Kegging and off flavors

I clean all my keg stuff after every empty keg. I soak the keg in Oxiclean and scrub it out with a sponge. I soak all the keg accessories in BLC including any rubber parts (top, posts, dip tubes, faucet, connectors, etc). I run BLC through the line and let that soak for 5 to 10 minutes then I rinse everything. Before I connect a new keg I run sanitizer through the lines and make sure everything is sanitized.

I tasted my reading sample and it was great. 2 weeks on CO2 in the keg and now I am getting a slight off flavor. It is slight so I can't pin point it yet. Even with the way I clean everything, could my lines need to be replaced? Like I said I do clean after each keg but once in a great while I will have a keg last 5 to 6 months depending on the beer. Could leaving the beer in the lines that long cause problems?

I have been a little lazy with my line cleaning and just Starsan the QD's and posts and connect the next keg up with the lines still containing beer from the last keg with no off flavors so I kinda doubt that is the issue. Do you rinse the everloving heck out of everything after the oxy soak? That stuff does not taste very good. If you have multiple taps, have you tried kegging up water and seeing if the flavor follows? Tried brushing/soaking the taps themselves?

are any parts copper in your system? I used a copper chiller for drinking and MAN the off flavors are there if it sat for any time on the copper.

Secondly, do you purge your keg as you add co2 for the first time? I suppose there is a slight chance if you do not, that you are tasting a bit of oxygen saturation (card board taste?).

I have noticed a plasticky taste from my lines, when my beer sits in it for a couple of days. I always pull off the first couple of ounces and dump that. If you pour a full beer after it's sat for a couple of days, it's not very noticeable, hard to pinpoint, but you can tell something is off. I noticed it when I was just checking if a beer I had on tap was carbed up or not yet and just pulled off a couple of ounces. It was really noticeable then. It's only there for the first glass though, so if you are always tasting it, it's probably something else. I am in the process of getting the stuff to replace my lines with bev seal, Im' just waiting for my friend who works in the beverage business to let me know when he gets it.

DrunkleJon said:

I have been a little lazy with my line cleaning and just Starsan the QD's and posts and connect the next keg up with the lines still containing beer from the last keg with no off flavors so I kinda doubt that is the issue. Do you rinse the everloving heck out of everything after the oxy soak? That stuff does not taste very good. If you have multiple taps, have you tried kegging up water and seeing if the flavor follows? Tried brushing/soaking the taps themselves?

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Water is a good idea. I think I'm going to try to switch lines and connections right now and see if I get the same taste. I may also taste the beer right from the keg with my wine thief. That will definitely tell me if it is the lines or not. If it is in the keg then it could be the keg.

I use spring water from gallon jugs. I sanitize everything when brewing. I use a fridge to ferment in so my temps are right on. I used US-05 and rehydrated so my yeast count should have been ok. Fermentation went great.

If it isn't the keg my last thing is to throw out my bucket. I made cider once and I can't remember what bucket I used. It might have been my main beer one. I do soak the buckets with oxiclean so that should have cleaned out anything bad from the cider but you never know.

My last hope is that it is just a young beer with a weird flavor that will go away.

HBC said:

are any parts copper in your system? I used a copper chiller for drinking and MAN the off flavors are there if it sat for any time on the copper.

Secondly, do you purge your keg as you add co2 for the first time? I suppose there is a slight chance if you do not, that you are tasting a bit of oxygen saturation (card board taste?).

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The only thing copper is my wort chiller. My connectors did come from a soda factory but they have been washed and sanitized so many times.

Clonefan94 said:

I have noticed a plasticky taste from my lines, when my beer sits in it for a couple of days. I always pull off the first couple of ounces and dump that. If you pour a full beer after it's sat for a couple of days, it's not very noticeable, hard to pinpoint, but you can tell something is off. I noticed it when I was just checking if a beer I had on tap was carbed up or not yet and just pulled off a couple of ounces. It was really noticeable then. It's only there for the first glass though, so if you are always tasting it, it's probably something else. I am in the process of getting the stuff to replace my lines with bev seal, Im' just waiting for my friend who works in the beverage business to let me know when he gets it.

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I could try this but it isn't really plasticy. To test it though I can taste the first pull and second pull. If the taste goes away then it is that.