BeerBorg

Lately, my beers have been killer for the first couple of days, then the hop aroma/flavor tends fade all of a sudden. I can't pinpoint what is going wrong. Could it be the picnic taps I'm using?

I'm actually going to blame my co2. I switched where I do exchanges for my co2 to somewhere closer. Never had any problems, doing things the same way for over 2 years of kegging. All of a sudden I switch to a different co2 place and my beer tastes off in a matter of 4-5 days. I cannot see it being anything else.

That would imply it's not pure CO2... ???

I know that different levels of CO2 can affect the taste by giving it a bittering effect. I also know that some places don't change the filters or whatever it is they are supposed to in their equipment and that can cause problems. It's easy to find out. Empty the tanks, and go somewhere else and wait another week and see what happens.

Beer-lord wrote:I know that different levels of CO2 can affect the taste by giving it a bittering effect. I also know that some places don't change the filters or whatever it is they are supposed to in their equipment and that can cause problems. It's easy to find out. Empty the tanks, and go somewhere else and wait another week and see what happens.

Where do you set your regulator for Pale Ales. I had it cranked to 20 for the first few days, then lowered it to around 12-14 PSI. Should I go lower? I'm a little more than halfway through the keg.
The last place where I got my tank refilled was this beverage distributor. They do a lot of business for restaurants, etc.., but probably just swap tanks for them. I did a refill on mine.
Before that I was using air-gas and never had a problem with any flavor changing. I do know that Airgas is foodgrade, and they probably take better care since they deal with a lot of medical grade equipment. Next time, I'll just go to them

I set mine at 12 and leave it alone. Occasionally, I've done 30 for 1 day, 20 for 2 days and 10-12 for the rest when I want to drink it quickly but I rarely have that need. After that, my keg is perfect until it kicks.

I've read that some of the paintball places offer refills but it's not suggested. In fact, I asked the guys where I go if theirs is food grade and was told they only work with bar vendors and the like for refills and they are checked often but I never asked to see proof. Air-gas is far away from my house but they do refills for homebrewers so I would think you're ok with them.

Beer-lord wrote:I set mine at 12 and leave it alone. Occasionally, I've done 30 for 1 day, 20 for 2 days and 10-12 for the rest when I want to drink it quickly but I rarely have that need. After that, my keg is perfect until it kicks.

I've read that some of the paintball places offer refills but it's not suggested. In fact, I asked the guys where I go if theirs is food grade and was told they only work with bar vendors and the like for refills and they are checked often but I never asked to see proof. Air-gas is far away from my house but they do refills for homebrewers so I would think you're ok with them.

Yeah, the place I got it from is food grade, but maybe they are not good changing filters or entirely sanitary. They do a high volume. I'm starting to think that I trust airgas more though. I have never had a bad keg using airgas. With the beverage place, three kegs in a row have gone bad. It's either the co2 or my kegs are bad. I find it hard to believe that both of my 5 gal kegs are bad.

Haven't had an issue with Airgas. They must reeeaaally fill the tanks full at my location. I'm on at least keg # 10 on this 5# tank and it still shows in the green.

I don't necessarily believe this but it appears to be true but one older guy where I get my refills told me if I bring the tank in cold, it fills fuller. The last 2 times I did the tank did last me much, much longer than it had in the past. He told me it works simply because it compresses more cold.
If that's so, and you leave it out in room temperature, wouldn't that be bad? Obviously not since my 10# tank has been at room temp for over 6 months and it's still in the green.

Ok, it's definitely the co2. I had another keg going at the same time I was carbonating the other one, and it tastes awful too. Tastes infected. I should note that the beer in keg number one has darkened as well.

It is possible though I'm not feeling very positive about it, that purging and using good C02 might, with age, clean up a bit. My question would be will it make you sick. It's rare but I'm sure it can happen.

Beer-lord wrote:It is possible though I'm not feeling very positive about it, that purging and using good C02 might, with age, clean up a bit. My question would be will it make you sick. It's rare but I'm sure it can happen.

I have done 5 kegs with this new co2. Only one of them tasted good, but that's because we drank it in less than two days. I'm not understanding why one of the beers is darkening. I also noticed this in my zombie dust clone last week as well. I did send the beverage company where I bought the co2 from an email stating that I believe their co2 contaminated my beer. We'll see how they respond. In 2 years using air-gas, using the same sanitization procedures, I never had an issue. All of a sudden I buy co2 from another place and have 4 kegs in row go bad.

Darkening is malliard reaction normally. But that should not happen at low temperatures that fast unless somehow it's getting massively oxidized. Which would also make it taste like garbage. Maybe some weird chemical could encourage it, I dunno.

Maybe they filled your tanks with oxygen. I'm not sure how they could have, and it would be dangerous, very bad bad... etc. But it would 'splain it.

Scary to think they'd fill a Co2 tank with anything other than Co2! I'd have to go and pay them a visit to ask them and report the issue your having. I'm not sure if their filler connections for o2 would thread on a Co2 tank, maybe they have a way of testing the gas in your tank?

losman26, what ever happened here? I remember reading this thread and wondering about the outcome.