beer turning gray in keg

[crunchydoc]

Brewed a Substance IPA clone about 6 weeks ago. 10 gallons split to two batches. Dry hopped in two stages during the primary in both batches. Batch #2 sat in primary about 2 extra weeks before dry hoppping. cold crash 2 days before kegging in both instances first batch - no issue. first batch in keg for about 2 weeks at 12 PSI and it survived about 2 weeks after carbonation. Second batch, carbonating while 1st keg was being consumed. Week one of consumption of second keg, no issues good color, great flavor, much like the first keg. BUT:::: week 2, beer turns gray, otherwise smells great, taste is a bit metallic (maybe over carbed) but otherwise is not bad nor does it make me sick. I've consumed a gallon+ of the gray beer with no ill effects. I just have NO idea what is gray in my beer, or why it showed up about 3 weeks after kegging. ANY ideas??? thanks in advance for your input.

PS: i have poured a couple of growlers off wondering if it was just sediment at the bottom of the keg. Nope, beer still gray.

 

[ReverendOwl]

I have no solution, but could you post a photo of the grey beer? Just curious!

 

[oldstyle69]

any wheat in your IPA? hefewizen's can sometimes get a grey color.

 

[oldstyle69]

but would also affect the other batch...so...never mind that. when you split the batches, was the grey one the last half of the wort. it could have had more trub and yeast in it. this could have caused you to have darker/hazy/grey'ish beer.

 

[Yooper]

Oxidation causes color changes, but generally darker and not gray. But it's the only thing that I can think of that makes sense.

 

[Horseflesh]

Reminds me of this old Stephen King short story...

http://www.robeson.k12.nc.us/cms/lib6/NC01000307/Centricity/Domain/2821/Gray Matter short story.pdf

 

[itsnotrequired]

is it clear and gray or cloudy and gray?

 

[LKABrewer]

Oxidation, along with high levels of iron/other metals in the water, will give the beer a grey tinge.

 

[bill_2345]

Yes. Grey (gray) colored beer. Am using SF Bay Area Hetch Hetchy water, year round. This is EXACTLY what I have experienced in 10+ This is tap water but perhaps not adequately treated for chloramine (Hetch Hetchy Utility District)?? Could our not using campden tablets be the issue? IPA all grain batches. Also off flavors interfering with Dry Hopping.

Could it be our standard water additions for 3 gal batch: 1 gm Gypsum (calcium sulfate), 0.62 gm calcium chloride, 0.62 gm calcium chloride, 0.22 gm Epsom? Am also getting the greying without any of these additions. Every IPA has a marked greyish color shift, murky and not clear, regardless of grains....wheat, oat or neither, just barley malt. Member Silicon Valley Sudzers.

 

[day_trippr]

Any chance of a decent picture so we can relate to this phenomenon? I've never seen a "gray" beer.

If there was either chlorine or chloramine in sufficient quantity to impact your beer the most evident symptom would likely be the dreaded Band-Aid® character. I had that a couple of times when I was on a private water system with highly unpredictable "sanitizing events". No bueno, there was no escaping that off note. Once I had my well drilled that was no longer a risk.

So I'm betting something else is going on...

Cheers!

 

[M54B25]

I am not the OP, but I am in a very similar situation (which is how I found this thread). I brewed my go-to recipe of a white IPA back in April (base malts: 2row, Flaked Wheat, <10% of Wheat Malt, Oats), and split into two 5 gallon batches for fermentation. I've brewed this recipe at least 10 times with minor tweaks (usually hops) to great success.

Recipe SRM is supposed to be 3.6.

First 5 gallons was nice flavor and light/bright yellow, no issues.

Put second keg in kegerator and chilled it then poured a pint to flush the line. It looked 'grey'. Figured that was fine due to sediment/ yeast at the bottom of the keg and didn't pay much attention.

Had some C02 issues so I didn't pour any beers for a week or so, fixed them today and poured a pint and it looked dark grey coming out of the tap at first. Dumped it to see if it was something in the beer lines and poured another... And another. It did clear up and lighten up but still looks off. If I were to describe the color in one word, I'd go with "grey" but in certain light it looks amber (like beer, but not like this beer should be), and when pouring it, it almost looks like there's a pink/reddish hue?

Either way, it's so far off what it's supposed to look like based on past experience that I couldn't bring myself to even taste it. The smell doesn't match the first keg either but it doesn't smell like something is obviously wrong. Maybe a bit grassy instead of tropical like it should be based on the hops.

Got a few pictures. Even between these pints, the beer clears up a bit. I bet if I let it set a week the next pint will be closer to charcoal.

 

[day_trippr]

I dunno about "gray", but that beer looks oxidized af...

 

[salomonj]

I'm wondering and maybe could have a answer for y'all's question. Are y'all using distilled gallon water no chlorine or minerals? Or y'all using tap water? If so in a bucket, fill it up, and let it sit for a day or 2. the chlorine in the water will gas off and basically be like bottled water with added minerals. I read that chlorine can make beer greyish. but also I've drank some greyish looking beers at some bar/restaurants before that serve 100+ beers.

 

[day_trippr]

Greetings, @salomonj, and welcome to HBT!

 

[M54B25]

Are y'all using distilled gallon water no chlorine or minerals?

Interesting point. For that batch, I was not--I used straight tap water. It's interesting that only half of a 10 gallon batch would go bad off of an ingredient, but it seems it could definitely expedite oxidization so the second half would be worse.

I've since then started adding campden tablets to my brew water, but on my last brew where I did the same white IPA, I forgot them, doh!

 

[starretj]

I’ve just had an incident with a “grey” beer and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to why it happened.. beer was an American wheat with a light dry hopping of 3g per litre. I rub a brew pub... beer is going on 2 months old because of Covid. This week it just turned grey... in all 3 kegs. Can’t sell it anymore