What's that oxidised flavour all about?
To start with, its the reaction between fatty acids naturally present in wort and beer, reacting with oxygen to give a pronounced "wet cardboard flavour", this is bad news on it's own. Given enough time and oxygen in packaged beer, this is inevitable!
What else goes wrong, how can you tell?
The reaction of oxygen and metal ions in beers produces hydrogen peroxide as an intermediatery, this stuff pretty much immediately oxidises polyphenols in beer. Oxidised polyphenols, have a darker colour and polymerise more easily. Basically an oxidiesed hazy IPA will go dark and lose some of its beautiful haze too!
What does BMAN do to prevent all this badness?
At BMAN, the whole process is geared up for oxidation reduction and preventon. We don't transfer finished beer between tanks, keeping it safe and sound in the Unitank after fermentation until packaging. Packaging is always performed with CO₂ purges in kegs and cans, and counter pressure filled into kegs. And finally a healthy dose of Vitamin C is added to all beers, which has powerful anti-oxidant properties, just as relevant in beer as the rest of life!
