Retaining hop flavor after fermentation

badmajon · 09-02-2010, 08:53 AM

Hey all,

I've noticed that sometimes my hop flavor seems to dissapear after fermentation. It starts out as a crisp nice hop bite prior to fermenting, with particular hop flavors apparent (i.e., you taste the fuggles, nugget, citra) but two weeks later the hop flavor loses intensity and just kinda blends together into a generic hop background flavor profile.

This doesn't always happen to the same extent, but it always happens more or less. Is this just normal beer brewing or am I doing something wrong?

**Gibbnal** · 09-02-2010, 11:11 AM

Try bigger late hop additions (hop bursting) and/or dry hopping 2/3 of the way through fermentation. With hops like Amarillo you can really capture that fresh hop aroma without going over the top on bitterness.

I tried a 15 minute boil extract batch with Columnus/Mt Hood at 5 min and 0 min and it is one hoppy beast.

**944play** · 09-02-2010, 12:39 PM

Another option is priming or kraeusening with a hop tea. Since you're only adding about a quart to five gallons, there's a limit to how much hops you can add, but since they get hot-steeped and none of it gets blown off, a little goes a long way.

badmajon · 09-07-2010, 10:23 PM

So next time I'm thinking of using 1 oz goldings 60, 1 oz fuggles 30, .5 oz citra 50 and again at 55 and then dry hopping with another ounce of citra. Would that make much of a difference as compared to 1 oz goldings 60, 1 oz fuggle 30, and 1 oz citra 50?