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I bought up a bunch of kegs about two years ago, since then I've probably kegged about 5 or 6 batches always making sure I bottle what didn't fit in the keg so I could judge how it's aging.

Today I've almost given up on it - my beer is just no where near as good out of the keg as it is out of the bottle. I get a much harsher bitterness to each batch and somewhat of a metallic 'twang' that just isn't there in the bottled versions.

My sanitation is okay and the brews aren't infected, they just taste different (worse) out of the keg!

What on earth am I doing wrong?

Haven't the foggiest, mate. I've been kegging for a few months now, probably kegged around 10-15 batches, and I love it.

Was all your gear brand new (and clean) when you put your system together?

Has it always been sub-par, or has the odd flavours only manifested themselves after some time?

Have you pulled your taps apart to clean them thoroughly?

Have you inadvertently had some beer forced back into your gas lines that could have stayed there and start infecting the rest of your brews? (Something I have done before, so made sure I quickly got in there and cleaned them up.)

You haven't accidentally flushed your regulator with beer and neglected to open it up to replace the seals and remove the gunk that starts to form in it after a couple of days from doing that? (Again, something I have done. Got replacement seals from Craftbrewer for my Micromatic regulator and...ahh...got a qualified regulator repair technician to service it for me. *Ahem*)

Anyways, any more detail you can provide could be helpful in zeroing in on your problem.

Hey bullfrog, bought the kegs from Ross, standard cornies.

Regulator is fine, Ross hooked me up with a Non Return Valve to ward against anything nasty in that department. It could be the seals, inside and outside the kegs are totally clean and sanitised but i'll admit I haven't pulled apart the taps since just after I bought them (1-2 batches done in each keg so far). The taste has always been sub-par, though it does appear to be getting worse.

Probably need to rip the entire thing apart and look for gunk. :<

What's standard, pull apart the taps after every brew? For some reason mine are an absolute bitch to pull apart.

How long are you conditioning in the keg before drinking. Are you doing any cold conditioning in a cube etc. Some beers you can supposedlykeg and drink once they are cold and carbed like within two days of comming out of the fermentor. In my experience the beer still needs at least two weeks in the keg and perferably in the fridge. My best kegged beers have been in the fridge for at least a fortnight. Unfortunately, mine usually come good two or three beers before the keg blows.

Cheers
Hirns

I only pull my taps apart once a year.

But i do flush the lines every weekend with no rinse sanitiser and leave it like that till the next weekend (also helps to stop me drinking during the week).

I would be pointing my finger at the taps since you mentioned a metallic taste. You could get yourself a picnic tap (plastic) and see if the beer tastes the same.

Pull the taps apart and soak them in napisan for a few days. The rinse thoroughly and see if the taste is still there. You may have rust inside your taps in which case an acid based sanitiser would help or even a dilute citric acid solution.

Well lets start with the metallic flavor that you are experiencing this is a sign that there is oxidation going on
Firstly I would assume that you are using Cornelius kegs (post mix) make sure that you disassemble all the parts clean the popper valves replace all washers if they appear faulty clean your 6 mm stainless tube in and out (siphon) use normal pool chorine as a sanitizer but not neat and always be careful when handling it as it eats the dye out of your clothes and wear eye protection at all times
Flush all parts completely with tap water reassemble pressure test for leaks before filling with beer this is a givme
When you have established that all is pressure tight use your beer connection the black one to connect to the beer out side of the keg and your co2 bottle then slowly purge through the spear and vent through either the co2 nipple or the relief valve we do this as co2 is heavier than air and will push out any oxygen that is in the keg
What I do next is I use my pump to transfer beer from the fermenter to the keg if you don’t have a pump place the fermenter higher than the keg a siphon it through a co2 flushed tube make sure that the end of the tube in the keg is on the bottom so that it doesn’t agitate the brew
Once full cap and force carbonate to desired co2 volume make sure that your beer is as close to 0 degrees as possible as the co2 enters the beer so much quicker also what I do is set the regulator up to say 400 kpa and force co2 down the spear side and shake the bugger for some time you will know when enough has entered the brew as the bubbles will slow in sound if you happen to over carbonate supply blow some of the top via relief valve
I personally find that my beer is better from the keg than the bottle but that is only preference also I hate washing out bottles, glasses are so much easier
Cheers to more beers speedie

Heals wrote:What's standard, pull apart the taps after every brew? For some reason mine are an absolute bitch to pull apart.

With the micro matics I would clean them after every keg. I used a tooth pick to clean the little breather holes and was amazed how much black shit was in them.

I now use the Perlicks and do pretty much the same as Dr. S.

heals asked for a remedy or possible help
and u respond watt a funny brew world we live inn!

Wow! And people reckon kegging is easier than bottling! Think I'll stick to bottles....

Kegging is heaps easier than bottling, Anna. When I was first looking into it, a lot of the keg lingo seemed a bit overwhelming, but isn't that the same of all the different facets of this brewing caper? Did you know what steep, wort or trub meant a year ago? Once you learn what all the words mean and how the parts work, it's a piece of cake. Delicious, delicious cake.

OK, but I still reckon all that cleaning, pulling apart and putting together again sounds like such a pretty complicated hassle, compared to just sanitising bottles and filling them which, now that I've got it down to a fine art, takes OH and me about an hour per brew! And then if you condition the kegs for 2 weeks anyway (like Hirns does), what's the advantage?

Anna
When you take into account that there is a lot more time put into washing bottles after you consume then again prior to filling it doesn’t take long to realize that kegging is a pretty time saving way to dispense brew
And think of it this way you still have to wash the glasses
Also if you have enough kegs it is possible to transfer the brew of the yeast and to improve storage life
Dead yeasty beer is not all that pleasant
Good luck speedie

speedie wrote:Anna
When you take into account that there is a lot more time put into washing bottles after you consume then again prior to filling it doesn’t take long to realize that kegging is a pretty time saving way to dispense brew
And think of it this way you still have to wash the glasses

Hi Speedie! You new here? Saw your late-night post and had a good laugh!

All we do is rinse the bottle 3-4 times in hot water after emptying and put on the draining tree till needed. On bottling day I get my trusty "bottle washer" out, mix the sanitizer up in it and push each bottle on to it twice and drain again - this process takes about 10 minutes for 30 bottles! No rinsing - just drain and fill. The only time I have had to actually "wash" bottles is when someone gave me my initial 150 longies. Glasses go into the dishwasher!

and....

we can take bottles with us wherever we go!

Howdy Anna,

I've been kegging now for about 3 Months, and its heaps easier than bottling.
I havent had to clean my taps etc yet.
I just do exactly what the Doc does, and at the end of a weekend, I run Starsan thru the line, takes about 1 minute.

Dont be scared of kegging, probably the best thing to do is find out somebody who's kegging near you and have a look at what they do, you'll see its realy simple, same with AG, when you see it happen its not that scary.

Cheers,
Chris

Hmmmm - Grog, post again AFTER you've had to clean your taps! I need a lot of convincing!

Anna - my regular quick cleaning regime is so i dont have to pull apart my taps every week.

I have a keg of sanitiser under the bar and at the end of every weekend i connect each line up to it and open the taps, pour till the beer is flushed out, open and close a few times to clean as much of the mechanism as possible and thats it.

I do this to make cleaning easier and also to stop myself from having beer every night.

Whilst i have a scientific approach to sanitation in the brewery it is also based on not wasting my time so i can spend it on other things. Using a no rinse sanitiser, in my case one i make myself, enables me to not scrub or soak lines/taps other than the annual cleanup when i soak everything, including the keg connections for a few days before rinsing and re-assembling.

Very efficient Doc! I'm almost convinced....

Anna wrote:Hmmmm - Grog, post again AFTER you've had to clean your taps! I need a lot of convincing!

Pulling apart the taps, at least my ones, isn't that big a task. Couple of seconds to pull them apart, leave them to soak in a cleaning solution for a day or so, then a couple of seconds to put them back together. I have only pulled mine apart once, and that's when I first got them, because I wanted to make sure they were nice and clean out of the box, before running any beer through them.

Also, when you say that it takes you and your OH an hour to bottle a batch, it takes me by myself probably twenty minutes to keg and carb a batch, including cleaning, and I can drink it right away if I want. If I filter, probably add another ten minutes to that.

You've nearly got me! But how do I fit a keg into my saddlebags?

Party Keg should fit.