: