hop aroma - flavor degradation

[Michael Murphy]

I have aquired a Meheen Bottling system and have recently began small runs, I have noticed that my Pale ale normally aromatic and hoppy have quickly became not so aromatic in the bottles.

Any suggestions, I'm not exposing the beer to light except for the clear tubbing it runs through to the filler. I dont think its short time in the light will cause damage or would it?

Maybe Oxygenated??? How can I tell.
the filler purges w CO2 as the filling tubes enter the bottles then pressurize. So I cant imagine much O2 in the bottling process.

Kegged beers from the same batch never had the effect.

[brewsurfer]

O2 in bottles

In short, you could very well have higher levels of O2 in your beer when bottled on the Meheen. Give Dave a call to find out if your software is up to date and listen to the machine. You should be able to hear the CO2 go in. Make sure you are not leaking Air into the lines (or that a connection is faulty).

As for testing, the item you may want is found here:

http://www.zahmnagel.com/7000.html

That is unless you can afford a spectrophotometer.

Cheers.

[hoppyguy]

Michael,

Glad to see you are back up and brewing. I hope all is well.

As far as the bottle products, it is not abnormal for bottle products to differ from draft products. If it is possible for you to do, you may want to try and do batches specifically for bottling only and up the hops a little to see if that helps. You may also want to try to fill a little slower, in case the speed is "bursting out" your aromatics. Chances are the line is fine, you will get oxygen pick up ( a fact of life for us), but it should not have an immediate flavor effect.

Also, before you do your tasting, allow the beers to sit at least 24 hours after bottling. The flavor will change.

Hope this helps.

Jonathan Zangwill, Head Brewer
Flying Fish Brewing Co
Cherry Hill NJ 08003

[tarmadilo]

I'd echo what Jonathan said about tweaking your recipe for bottled beer versus kegged. A brewery I worked for added a bottling line after I moved on, and their flagship beer (with lots of finishing hops) actually needed the finishing hops reduced, as they were getting a weird, almost metalic taste when the bottles were first opened. Two or three minutes in the glass and it went away...

Cheers, Tim

[Michael Murphy]

I had no clue, or never giving it much thought about changing the recipe for bottled beers, I have always noticed some beers are better than kegged or visa versa, anyway I'll give it a shot.
Thanks Jonathan, I hear you guys are getting bigger than your capacity, thats great!

Keep in touch
Mike