Messed up my IPA- not enough priming sugar??

Hello all-

I recently made a Extract 115th Dream Hopbursted Imperial IPA from Northern Brewers. This is my second batch, and I was fairly confident in my budding skills since my first batch (Extract Breakfast Stout from Austin Homebrew) was delicious!

Unfortunately, it is a hot mess. It barely has any carbonation (my friend said it's very flat, like fruit juice), smells a bit weird (not much of a hop aroma), and tastes like crap. I am wondering what I did wrong could mess this beer up. I have several hypothesis but my main theory is not enough priming sugar:

1. Not enough priming sugar. I did not add the full 5 oz pouch that came with the kit because the instructions said to pour in 2/3 cup of priming sugar (which was less than the 5 oz pouch I had).
2. Possible unstable fermentation temp? My first batch was fermented in my closet which is fairly dark and cool. This batch I tucked it away in the corner of my bedroom because my bedroom is usually colder than the rest of the apartment, so my fermentation temp was around 66-70 degrees. I do wonder if any exposure to sunlight in my bedroom altered the fermentation process? There was also a few times where we left the AC off (to open the windows and get fresh air) and the beer rose above 70 degrees, how would this impact fermentation?
3. Accidental oxidation? While I was transferring from primary to the bottling bucket, somehow the end of the siphon hose rose above the beer, creating a mini foundation of beer and causing some splashing. This probably lasted like 10 seconds so I am wondering if this introduced enough oxygen to cause oxidation?
4. This batch is also the first time I used a strainer for the pour to fermentation bucket. There was so much hop material that I had to empty the strainer three times. I did clean and sanitize the strainer with starsan, but would this somehow introduce infective elements to my beer prior to fermentation?
5. I included a picture of the beer, and it does not even look like an IPA. Barely any head even with an agressive pour. Am wondering if I did anything wrong with the cooking process? I followed the instructions to a T, and added the hopburst blend of hops at 15 min, 10 min, 5 min, and flameout.
6. All of the above?

Would appreciate your feedback on this!

I didn't read all of it sorry.

How long in bottle?

Was the first hop addition at 15 mins?

1. Not enough priming sugar. I did not add the full 5 oz pouch that came with the kit because the instructions said to pour in 2/3 cup of priming sugar (which was less than the 5 oz pouch I had).
This could be why you have little carbonation. Different beers have different amounts of carbonation. Also, the amount of priming sugar you add varies based on the temperature of the beer.

Possible unstable fermentation temp? My first batch was fermented in my closet which is fairly dark and cool. This batch I tucked it away in the corner of my bedroom because my bedroom is usually colder than the rest of the apartment, so my fermentation temp was around 66-70 degrees. I do wonder if any exposure to sunlight in my bedroom altered the fermentation process? There was also a few times where we left the AC off (to open the windows and get fresh air) and the beer rose above 70 degrees, how would this impact fermentation?
What are you fermenting in and what yeast did you use. Most ales will do just fine within that temperature range but once you get over 70 you risk off flavors.

Accidental oxidation? While I was transferring from primary to the bottling bucket, somehow the end of the siphon hose rose above the beer, creating a mini foundation of beer and causing some splashing. This probably lasted like 10 seconds so I am wondering if this introduced enough oxygen to cause oxidation?
IMO I do not think this would be enough to cause a significant amount of oxidation.

This batch is also the first time I used a strainer for the pour to fermentation bucket. There was so much hop material that I had to empty the strainer three times. I did clean and sanitize the strainer with starsan, but would this somehow introduce infective elements to my beer prior to fermentation?
Also, IMO I don't think this would be the problem. I have done this several times to help aerate the beer before pitching the yeast.

adamdillabo said:

I didn't read all of it sorry.

How long in bottle?

Was the first hop addition at 15 mins?

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full hop schedule was 2 oz cluster hops at 60 and 30, then 3 oz hopburst blend at 15, 10, 5, and flameout.

been in bottle for 3 weeks.

Keep in mind that high ABV beers often take longer to bottle carb than low ABV beers. Think 4 weeks instead of two for a minimum. Could certainly be longer though.

freisste said:

Keep in mind that high ABV beers often take longer to bottle carb than low ABV beers. Think 4 weeks instead of two for a minimum. Could certainly be longer though.

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that reminds me- OG was ~1.080 and FG was ~1.020

The priming sugar would have little to no impact on flavor, only carbonation. Let it sit a bit longer and your carb amounts should come around.

I don't see anything to suggest a huge mistake that would affect flavor. Are you sure you sanitized correctly?

I did the all grain version in bottles too and was very dissapointed in the beer taste. Being a hop head, I was expecting eurphoria and did not get close. maybe its actually the recipe or just us. BTW, I know my brewing skills are fairly good.

Sheldon

milo_leon said:

that reminds me- OG was ~1.080 and FG was ~1.020

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That's nothing astronomical, but it is high gravity. I would expect that to take at least an extra week in the bottle to carb up vs. a 1.050 beer. Give it a little more time, then give it a good 2-3 days in the fridge. Then take it out, let it warm just a little, and pour into a glass. Until you do all that, you won't really know what the true flavor is.

histo320 said:

What are you fermenting in and what yeast did you use. Most ales will do just fine within that temperature range but once you get over 70 you risk off flavors.[/COLOR]

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I was fermenting in a Austin Homebrew plastic bucket, using US-05 yeast.

eric_618 said:

The priming sugar would have little to no impact on flavor, only carbonation. Let it sit a bit longer and your carb amounts should come around.

I don't see anything to suggest a huge mistake that would affect flavor. Are you sure you sanitized correctly?

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I like to think I sanitized correctly. I usually wash everything with mild soap then rinse. After that, I soak everything in StarSan for several minutes.

milo_leon said:

I like to think I sanitized correctly. I usually wash everything with mild soap then rinse. After that, I soak everything in StarSan for several minutes.

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Don't use soap... Just use StarSan, if you used that in your bottles then you could be seeing the reason you have no carbonation is the detergent screwed things up. Most around here run there bottles through the dishwasher without any soap and water. I personally just run hot water rinse, and then spray some star san in the bottle and let air dry.

BiologistBrewer said:

Don't use soap... Just use StarSan, if you used that in your bottles then you could be seeing the reason you have no carbonation is the detergent screwed things up. Most around here run there bottles through the dishwasher without any soap and water. I personally just run hot water rinse, and then spray some star san in the bottle and let air dry.

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This is great advise EXCEPT for letting the Starsan dry. It needs to stay wet to be totally effective. Once it is dry it is no longer sanitizing.

A few thoughts:

• Cover your carboy with a towel or something so light can't get to it.
• Use a swamp cooler to keep closer to more ideal fermentation temps.
• Watch out with strainers/colanders. Depending on the type, some (such as the mesh kind) can be difficult to sanitize. Others have trapping areas that can't be cleaned.
• Most IPAs benefit from dry hopping for the aroma kick. Split your later additions and save some (1-3 oz per 5gal) for dry hopping or get some extra hops.
• The beer looks quite dark. If this was an extract recipe, make sure you didn't scorch the wort. Even minor scorching adds a weird flavor. Also, to keep it lighter, add 1/3-1/2 of the extract at the beginning of boil. Dissolve well before applying heat again. Add the balance at flameout.

kh54s10 said:

This is great advise EXCEPT for letting the Starsan dry. It needs to stay wet to be totally effective. Once it is dry it is no longer sanitizing.

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+1 on wet Starsan.

Assemble spigots, airlocks, etc. wet, in your Starsan bucket.
Speaking of spigots, those 2 plastic barrels that make up the main body need to be separated to clean. Immerse in hot water first to soften the plastic.

You do need to use a cleaner like PBW or washing soda/oxy-clean to clean your equipment. Starsan is a good sanitizer, but not a cleaner.

A (mild) soap could leave residue that kills head retention or leave off-flavors. But a good soak in hot PBW or washing soda will remove that soap film. I use washing soda a lot, and for real finicky areas, PBW, or my own homemade mix.

Make sure everything gets rinsed well after using a cleaner, and before you sanitize.

Hello,

Your beer taste bad because.
Your beer has only aged/conditioned in bottles for 3 weeks, most beers taste like crap at 3 weeks.
Good beer takes time, most of my beers age/condition for 2 1/2 to 3 months, I know this is an IPA but it needs more time to become good.
Taste of beer changes with time, most of the time beer flavor becomes a lot better with time/age.
I would not even try that beer untill it was in bottles for at least 1 1/2 months (minimum).

Your beer has no carbonation because.
3 weeks is a minimum for carbonation, bigger beers take longer, 6 to 8+ weeks is not uncommon.
Also when you do chill these for drinking, leave bottles for 3 days in fridge to allow co2 to get into solution before opening.

Welcome to brewing !

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Thanks for the many tips on cleaning! Will get some PBW and alter my cleaning routine

Will give the bottles a few more weeks before passing final judgement. Definitely a learning experience!

looks like from the picture you have head about an inch...my guess that the carbonation didnt make it into the beer...my guess if its only been in bottle for 3 wks at a 1.080 beer is too short...second after a couple months of conditioning it should rest in the fridge for another few weeks to really get the co2 in the beer...good luck and give as an update.

I'm not really sure what you mean when you said "it tastes like crap."

Taste is highly subjective. And putting words to it, adds more ambiguity.
What one calls "young (or green) beer" someone else may call "crap." But is it really crap, in the more absolute sense of that word?

It is important to recognize what an un- or under-carbonated beer tastes like and have confidence it will mellow out over time.
Spotting possible infections or other off-flavors is something that only experience will teach you, again, over time.

For example, if my beer tastes like an ashtray, I would consider that total crap, and find out why that happened. Once I would realize it came from scorching the extract I'd consider dumping the lot or see what happens to learn more. Heck I would spot a problem that huge in my fresh-chilled wort, when drinking my hydro sample.

Now most smaller deficiencies only show up later, once the beer is done fermenting and conditioning. In those cases I would have a hard time saying it tastes like "crap" because of a bit of off-flavor. If it tastes like beer, but maybe not as good as it should, I need to pay more attention to details and perfect it more next time.

Or if indeed it doesn't resemble drinkable beer, that means something much bigger went wrong in the process. And yeah, that's "bad."

So what does your "beer" really taste like? Beer, beer with an off-flavor, bad, or crap?

Take it for what it's worth, http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/115th-dream-hopbursted-ipa-extract-kit.html

Read the reviews, some talk about the beer being a little on the flat side. I would have gone 5oz of sugar for sure. It's what kept me from doing that kit.

jonnyp1980 said:

looks like from the picture you have head about an inch...my guess that the carbonation didnt make it into the beer...my guess if its only been in bottle for 3 wks at a 1.080 beer is too short...second after a couple months of conditioning it should rest in the fridge for another few weeks to really get the co2 in the beer...good luck and give as an update.

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yeah that head was with a very aggressive pour. will give it more time