IPA Lacking Body When Cold

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woodmansee

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So this is my third brew, and I wanted to try my hand at an IPA, and since I've done so much reading and researching between brews, I wanted to try to be a little creative beyond the extract kit I bought from the LHBS (Listermann's, Cincinnati OH). So I decided to go with an American IPA kit which included 6lbs LME, 1lb Crystal60 for steeping, 1.5oz Fuggles for bittering, 1oz Cascade for 30min, 05.oz Cacade for Flameout, and 1oz Cascade for DH. I wanted to take this one a little further and picked up 2 extra ounces of Casade and 2oz Simcoe Pellets, and revised the boil plan to look like this:

Steep 1lb Crystal 60 in 2.5 Gal for 30min
6lbs LME (They say Canadian LME on the sheet, but I think it's just light LME in reality) 60min
1.5oz Fuggles 60min
1.5oz Cascade 30min
1oz Cascade Flameout

Hopstand @ 180F of 1oz Cascade and 1oz Simcoe for 1hr
(In reality I brought the wort to 180, put the hopstand hops in and left it at room temp for the hour, so the temp dropped from 180-~170 or so over the hour)

OG: 1.055

Yeast: (This is where I have now directed my worry) I bought a pack of US-05 to use in this beer thinking they would give me a no name non-ideal one in the kit, but it turned out they gave me US-05 as well, so I rehydrated both packs and pitched them into the wort at 70F.

Fermented at 63F for 7d and began checking gravity. On day 10, it had been at FG 1.010 for 3 days, so I tossed in 1oz Cascade and 1oz Simcoe for Dry Hopping, and let ride for 10 more days.

After 10 days dry-hopping, I bottled. Hydrometer samples and sample at bottling time all tasted freakin great! WooHoo.

But then last night I threw a bottle in the fridge after 1 week in bottle (I know, too early for it to be completely ready, but wanted to see how it was coming). When I poured it, everything looked good, there was some carbonation but not quite to what I am aiming for, so great, it needs another week or so.

Here's where it gets strange. There was a nice good hop aroma coming off of the beer, but it seemed sharp compared when I had moved it to bottles, not as full and pleasant. The I tasted, and there was virtually no malt character to the beer at all. Almost like hops in alcohol water. I was very dismayed, thinking I had just blown the malt away with hops. But I let the beer sit for a while. Admittedly, after checking a therm, SWMBO had the fridge turned way down to about 34F. And as the beer warmed up, the maltiness started to come back, until when it was near room temp, it tasted wonderful again. So here are my two points:
1) Critique my recipe please :mug:
2) Was the lack of body solely due to the temperature? I have trouble believing this, since I've drank some commercial IPAs from the same fridge and not had the same issue (although perhaps to a slight extent, just not as pronounced). Or did I perhaps over ferment this by pitching twice as much yeast as I really needed? Or any other explanation?

Thanks in Advance! :mug:
 
I'm not sure if this would explain the perception of a lack of body, but I think you may have used too many hops for that OG. Hops and gravity need to balance out - your hop bill looks like something I would use in a double IPA in the 1.073 OG range.

Also, your beer is still a little young. Let it bottle age for another 2 weeks and try again. Carbonation does lend mouthfeel to a beer when its colder.
 
Cold dulls the sense of many flavors, and the sense of body will be likewise affected. Lack of proper carbonation will make the body less full as well. Give it time, and don't drink good beer below 45F. IPAs usually do better around 50, if you ask me.
 
i liked my IPA much better when warmer. Cold crash in the fridge for the carbonation but drinking it as cold as a lager "isn't my bag baby"
 
Thanks for the replies! I'll give them more time and drink them at a more appropriate temp and I'll report back!
 
I've made that kit before and it turned out fine. I agree with above to give it time. If its still just OK, the beer most likely isn't balanced with the extra hops.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Home Brew mobile app
 
Absolutely agree that IPAs and other craft beers that I drink almost ALWAYS taste better as they warm up. Tonight I was stoked to find that my local liquor store had Green Flash Palette Wrecker in stock. I have read about this beer, but never had the opportunity to buy it. I was so excited to try it that I didn't want to wait until it had been in the fridge for a day, so I just stuck it in the freezer for about 15 minutes, just to drop it a bit below room temp, and I can attest that it was amazing!!! I would not have wanted it any colder.
 
So I gave this beer more time in the bottle and it's really coming around! It is still very hoppy, but that's what I was going for. The malt backbone has come through more and the carbonation level is much better, and all around I'm really enjoying it! RDWHAHB
:mug:
Side note: This beer came out brilliantly clear! It's a nice amber color, but you can literally watch TV through it. I'm not sure what I did to get this to happen, as my wort cooling wasn't very fast, but no complaints!
 

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