Grassy taste from keg hopping

[orangemen5]

So I kegged my first beer and dry hopped it in the keg after a lot of reading on keg hopping. It was all simcoe hopped pale ale. 1oz dry hopped in fermenter and 1oz into the keg. Turned out great.

My second beer I kegged was an ipa. 3 week primary. Tasted great going into the keg. Dryhopped with 2 oz of cascade and 1/2 oz cenntenial. All into the keg. ( using pellets by the way). Put it on gas at 30 psi for 24 hours and lowered it to serving pressure.
After 24 hrs took a sample and it's all grassy and tasting. Like wet grass. Waited 3 days to see if it was any better and it didn't improve. I pulled the hops out because I wasn't sure if the hops themselves were the problem but they smell great in the freezer vac sealed.
Is it normal for the first few days of keg hopping to be grassy. I'm wondering if I made a mistake by pulling them out and it would have conditioned out.
I've dry hopped tons of beers in secondary's and primary's and never had a taste like this. It's undrinkable at this point. My first beer had no grassy taste at all right from the get go. It's my first time kegging and keg hopping so I'm not sure what to expect.

 

[khillian]

What temperature was the keg at during the dry hop?

 

[jekeane]

I have dry hopped many times in the keg. I often leave the hop sacks in for the life of the keg. I have had the grassy taste happen twice, both times with cascade hops. I don't know if that is your problem, but I don't hop in the keg with cascade anymore.

 

[orangemen5]

What temperature was the keg at during the dry hop?

The keg is at 38-40 degrees

 

[orangemen5]

I'm thinking it has something to do with cascade hops also. I have a keg dry hopped with simcoe and the bags been in the keg for 2 weeks so far and taste delicious. Did the grassiness fade on the kegs you hopped with cascade?

 

[MollyHatchet]

I have dry hopped several times using Cascade hops,many times I have let the hops in till the keg was empty and never had this happen. I have always used 2 oz of whole leaf from my garden. Interested to hear what the causation is.


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[jekeane]

cascade pellet vs cascade whole leaf would be like using 2 different hop strains when looking at them possibly causing grassy flavors. I have only used pellet cascade.

 

[khillian]

Its complicated, the type/source of hops do play a role, but I do believe only cold dry hopping is not going to produce optimal flavor. If our goal is to extract the hop oils, think about oil and alcohol extraction, this will not happen well at keg serving temperatures. So if the oil extraction is severely inhibited at serving temperatures all your left with is hop tannins and polyphenols. I always do a 3-7 day dry hop at room temperature, here in SF thats around 65-70, then move to the kegerator with the hops in or out it doesn't matter because you have gotten the extraction.

 

[pvpeacock]

I find that I get a very strong, actually too strong taste of hops when I dry hop in the keg that lasts a few days and a few pints. Those first pints are also very cloudy from what I assume are the smaller hop particles which escape the paint strainer bag. After that, the hop taste mellows and by the end of the keg, many of my kegs have very little hop flavor left. Now that you've pulled the hops out, I would let it settle at cold temperature for a few days, toss any cloudy pints left and try it when it clears.

 

[orangemen5]

I did take the dry hops out and let it sit for a week in the kegerator. The grassiness did fade to where it's drinkable but it's still their in the flavor not so much the aroma. I'm going to throw 2 oz of centennial in at room temp for a few days to try and cover it up a bit.