Beer Forum

I brewed a hefeweizen in late July and kegged it two weeks ago. I tasted it a week ago today and it had a very nice banana/clove nose and tasted delicious. It was the fourth hefeweizen I've brewed this year and I've used the same tried-and-true recipe every time. Two days ago, I go pour myself a generous draft and the nose wasn't as strong as it had been the week before. It also had a strange bitterness to it, almost like wheat character in beer multiplied times 100. I guess this could be astringency, but it struck me as something between that and DMS. I tried the beer again tonight and it had gotten even worse, to the point where it was undrinkable. My fiancee has tried the beer at each stage and agrees that something is seriously wrong.

What I did:
Sanitized all equipment that came in contact with the beer from carboy to keg.
Let sanitizer sit in the keg for an hour and drained thoroughly.
Sanitized the lid and o-ring from the lid as well.
Sprayed Star-San on the both keg poppets before connecting to gas/faucet.

What I didn't do:
Disassemble the keg poppets and sanitize them. I don't have the right socket but will be picking one up ASAP.
Clean the beer lines. (I have a two-tap system with three kegs, and didn't have another free keg to push sanitizer through. Stupid mistake, I know.)

What I'm currently doing, on the advice of a friend:
Disassembled the faucet and shank, cut the beer line off the barbs on the faucet/beverage out, soaking all of that in PBW.

Could junk in the beer line and/or faucet have caused this? Has anyone had this happen to them? At this point, I'm resigned to the fact that the beer in the keg has been tainted and will need to be dumped. Is there any hope? I'll relax, not worry, and drink a craft beer, since the kegerator is currently FUBAR.

Thanks for the help.

Unfortunately, it sounds to me that you have accurately diagnosed your problem.

RIP, Mr Hugh Hefeweizen.

It is always a good idea to sanitize your keg parts and lines with every beer.