Thats basically what I do. A key is to put some C02 on the keg to make sure it seals up properly. I usually let it set at serving carbonation for a week too, but that personal preference.

I’m starting to brew more often, and may be storing beer outside the kegerator before actually tapping the new kegs. I think if I had the beer naturally carbonating while it’s outside the keg, it would definitely help me to make sure that when a keg is rotated in, it’s actually carbonated and it’ll save me a few days.

David – That’s a good call and I will throw down on that next time around. It crossed my mind before, but I never did anything about it. Glad you like my blog and I appreciate the feedback.

Brad – I like the idea of those drops. A guy in my brew club has a homemade mix that he uses with a syringe, but it sounded a little sketchy to me. I’m willing to give these drop things a try.

Kevin – I use the grinder at my brew shop so I’m sure if there were a problem, there would be all sorts of ornery brewers up in arms. I use the wand with out the spring thing on the end just for measuring. I say have a ball with that credit card money, it’s about time we northerners got our fair shake.

Angry – I never considered that shaking might be problematic, but I’m willing to put it all on the table at this point. I’ll sanitize the spoon and stir the old fashioned way. I use municipal water and it’s pretty decent water. I always secondary in glass, but I do primary in buckets. The thing that’s odd about all this is that the brew from the keg is great. It’s just the stuff in the bottle that has problems.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I’ll be sure to post up some more on this as I investigate further.

Cheers!

The thing is, when I go back and look at How To Brew, Palmer said that oxygen is a sherry/cardboard like taste. Do you think oxygenation is really the issue? He says that metallic flavors could be caused by the way the malts are stored. Do you grind your own malt?

Also, how do you bottle? Is it a regular bottling wand type situation? I am also from the north, and therefore not flush with the cotton harvest money, and therefore do not have shiny new Blichmann toys, so I’ll have to be snaking the credit card video info as well to upgrade things. No more using a bottling bucket as a hot liquor tank for me!

So what do I do? I buy the Cooper’s carbonation drops, put one in each bottle before filling, and don’t worry one bit about shaking or mixing in sugar.

Not sure it will solve your issue (as I just recently started filling bottles from a keg at all), but it might be easier.

I thoroughly enjoy reading the blog. Sorry for your recent slaughtering by the MNB boys, and as a fellow northerner, I’d like to offer my .02 on your bottling issue.

First thing’s first – cut out the keg. Go back to the good old bottling bucket. Works much butter, plus you can stir in your primer and not have to shake the keg, which is probably where your getting your metallic taste/oxidation. Number two, switch your primer to DME. Boil it through the hot break and add to your beer as you’re siphoning into the bottling bucket. Just my opinion. Let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Dave