So I am having an issue with my Milkshake style ipa I brewed. I used my base NEIPA recipe, but bumped up the abv. 2row, flaked wheat, flaked oats, white wheat, dash of honey malt, dash of crystal 10, 1lb lactose(5 min left in boil) London 1318 yeast, 7lbs of strawberries and 4lbs of mangos, 3 vanilla beans(in tincture) for a 6.25 gallon batch. 5 days in primary(once vigorous fermentation over) then 5 days in secondary racked onto fruit and vanilla beans, then cold crashed for 48 hours. Closed/forced co2 transfer to purged keg. It has been drinking amazing, even took a bunch to share to some places yesterday. Well I get home from work to fill a growler to go share with a buddy and noticed it was pretty clear coming through the keg line. So I poured a glass after that to inspect it. Well it looked like this At first I was shocked and instantly thought oxidation got a hold of it, but when I sampled it I didn't taste oxidation or any off flavors. Obviously it didn't taste the same as yesterday. A little stronger on the fruit and hop flavor, but less NEIPA flavor (if that makes sense). So I swirled the liquid in the keg gently and took another pour and boom Right back to normal color, flavor, and aroma. So I dumped the growler I filled and filled another one. Got to my buddies house and poured our glasses. About a minute or 2 later the beer started separating in the glass. That darker looking liquid started floating on top of the beer and it was tasting off again. So I am puzzled as to what could have caused this or if anyone else has experienced this. The keg has maybe just under a gallon left in it if that makes a difference. As a side note my base NEIPA recipe has never separated like this even after 3 weeks in a keg.
I'm not seeing the dark liquid..? But settling of particulate matter is natural. Most people don't think of yeast as free solids but they are. There's a number of things that can effect how long they're suspended. I'm assuming when you tried it 'clear' is was a distinct flavor, a bit sharper, maybe even perceived slightly more bitter, and then swirled it was more of a muddled, softer taste? I never used London Ale cause it always makes this nasty grassy/herbal taste with my favorite hops, but I've found when you swirl the yeast/oats/whatever else into suspension it softens the blow of the hops. The change could be from lots of thing.. acidity, oil, lactose.. maybe you oversaturated the liquid? who knows. Keep shaking your keg if you want, but there's nothing wrong with it.
Sorry didn't realize I left this picture out haha This is what was in the growler before I dumped it and refilled it. My first thought was it could be separating from the lactose, or the juice from the fruit. The keg is almost gone so I guess this liquid could have been floating on top the whole time and now it's down to the bottom it' actually coming through the diptube.
You got a lot of stuff going on in that glass. From the fruit pectins, to hop particulate, yeast trub, probably some proteins. Not too mention the lactose happening in there as well. I would say it's natural it's going to separate with that amount of opportunities for things to cling on to each other. Some things are also bound to heavier than others in there.
oh damn, oddly enough i think thats from the vanilla. weird solubility think with the alcohol/oils in suspension.
The beer was absolutely fantastic and I would love to brew this beer again in the future. Any advice on some things I could adjust in the recipe to see if it stop this from happening or at least slows it down? Luckily the keg was 75% gone after 3 days. Then again this dark liquid that came out could have been in there the whole time floating on the top and finally reached the bottom now. If it due to juice from the fruit, would the juice float on top or would the beer float on the juice? My initial guess is that the juice would float on top of the beer.
I mean those juices are still from water dense fruits. As far as I understand it they're not particularly oily fruits either. Could #1 try using honey as an emulsifier and see if that works? or #2 use vanilla extract instead of soaking the beans. Either way, with the new england style especially, appearance shouldn't be a big concern at the homebrew level. Cheers! edit: do mangos change color with oxidation? you know how avocados do.. not sure, not really a fruit guy.
The appearance isn't my concern, its what is causing it because all my other NEIPAs have not done this. Vanilla beans, Fruit, and Lactose are the only new variables in this beer. I guess I will have to adjust/change only one variable at a time here to see what caused this to happen. I have had milkshake ipas from Tired Hands that were a few weeks old(based on canning date) and none of them were separated.
if it develops quickly from pour to rest, I'd say oil/alcohol connection to vanilla bean solubility just seems too dark a color to not stem from the vanilla
http://www.foodadditivesworld.com/emulsifiers.html just mix it in. best bet would be honey, but you could use soy lechitin whatever the hell that is just dont poison your beer
I think there’s probabaly multiple reasons for this, including what’s already been listed. I’ll theow one more idea out there, what generation if yeast is this? Is it possible that a 4th-5th generation of London 3 doesn’t suspend like a fresh pack of 1st generation? I have no idea if you used a late generation yeast or if it would have any bearing on this problem.
I know when I made neipa brews they would start dropping out after 3-4 weeks. I just figured too many hops to be suspended in the bottle. Never made one with fruit, but got white goo forming on the bottle bottoms after a while. Shaking it up after 3-4 weeks did not improve the favor.
Well I did top crop that yeast from a previous batch and instantly made a starter out of it. I took that starter and divided it evenly between 4 jars. My 2 previous NEIPAs were made from this top cropped yeast and didn't have the problem, but maybe with it being a 10.5% beer and all that fruit in there it didn't like it. So I am remaking this beer at around 8% and only gonna use like 6lbs of fruit instead of 11lbs and see if that fixes it. It's in the ferm chamber right now. Soon as it is done and carbed up I will report back on the results.
I have a NeIpa I did that's 70% pale 30% oats that I split the batch and dry hopped 2oz/gal one mosaic other cascade. After 5 weeks the mosaic is completely "clear" and the cascade is slightly foggy both with about a 1/4 of crud on the bottom. I've been giving them a swirl and let them settle for 30 min before pouring. The "clear" ones smell and taste the same but aren't as creamy or silky.
