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I brewed a New England IPA and kegged it. The first few pours after moving around the keg come out very cloudy, with a few small leftover hop bits and likely some yeast in suspension. These pours have a distinctive off flavor that I can best describe as metallic. It also produces a slight burning sensation in the back of my throat. However, later pours that come out clear have no sign of this off flavor and are citric, fruity, and delicious. What is causing this flavor? Is it in any way dangerous?

EDIT: after further research, I've seen this described as "yeast bite", and apparently it's common to NEIPAs. I'd still like to know what it really is (what chemicals are involved)

2 Answers 2

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Yeast bite is just the flavour of yeast in suspension. As they drop out, the bite disappears. It's possible, depending on the beer and the yeast, that if you have yeast still in suspension they haven't finished cleaning up, so that could contribute some flavours. But that's not really part of yeast bite.

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Sounds like autolysis. Basically yeast death and canabalism.

When the cell ruptures it releases a lot of different compounds that create a lot of different off flavors.

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