Thread: Improving a kegged Brew ??

Get ****ed before you drink it.......

Hi Baz,

Depending on what the problems is, yes, there are 3 things you can do:

1. Store it at between 0-2 C for a couple of weeks. This will help stablise the beer and off flavours etc will reduce. Taste after a week and take off a couple of glasses of beer an chuck them - they will likely contain sediment etc.

2. Dry hop the beer - get a (clean!) stocking or similar and loosely tie in it 15-20 grams of fresh hop pellets of your choice. Put the stocking in the keg, seal and let it sit at about 10C for a week. Have a taste after a week and then pull out the stocking. This will mask some of the crap flavours.

3. If it's really cloudy and you have another empty keg, you can filter the beer by pushing the beer from one keg to the other through a beer filter (5 micron is fine). Grain and Grape and Craftbrewer sell washable reusable beer filters. I do this with beers that don't clear easily such as some Belgian ales.

I hope this helps.

Sorry for my last flippant post.

When I used to bottle beer, I found time to be a great healer.

I bottled some pretty ordinary smelling and tasting brews that after a few months were great.

Haven't had a clear answer on maturing kegs yet but I assume that there will be enough absorbed O2 to support some form of aging. I have also been told by the brew shop that beer matures faster in bulk (ie in a keg).

I've been rotating four Kegs through my Kegorator and the beer has always been great after sitting for a while.

How long was it in the keg for before you started drinking it?

Cheers,

Kev.

Thanks fellas, there are no bad flavours and it is clear and has carbonated well with great head retention, it just taste flavourless, almost a watery taste.

It is just bland

I'll try what you have suggested, I'm going down to the local brew shop today, so I'll get some hops while I'm there, thanks.

Kev, I did think getting ****ed may have helped with the flavour, but being a 45lt keg, It may have been a bit much for the kidneys

It has only been in the keg 1 to 2 weeks, but I had it in the fermenter for about 10 days, 7 days of fermenting and another 2 to 3 days clearing in a secondary fermenter, then 2 days in the keg to cool and then I carbonated it.

I have turned the gas off and I am letting it settle now, I'll add the hops and let it sit for another week and taste it, if it's OK I'll re-carbonate it.

I'm thinking I may have put too much water in when mixing the brew

Thanks again fellas,
Baz.

You could run it through a still and make schnapps. A mate does this with dud batches of beer and wine.

Thanks Brian, if the dry hopping doesn't work, I'll do that, what a great idea

Baz.

Sounds like it will be fine with some dry hopping Baz. Dont distill it yet.

Get any hops very fresh that your homebrew shop has - they should be bright green and smeel good. I like Galaxy and most of the Amercian varieties that start with C eg Cascade, Centennial etc.

Also, after the dry hopping crank up the carbonation a bit - this will give the beer more 'bite' as theres more cabonic acid dissolved and so it will taste less watery.

OK it's been over a week now and I've had my first taste, not too bad, I think it may improve with age, my local btre shop seems to think it will.

As a side note, I bottled 5 500ml bottles and to my surprise they aren't too bad, I think these will taste very good in a couple of months.

Well another lesson learnt, don't be in a hurry to keg a brew

Baz.