Stale beer- Oxidized?

[FlapjackAM]

I've had a disturbing trend start with my beers. The past three batches I've had (IPA, Scottish, and another IPA) have all come out great- a 'best batch yet' taste for me- and then quickly gone south. Like I'll have a few one night, and the next night it nose-dives. I made a similar thread wondering what this was awhile ago, and I was advised to sanitize my bottles individually (I use idophor) as opposed to doing the whole lot of them in the dishwasher. I tried this with this last batch, and coupled with the rest of my sanitation process I feel like I can almost guarantee its not an infection issue.

By 'stale' I mean it takes on a strange bitterness- not a nice hoppy flavorful bitter, a tart, kind of bitter coupled with a sweetish apple juice type flavor. My first IPA took about 6 weeks in the bottle to reach this point, the Scottish a little less. They almost tasted the same after they degraded this way. And now this most recent IPA looks like its going south after only 2 weeks...

Anyway, I've tried to figure out what the heck is going on, and all I could come up with is maybe oxidation making my beers stale fast. I don't splash, I only rack once, so I don't know what I could change really. All I know is this is damn frustrating. I've worked hard to really nail down a process and take care of my yeast, I regulate temps and use a starter.

Oh, and the IPA's were kits that used LME, the Scottish was DME. I usually do half up front, half at 15. I store my bottles in boxes in a closet, 65-70 ambient.

Any tips or insight would be much appreciated... I have a Hazelnut Brown I brewed today I'm very excited about and I'll be extremely frustrated if it goes bad after 2 weeks...

 

[BigB]

Oxidation is kind of a harsh, wet cardboard flavor. So I doubt its oxidation. Really sounds like an infection. An infection could come in anywhere. Since it sounds like the off flavor comes slowly, likely it is being introduced during the bottling phase and is propagating while in the bottle: Replace any hosing you are using for bottling. Sanitize your bottle caps. Replace your racking equipment. Use a different bottling bucket (those ones with spigots have caused all kinds of problems for people). I would also switch to starsan.

 

[bobeer]

I'd do what BigB said. Replace all your tubing, siphoning equipment, bottling bucket/spigot, etc. If you're not splashing, and only racking once when fermentation is done, then it shouldn't be an oxidation issue. The bottling parts are relativity cheap so it's a good place to start. I recently had the same kind of thing happen to my Oktoberfast beer. I have an oatmeal brown I'm entering in a competition so I'm in the process of renewing ALL my bottling equipment. I hope our browns turn out!

 

[flars]

One day I was cleaning my bottling wand. Used to much pressure from the faucet and the tip of the wand flew off. I didn't know it was removable. There was tiny chunks of gunk between the spring and plunger. I've never had an infection, but I suppose it would have happened soon. Could gunk in some part of your bottling equipment have the same Problem?

 

[FlapjackAM]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I guess infection does sound like a logical conclusion. Is it better to just hook my wand up to my auto siphon and use a regular bucket as opposed to a spigot? I clean all my stuff out but it has been in use for about a year now. When I hold it up to the light I don't see any gunk but it could be hiding. Once this bottle of idophor is gone I do intend on making the switch to starsan, just sounds easier and faster.

 

[FlapjackAM]

FWIW I broke down my spigot and bottling wand- never knew they disassembled. There isn't any visible gunk but man my spigot smells funky. My auto-siphon and wand are relatively new, could I get away with just getting a new bucket (I think I'm going to cut the spigot out all-together) or are they guilty by association?

 

[hellawaits77]

FWIW I broke down my spigot and bottling wand- never knew they disassembled. There isn't any visible gunk but man my spigot smells funky. My auto-siphon and wand are relatively new, could I get away with just getting a new bucket (I think I'm going to cut the spigot out all-together) or are they guilty by association?

Just my opinion, but I'd say your siphon and wand are fine. Sanitize them thoroughly of course, but I don't see the need to throw them away.

 

[FlapjackAM]

Just my opinion, but I'd say your siphon and wand are fine. Sanitize them thoroughly of course, but I don't see the need to throw them away.

I hope so. And I hope this fixes the problem- if it doesn't, I'm at a total loss.

 

[BigFloyd]

I'm not about to give up having a spigot on my bottling bucket and wouldn't suggest that you do so either. For me, the spigot (with a bottling wand attached by a short bit of tubing) is an important part of the "over the open dishwasher door" method of bottling that many of us use.

That being said, anything that has threads, nooks and crannies (like the spigot and wand) should be taken apart and very thoroughly cleaned immediately after each use and given a good dose of StarSan prior to use. If you let those things sit around with even a small amount of residue on them, you'll grow some bugs.

In your case, I'd replace all of those relatively inexpensive post-boil components (buckets, tubing, spigot, wand, etc.) with new and be meticulous about cleaning/sanitizing in the future. Also, look into buying a Vinator for sanitizing bottles.

 

[FlapjackAM]

I'm not about to give up having a spigot on my bottling bucket and wouldn't suggest that you do so either. For me, the spigot (with a bottling wand attached by a short bit of tubing) is an important part of the "over the open dishwasher door" method of bottling that many of us use.

That being said, anything that has threads, nooks and crannies (like the spigot and wand) should be taken apart and very thoroughly cleaned immediately after each use and given a good dose of StarSan prior to use. If you let those things sit around with even a small amount of residue on them, you'll grow some bugs.

In your case, I'd replace all of those relatively inexpensive post-boil components (buckets, tubing, spigot, wand, etc.) with new and be meticulous about cleaning/sanitizing in the future. Also, look into buying a Vinator for sanitizing bottles.

I feel like I'm meticulous with cleaning; I definitely don't let anything sit around dirty. However I just learned today I could take my wand and spigot apart, and while there is no visible residue it's the only source of infection I can think of. Ill take everyone's advice and replace some stuff. I do use the over the dishwasher method and its pretty convenient. Ill let you all know how this batch ages in a few weeks.