Half full bottle very different from others...

[deeve007]

This is probably the ultimate newbie question...

Tasted a NEIPA I brewed last night, bottled a little over a week ago... and the first bottle I opened ROCKED!! So good I had to open a second... same quality/taste/amazingness!!

I am going to leave the rest for another 5-7 days to get a little more carbonation, but it's so good I had to open another today... this one was the last one I filled, so around two thirds full... and it's nowhere near the same quality, quite a bit darker (a "yellow brown" rather than yellow), less carbonated, less of that hoppy "wow" flavour...

Would this be due to more headspace in the partly filled bottle, and/or more yeast sediment being the last of the batch in the bottling bucket?
(I did move from fermenter to bottling bucket to avoid most of trub, but presume some would have got in)

 

[RM-MN]

I'd think oxidation would be the culprit. That would darken the beer and subdue the hop aroma. You also probably have more trub in that bottle and that can affect your perception of the taste of the beer.

 

[camonick]

I would guess early signs of oxidation problems since it’s a NEIPA and only filled 2/3 full.

Looks RM-NM beat me to it

 

[deeve007]

I'd think oxidation would be the culprit. That would darken the beer and subdue the hop aroma. You also probably have more trub in that bottle and that can affect your perception of the taste of the beer.

Why would oxidation be present in a single bottle? Unless you mean from the larger head space.

 

[RM-MN]

Why would oxidation be present in a single bottle? Unless you mean from the larger head space.

This is my thought exactly. With a typical bottle fill there would be very little oxygen in that small headspace but your bottle had quite a bit more. With many beers this wouldn't present a big problem but NEIPA's are more susceptible to oxidation because of the hops involved.

 

[deeve007]

This is my thought exactly. With a typical bottle fill there would be very little oxygen in that small headspace but your bottle had quite a bit more. With many beers this wouldn't present a big problem but NEIPA's are more susceptible to oxidation because of the hops involved.

Ah okay. Interesting if so, so if others are as good (or better after a little more carbonation) than the first two, I'll have learned one more thing to watch out for just that little bit more when bottling...

 

[cactusgarrett]

It's also less carbonated because of the larger headspace. Not as much CO2 went into solution because it remained in the headspace.

 

[mongoose33]

Your other bottles will likely succumb to oxidation at some point. They won't go bad as quickly as your half-filled bottle, but you should drink them sooner than later. There's a rule of thumb some people follow which is that IPAs need to be drunk fresh, as oxidation will mute the hop aroma and flavor.