Ruined my Pliny clone

This was my second time making MB's Pliny clone - I hit my numbers perfectly and the sample from the fermenter to the keg tasted awesome. I dry hopped in the keg and now 7 days later the beer tastes terrible. It tastes like onions is the only way i can think to describe it.

I usually dry hop in the keg though the first time I made this I dry hopped in primary before transferring it. But I've never had issues with dry hopping in the keg at cold temps.

Looking through my notes the only thing I can think was that I put biofine clear in the keg right before I sealed it up. I have no idea why I added it then - I've never done that. It's always gone in after dry hopping before.

Could the biofine have caused this?

I threw a few ounces of cascade and centennial that I had lying around and need to get did of - maybe it'll help cover it up but I'm expecting to throw this batch away. Sucks as it's a expensive one to make not to mention I was really looking forward to drinking it as I loved it the first time I made it.


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Wouldn't biofine just clarify the beer... So that means it grabs the proteins and yeast and drops them out of suspension. then after the first couple pints all the biofine should be out along with the proteins and yeast.

Sounds like a hop issue... Either variety or the freshness. What kind were they?

I dry hopped an IPA before for just a few days with Amarillo and it turned to straight grass. The hops smelled good when I used them.

I really think that homebrew hop quality is on the downside as my beers just aren't as aromatic as they used to be.

Definitely a hop issue. Certain hops/crops can produce an onion/garlic flavor. Did the recipe include any summit?

The dry hop was 3 oz Columbus, 1 oz each of centennial and Simcoe and at the last minute I threw in 1 oz of Amarillo too. The Amarillo was another change too actually. Everything smelled fresh. I wish there was some indicator for the future. Does Amarillo just not do well as a dry hop?


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j1n said:

Wouldn't biofine just clarify the beer... So that means it grabs the proteins and yeast and drops them out of suspension. then after the first couple pints all the biofine should be out along with the proteins and yeast.

Click to expand...

My thought on the biofine was it stripped out the hop oils right from the pellets and then some other flavors emerged because of that...I've used it before but never during dry hop.


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Do you have any more of those hops left? You could make a tea out of them to test them versus newer hops from an LHBS.

I've heard of Columbus adding that onion flavor. I've had a local Santan beer that tasted onion and I determined it was their Columbus. A few days later it was fine.
I did a beer with Summit hops that gave it a crazy onion flavor. It faded over time.

All I have of those is the Amarillo. The others came in the MB kit. I'll pull a few pellets of the Amarillo and steep them just to see if they were the cause. Thanks!


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Did that summit induced onion flavor go away or just reduce? I'm trying to decide if I should dump the 5 gal I have of this if the centennial and cascade I threw in don't help it out any it's going down the drain.


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It went away fully for me. I would let it sit for a bit and see if it goes down at all in onion flavor over the next week. Hopefully it goes fully away.

I notice an onion or garlic flavor/aroma from Citra hops also.

Carlscan26 said:

My thought on the biofine was it stripped out the hop oils right from the pellets and then some other flavors emerged because of that...I've used it before but never during dry hop.


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Click to expand...

well the hop oils tend to bind to the yeast and the biofine should then drop the yeast out of suspension. if anything you should just get less hoppy flavors.

Its definitely the Columbus (CTZ), which store very poorly and quality varies considerably as it is a commoditity hop. I have tossed bags of oniony CTZ in the past rather than use them.

All of the hops smelled fine when I put them in. I use Columbus a fair bit so in familiar with its aroma and I didn't notice anything off that day. Maybe I missed it. Here's hoping it clears. I really don't want to dump it.


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I would be willing to bet the onion flavor came from the Centennial you dry hopped with.. Hops with higher alpha acids can have that vegetal/onion flavor but it will definitely fade!

I made a pliney clone today and when i opened the Columbus i got a huge onion aroma right in my face. It was right out of a vacuum packaged bag and was in in the freezer. when the hops warmed up the onion smell went away. i thought that was odd. i decided not to dry hop with it though and am going to sub some citra instead.

I think that was a good call. I just sampled mine - the onion flavor is less pronounced and the centennial and cascade are doing there thing. In tempted to swap in some Simcoe in a few days.


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Yeah, hopefully none of that onion comes through since it was for bittering.

Yeah hopefully. Checkpoint back in and let us know please.


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Will do.

Hey just want to update this thread.

I kegged and carbed the PTE clone and had a glass last night. I got no onion flavor or aroma in mine. but keep in mind i replaced the CTZ with Citra for the dry hopping. Only used CTZ for the bittering.

btw this is the best IPA ive made so far.

Thanks for the update! And glad yours worked out.

I was out for two weeks and just tried mine again - the onion is still there on the end but almost gone. I'm going to pull the cascade and centennial I have in there and put in some Simcoe and Amarillo next.




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