Eliminate My Off-Flavor

[greenfrog5]

First Brew: standard extract + steeped grains American Amber
Second Brew: similar extract + steeped grains American Pale
Third Brew: different all-dry extract + steeped grains American IPA + dry-hop

First beer was good. Maybe a bit too malty for an amber.

Second beer though, had an off taste at bottling. Now that its carbed, same off taste is present, though not overpowering.

Third beer taste really good, very hoppy and fresh at bottling

Now that beer #2 (Am. Pale Ale) is ready, the off-taste is still there, I didn't know how to describe it, but SWMBO immediately (and unprompted in any way) said 'carboard'. I still have a hard time placing the cardboard taste, I get more bland wet-dog kind of thing? What are the other descriptions associated with cardboard?

So, its from oxidation... With all my transfers (for all 3 beers), I've had to pump the auto-siphon a few times to get it flowing. Otherwise, siphons are generally smooth.

This beer did get a bit warm (low-70s) during mid-fermentation with a hot snap of weather, but the main difference with the 2nd beer, is I did have to transport it in the carboy (carefully carried in a carboy hauler, buckled into the car, driven cautiously a few miles on flat/city streets, carried to new apt). It didn't seem to slosh at all, I thought it went very smoothly. Bottling went smoothly too, a tiny leak in the bottling hose/wand.

Is it likely that driving this beer in the car oxidized it? If not, I can't imagine what it would have been... I've been very careful about not oxidizing - what are the most common causes?

We were going to brew another IPA today, but we have to move again in 2 weeks. Should I be concerned about moving half-fermented beer (a few miles in a car)? Or is it likely that something else caused this cardboard taste?

Thanks
Aaron

 

[mfraier]

How long are you letting these bottle conidtion? Can you discribe the off flavor?

 

[greenfrog5]

The offending beer has been in bottles for over a month. As I mentioned, I detected the flavor at bottling, and it is still there. Not sure if its stronger or weaker. I have a hard time describing it, at first I thought it tasted liquid-malty (like we weren't boiling things well enough and getting leftover raw malt flavor), but now I'm leaning more towards slightly musky, wet dog flavor. I'll have my girlfriend and myself further describe the flavors later when we are drinking more beer. I can't draw anything else from memory

It did have two periods of unusually hot weather here in the bay, getting well above 70F - which is what I thought the most likely cause was. But the off-flavor doesn't seem to match typical flavors from hot fermentation.

Mainly, at the moment, I'm trying to decide if I can/should brew our next beer, knowing that we'll need to transport it in 2 weeks. We also have an apfelwein going that will need transport. From what I understand, it should be ok? They seem pretty resilient.

Here are my notes from the beer:

Brewed 11/2/10 Steeped grains in ~3gal for ~30 min
Chiller leaked, may have dripped into top-off water
Brought below 90F within 30 min; Had to top-off with .75gal tap-water
OG: 1.040 (@70F), off due to incomplete mixing of top-off water
Fermenting 11/3/10 Fermenting happily ~78F (hot weather, even in basement)
11/4/10 Bung & airlock blew off last night; quickly replaced with unsanizied, then sanitized
11/6/10 Added wet shirt: Fermenting ~66F
11/9/10 Moved from Berkeley to Emeryville, Fermenting ~64F-66F
11/10/10 FG: 1.010 (@68F); Fermenting 68F
11/15/10 FG: 1.009 (@74F); Hot weather, Fermenting 74F 10:30PM
Bottled 11/16/10 652 oz (36x 12oz and 10x 22oz)
Forgot to stir sugar in, but used swirling siphon in bucket to mix
Drinking 12/2/10 Tasted, hoppy, not fully carbed
12/23/10 KRM: tastes like cardboard; ACW: off-flavor, can't describe, flat, wet dog