Bottle vs Keg taste

[RedRyderr]

Guessing this question has been asked a million times. Didn't see an answer in a quick search here though. Sorry if this is redundant.

Been brewing a couple of years. All grain BIAB and bottle conditioning.
Made a bunch of changes at one time. In making the switch from bottling to kegging the seller of the CO2 set up also had two Rubbermaids with false bottoms that he gave me a great deal on. Couldn't pass it up.

Been making an wheat beer clone that has been coming out very well with BAIB and bottle conditioning. 10 batches in a row and not a bad bottle in the bunch. I made that same recipe with the Rubbermaids. Batch sparged and kegged it. I thought it tasted pretty good before kegging, like what I was used to tasting. But taking a pour from the keg now it doesn't seem to taste nearly as good as what the bottle conditioned beer was. Not a bad or off taste by any means, just not as flavorful I guess?

To the question: for those that have made the jump from bottle conditioning to force CO2 carbing, is there that much difference in the taste of the beer between the two methods?

Only three brews with batch sparge so far. I'm still tweaking my process to hit water volumes and temps. I know that will all come. Just not sure how much of the difference I'm tasting is due to force carbing or my mash process. Maybe I need to do a BIAB brew and keg it, to see how that turns out. Eliminate that variable?

 

[brewbama]

You might try one batch force carbonated with CO2 and the next batch naturally carbonated in the keg with a priming sugar, or transfer it with a few gravity points shy of a complete attenuation, to see if you notice a difference. As you know natural carbonation uses the yeast to consume the sugar — you did this in bottle conditioning. As they consume the sugar they also consume O2 which may be what you’re experiencing (oxidation). Just ‘bottle condition’ in the keg.

 

[IslandLizard]

That! ^

Make sure to put some pressure, 6-10 psi in the keg's headspace to help seal the lid. And check your post poppets for any leakage/seepage.
Look into 100% liquid pre-purging your kegs, and even closed transfers to prevent oxidation.

 

[RedRyderr]

Thanks for tips! Always learning something new with this hobby!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I never noticed a difference when I switched form bottling to kegging. When you make a major change, you often are hyper sensitive to perceived differences. To work it out for yourself, try brewing a standard batch, then bottle half and keg half. Condition each as per your usual process and taste them side by side.

 

[Bobby_M]

You might try one batch force carbonated with CO2 and the next batch naturally carbonated in the keg with a priming sugar, or transfer it with a few gravity points shy of a complete attenuation, to see if you notice a difference. As you know natural carbonation uses the yeast to consume the sugar — you did this in bottle conditioning. As they consume the sugar they also consume O2 which may be what you’re experiencing (oxidation). Just ‘bottle condition’ in the keg.

I agree with experimentation but split the same batch. Way too many uncontrolled variables batch to batch. Also if you leave the bottles to condition 3 weeks also leave the keg on gas for the same 3 weeks. Dont compare the keg at 3 days to bottles at 3 weeks. This is a classic mistake.

 

[RedRyderr]

I have a batch in the fermenter ready to go. For this batch I'm going to try a closed system transfer. Maybe next batch I'll try splitting between bottles and keg, that does seem like the best control.

 

[Day-Day]

The biggest thing for me is the precise control of carbonation with kegs. I really believe that carbonation has a huge impact on flavor, and you can dial the carbonation exactly how you want it, even changing it if need be throughout the life of the keg (or beer in it). If your carbonation is off with bottles... well.. there's no going back.

Over carbed beer gets a soapy sometimes medicinal taste for me. There's been a few times I was able to get the carbonation of the keg down to my desired level (after it was over carbed) and those flavors were gone immediately, you cant do that with a bottle.

 

[RedRyderr]

I'm definitely sold on kegging! It solves a few problems for me. I'll figure out the process. Took me a while to make decent beer in bottles. This is a new process for me to learn..

I did do a 'closed system' transfer from carboy to keg this weekend, hoping to eliminate the oxygen variable from the equation. Worked better than I thought it would to be honest.. Cleaned keg, added starsan. Purged with CO2. Purged air from transfer lines. Hose from spigot on Fermonster to liquid out of keg. Hose from gas in side of keg to where air lock was on Fermonster. Turned on spigot and let gravity do its thing. Displaced CO2 from keg forced back into fermenter. No oxygen, yay!

 

[javert]

I’ve done both natural carbonation in bottle, forced carbonation in keg and pressure bottling, guess I’m just missing natural carbonation in keg to check all marks. Impressions:

· Natural carbonation has the risk of tasting residual sugars even after the beer is reasonably carbonated, especially with some lazier or flocculenting yeasts. However, it leaves very good foam and as they condition they develop some sort of barleywine taste that I love.

· However, I suspect that natural carbonation gives a huge boost to even an inch of lactos contamination so the risk of the beer going sour over time is much bigger, to the point I rather used forced in keg.

· The lack of sugars gives forced carb a much drier finish although in some styles it leaves some sort of “mineralized water” feeling that is refreshing, but somewhat dull to palate.

Forced carb and then bottling is an utter chore I wouldn’t recommend to anyone, and beyond that is less productive since it is limited by the 5 gals of Cornys. If the beer gun or its equivalents give you results, go ahead but I could never get that to work, went to counter pressure but is is a very slow process that takes an entire evening per keg.