Beers changing flavor after a few weeks

Sounds like it may be the onset of oxidation to me. I have had similar experiences with some of my very hoppy beers as well.

 

Like @OddNotion posted, sounds like an oxidation problem here.

Cheers!

 

I am sure that some BAs would encourage you to keg instead but I bottle all of my beers (including the hoppy ones like IPAs) and I do not have the issues you are describing. It is important to minimize splashing and any other forms of introduction of air (oxygen) to the beer during the bottling process.

My bottled homebrewed IPA beers typically last about 3 months. At the 3 month mark the beer is still drinkable but the hop aroma is diminished. There are no other flavor changes other then the hop aroma fade.

I typically get 9 months of shelf-life for moderate gravity ales/lagers. For my higher gravity ales I obtain 1+ years of shelf-life. I have a couple of batches of high gravity ales that are 2 years old in my basement.

Cheers!

 

Yes, cold crashing could be sucking oxygen into the fermentor, especially if you're using buckets, which have a large surface are of beer coming in contact with the air. If you're using a carboy that's full to the neck it's less of an issue, but could still be one.

When transferring, make sure all the hoses are well sealed and you don't get a constant stream of tiny bubbles flowing with the beer. What's your bottling process? Do you use a bottling wand?

 

“Could the sheer volume of dry hops added post-fermentation be causing the oxidation?” Not a likely cause.

“Could the cold crash be sucking oxygen into the fermenter and causing the oxidation?” I personally do not cold crash but that sounds like a distinct possibility to me.

Cheers!

 

When you introduce hops, you also introduce oxygen. When you're racking and bottling you also introduce oxygen. All the guidelines are to minimize this introduction...but there is no way to completely remove oxygen exposure.

You can get pretty darn close when kegging and transferring under CO2, however.

 

To some degree yes. Kind of the driving force behind the Stone "Enjoy By" series

But of course your own process could be making it worse.

 

You might try:

Ferment in a bottling bucket. Bottle directly from primary via the spigot.

Let the caps rest on the bottle for 15 min. or so before crimping. The idea being that CO2 escaping from solution will scrub out some of the O2 in the headspace. (Not so sure about this one.)

The sad reality is bottled-homebrewed IPA's just don't have much of a shelf life.

 

Yes.

ALL of my heavily dry-hopped beers have suffered faster oxidation than my non-dry-hopped. Personal experience, my hopbursted APA has no discernible hop loss after many weeks. However, my dry-hopped APA's and IPA have noticeable loss after 6 weeks (I keg), I have been able to stretch it out a bit farther by adding hops to an empty keg, and pressurizing with C02 for a few hours. This helps scrub much of the O2 from the hops.

 

I had the same problem when I brewed up a big batch of a pliny the elder clone. The massive hop flavor faded and the beer changed. It happened in the same time frame that yours did. The beer was still good, but a lot different. I guess that's why Russian River wants that beer to be consumed right away.

 

Alan, it is my practice to place the caps on the bottles and wait 30-60 minutes for crimping. I did this for my very first batch 20 years ago and I will be doing this later today for my 342nd batch. I have always had very good shelf-life for my bottled beers including my hoppy beers. Maybe this practice is indeed very effective?

Cheers!

Jack

 

Based on two of my failed beers, the color change and taste change probably indicate oxygen. It'll only get worse, trust me. How are you capping? Using EZ-Cap style bottles or regular beer bottles? If regular, see if you're getting those oxygen-scrubbing caps and you might want to invest in a bottling gun to flush out your bottles with CO2 before filling.

 

Pretty standard, as I assumed. The mesh bag is a common practice, so it's unlikely that's the culprit. Given the current facts, I'm inclined to look at cold crashing as the primary suspect.

 

The issue is that with bottling all bottles are full of O2.

If you leave head space in your bottle you're leaving O2 in the beer.

If you want your IPA's to last longer, kegging is necessary.