Weird colored NEIPA

[Jholmes0581]

so u have recently started making my own NEIPA recipes with BIAB. The color have been changing so much during conditioning. The go in the bottles golden/hazy yellow and have been coming out brown. So far out of 5 batches I have had 1 come out out looking like a real New England ipa. I remade that batch and this one came out brown after conditioning as well. Anyone know what’s going on? I’m posting pics of the same recipe but 2 different batches so u can see what I mean.

[voodoo_donut]

Unfortunately you are being visited by the oxidation demon. This is a common problem with this style in particular. Oxidation occurs when oxygen comes in contact with your beer any time after pitching your yeast(and according to many, even before- see hot side oxidation)

When you dry hop, double dry hop, transfer to secondary, bottle, these are all opportunities for oxygen to interact and ruin your beer. The early dry hopping produces polyphenols that are particularly felt to be prone to oxidation and ultra short shelf life of these beers. Even careful bottling technique can be prone to this, as I bottled 3 batches in 2015, and all but one exhibited some degree of oxidation.

These beers when oxidized will take on a brown or even purplish color.

[Jholmes0581]

Yes!!! One looked almost purple!! It’s so weird...how do I prevent this?

[Jholmes0581]

Yes!!! One looked almost purple!! It’s so weird...how do I prevent this?

[voodoo_donut]

If you are a better bottler and Brewer than I was a few years ago, you could conceivably pull it off with minimal splashing, careful transfers, and possibly cutting back dry hopping to one large round while fermentation is active( co2 "scrubs" o2). Shorten some of the intervals also as your fermentation allows. One thing is for sure, faster to package and drinking young seems to be the rule with the commercial guys also. Trillium, Tree house etc, their beers are usually gone within about a week I'd guess.

Short answer: kegging.

[hd4mark]

I had a beer come out looking just like that. Sure wish I could remember what and when it was so I could look it up and see if I had any notes on it.

Was this kegged or bottled? Mine was most likely kegged since I bottle almost nothing. If kegged was it conditioned in the keg? How does it taste? An oxidized beer will taste like cardboard. By the picture, it sure looks like it.

Prevention wise, try not to splash the beer anytime you are transferring it after fermentation. "Rack quietly". Purge the keg.Some people will completely purge the keg before racking the beer in, I just quietly fill then attach the CO2 and pull the relief valve a couple of times.

[voodoo_donut]

He's bottling. On a different forum there's a back and forth on this, and some are using co2 to fill the bottles, pre fill the bottling bucket, etc but the problem there is most homebrewers who bottle likely don't have and don't plan to have co2 tanks......

[sneezles61]

Our home town brewery has an air hose gizmo attached to the CO2 line... they just freely spray their "crowlers" as they can... I don't recall any off flavors from them... Sneezles61
I should side note, all their brews are pushed with CO2 also..

[tominboston]

I would definitely go along with the oxydization theory. I have brewed a couple of NEIPA’’s and the color has stayed constant (like your pic before bottling). But I keg so once I have it transferred from the primary there is little chance for more oxygen.
Brulosophy did a neat experiment with the NEIPA and exposure to oxygen, results very similar to what you are seeing. You can look at it on their web site.

Tom

[WMNoob]

Looks like oxidation for sure. We make a NEIPA as well and keg. At first we racked it in. We lost 1 of 2 batches to oxidation. It was okay at first but within two weeks had a purple tint and was had a weird almost cardboard taste. Since then we transfer under CO2 pressure and haven’t had an issue.

[hd4mark]

I have dry hopped for a long time with no problems but wonder if with the tremendous amount of hops going into some of these beers if that can add to the O2 entering. I just dropped 2oz in spice balls into 5 gallon kegs and 4oz into a 10. Then racked onto them with priming sugar in all but one keg. Purged each one by blasting with CO2 and pulling the relief valve.

I can't really figure a practical way to flush the O2 out of the hops first so the only alternative might be to drop them in the keg and purge the O2 before racking into it. Then it would still be possible to introduce some O2 but it's a precaution. The down side is it uses a lot of CO2.

[sneezles61]

They fill CO2 tanks every day! Sneezles61

[hd4mark]

I have four tanks ranging from 5 to 20lbs. I don't mind using up the CO2 or the cost, just too lazy to go get it.

[brew_cat]

Yeah I oxidized a neipa once and it turned brown

[JustSomeChef]

Hi guys! I am on my fourth batch, an NEIPA extract kit. I’m on my fifth day of primary fermentation, and am reading up on all the different opinions and viewpoints of dry hopping. I am bottling and don’t have any co2 contraptions. I’m terrified of oxidizing this beer as it took a long time to get to this point. Seems to be differing opinions on when to dry hop: primary or secondary?

I have an idea to leave it in the primary bottling bucket and dry hop 5 days before bottling, then cold crash in an ice bath (very limited resources where I live) for a day or two to compact the trube. I’ve read about dry hopping in primary to prevent oxidation and off flavors, and also read that dry hopping for too long can cause grassy/off flavor problems. I’ve also read that a transfer to secondary is completely unnecessary for homebrewing unless adding some other form of sugar or fruit or whatever to ferment.

Seems like a transfer to secondary might present a greater chance for oxidation than popping the top of my fermenter for a minute and dry hopping a few days before cold crashing and bottling. (I have pellets and no hop sock or cheesecloth just FYI).

Any thought or opinions greatly valued and appreciated!!

[squeegeethree]

IMO cold crashing your NEIPA is a waste of time. You aren’t aiming for a clear beer so why bother. There is something to cold dry hoping I have heard but I haven’t tried it. I also feel that dry hopping for more than a 3 days is not productive.
Some of the best on going dialog about dry hops can be found on Scott Janish’s website

http://scottjanish.com/

[voodoo_donut]

I definitely wouldn't secondary an NEIPA and I agree with advice above to not cold crash. My recommendations above stil stand. Transfer quietly and bottle without splashing. Drink quickly as these are best within 2 -3 weeks of packaging. Also .....Look into kegging down the road.

[JustSomeChef]

Cool thanks!!! As a noob I am probably overthinking a bit.

[JustSomeChef]

Awesome thank you!!! So many variables to consider, esp for this particular beer

[sneezles61]

And yer just dipping yer toe into this big , vast hobby.. Welcome!
Sneezles61