Just curious, what are the effects of oxidation on the flavor of a beer. I was bottling a batch today, and during the racking process I’m afraid I may have oxidized my beer too much. Just wondering what to look for if that’s the case, (hopefully it won’t be!).
First, unless you REALLY screwed up, you’re probably OK. Second, the effects of oxidation take a while to show up, so even if yo did it, the beer may be gone before it’s a problem.
Now, to answer your question…the conventional wisdom is that oxidation gives a beer a “wet cardboard” flavor. That can be one symptom. I’ve also found oxidation to produce exaggerated caramel flavors and sherry notes.
[quote=“Denny”]
First, unless you REALLY screwed up, you’re probably OK.[/quote]I agree. You would really have to go out of your way to oxidize your beer while racking in IMHO.
First, unless you REALLY screwed up, you’re probably OK. Second, the effects of oxidation take a while to show up, so even if yo did it, the beer may be gone before it’s a problem.
Now, to answer your question…the conventional wisdom is that oxidation gives a beer a “wet cardboard” flavor. That can be one symptom. I’ve also found oxidation to produce exaggerated caramel flavors and sherry notes.[/quote]
Denny is exactly right and I have almost nothing to add.
One thing I will say is that some people, myself included, are not put off by the caramelly version of oxidized beer. In fact, in the old days in England, the stock ales were aged on purpose for this, whereas the mild ales were the young ones served fresh. In many cases, when the beers were poured they would give you a specific blend of new and old beer, and might even charge more for the old oxidized beer! depending on who and what era, etc. I have a few 5-year old bottles of strong ales saved for me for special occasions because I kind of like them. But this aging process works best for really strong beers where the alcohol is more than say 7 to 7.5% ABV. And it does get pretty strong where a blend might not be such a bad idea. But, I digress a bit.
I’m sure you’ll be just fine, especially if you don’t leave the beer sitting around for years and years!
In addition to the above bottling will help scavenge any O2 uptake unless you REALLY oxidized that beer.
This is an important point. The yeast will consume some oxygen when the carbonate the beer. A few years ago I decided I’d bottle beers from the keg and get sediment-free bottles to give away. Turns out they didn’t age nearly as well as the beers that I bottled conditioned, and I’m back to priming when I bottle.
Thanks for all of the feedback, I definitely feel a bit more encouraged. The reason for my concern was because I, (for the first time ever), skipped a secondary fermentation and racked right from my primary into my bottling bucket. There was way too much trub/debris in the bottling bucket, so I transferred it to another carboy, re-sanitized all my equipment, and then re-racked it back into the bottling bucket, to eliminate all of the chunky gunk.
I was worried that the multiple transfers would have oxidized it too much, but seeing as how I normally am pretty good at minimizing bubbles and air exposure when I rack, I think I should be okay.
Thanks again, Cheers!
Are you suggesting that there are some intangible benefits to using a secondary carboy for us bottlers? Sacrilege! :mrgreen:
