Flavor gone from IPA

I made the extract Falconer's Flight IPA from AHS and just before bottling it had a strong grapefruit flavor, stronger than I would have liked. Even though it was strong, the description said it was citrusy and that grapefruit was one of the flavors so I was happy I made it to taste like it was supposed to, or so I thought.

Last night was two weeks since bottling and most all of the citrus flavor was gone and not really any recognizable grapefruit flavor. Will the flavor start to come back once the bitterness starts to fade or will now be the most flavor it will have?

Does carbonation affect the flavor at all? After a week and a half of fermenting it wasn't quite finished and it had a little bite of carbonation and I didn't notice a strong grapefruit presence. Then a week later when it was finished fermenting and flat, it had the noticeable grapefruit flavor.

It's still a drinkable beer, but just wondering what to expect from here.

How many oz. of hops were in the beer, and at what locations did you place them? The dryhop, or lackthereof, can particularly affect the aroma/flavor in an A-IPA.

Carbonation should make the beer taste better, not worse. The short time it takes to carbonate shouldn't affect the fresh hop bite, aroma, and flavor of an IPA.

Yes carbonation affects flavor. And what usually happens is that if folks taste their IPA's too early, and through the process, the flavors appear to vanish just before carbonation/conditioning is complete, but once the beer is ready to drink, the flavors/aromas come back even better than before. What's happening is that some of the other flavors from the malts are developing now, so the hops appear to take a backseat, but once everything comes into play, everything balances out and you end up with the beer you want.

Relax, check it in another couple of weeks and you'll be happy, I'm sure.

Thanks for the replies. The instructions said let it age 5 weeks for best results, but I was just mainly checking to make sure it was carbing up like it was supposed to. I have no problems waiting another few weeks.

Just for reference since you asked, I added 2 oz at 60 min, 1 oz at 20 min and 1/2 oz at 15 min and then dry hopped with 1 1/2 oz for about 8 days.

it's strange that your fruitiness faded that fast. mine typically lasts a few weeks after the batch has carbonated (i.e. for you that should be right now).

did you use oxygen-absorbing caps? i've read claims that they can absorb hop aroma as well.

carbonation affects the perception of flavor. as the CO2 bubbles rise out of the beer they carry hop aromas up with them, along with other aromas. high carbonation also causes a "bite" on the tongue, makes been taste sharper and a little more bitter IMO.

at the end of fermentation the beer does contain carbonation - typically about .07-0.8 volumes of CO2. if you could smell the grapefruit more while the beer was still fermenting, that's likely because it was venting CO2 and carrying volatile hop aromas with it (just like the carbonation of the beer in your glass carries hop aroma). once fermentation was over, there was no blow-off, so nothing was bringing the smells to your nose.

khkman22 said:

Thanks for the replies. The instructions said let it age 5 weeks for best results, but I was just mainly checking to make sure it was carbing up like it was supposed to. I have no problems waiting another few weeks.

Just for reference since you asked, I added 2 oz at 60 min, 1 oz at 20 min and 1/2 oz at 15 min and then dry hopped with 1 1/2 oz for about 8 days.

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i would keep tasting the beer regularly, as hop flavor can fade. i prefer my IPAs fresh - they're best as soon as they're done carbonating. maybe it's my recipes or my process, but 5 weeks after bottling my IPAs have peaked and are about to start their descent.

nice recipe. i find it interesting that they have no flameout hops and nothing later than 15 mins. 1.5 oz dry-hop is fine but again not extreme. overall that hopping schedule is a tad on the light side. i wouldn't expect this beer to be extremely hoppy.

khkman22 said:

The instructions said let it age 5 weeks for best results,...

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SEE! If it says something like that, and you KNOW you tried it too soon, then why stress out about it? There's a REASON we say these things. It's NOT to yank new brewer's chains by depriving them of their beer. It's Because carbing and conditioning beer is not like making koolaid. It takes time. I don't understand the propensity to disregard what an instruction or information has to say, THEN get worried if the result is less than expected.

Not to hijack a thread( well I guess that is the point) but I made Yoopers 60min clone and I am having the same issue, except I feel like it has lost all of its flavor and aroma. It was malty and slightly hopped in the beginning and now nothing. Is my capper bad? Am I a bad capper?

I've noticed that my IPAs change pretty dramatically over the course of 8 weeks, regardless of the recipe/hop variety, and always for the better. Let 'em sit. You'll be happy with the results later.

"2 oz at 60 min
1 oz at 20 min
1/2 oz at 15 min
1-1/2 oz dryhop"

... For more hop aroma & flavor, I would have done:

1 oz at 60 min
2 oz at 15 or 10 min
2 oz at 0 min
3 oz dryhop

Revvy said:

SEE! If it says something like that, and you KNOW you tried it too soon, then why stress out about it? There's a REASON we say these things. It's NOT to yank new brewer's chains by depriving them of their beer. It's Because carbing and conditioning beer is not like making koolaid. It takes time. I don't understand the propensity to disregard what an instruction or information has to say, THEN get worried if the result is less than expected.

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right, but we can agree that some kit instructions are crap ("transfer to secondary after 5 days", "use 5 oz of priming sugar", etc)... so it's hard to know what information to heed and what to ignore. luckily newbs have revvy

bobbrews said:

... For more hop aroma & flavor, I would have done:

1 oz at 60 min
2 oz at 15 or 10 min
2 oz at 0 min
3 oz dryhop

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NOW yer talkin.

sweetcell said:

right, but we can agree that some kit instructions are crap ("transfer to secondary after 5 days", "use 5 oz of priming sugar", etc)... so it's hard to know what information to heed and what to ignore. luckily newbs have revvy

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Anything that says a SHORT period of time is wrong. But a lot of more "realistic" kit instructions (Like Northern Brewer's) are starting to accurately reflect the real times these things take, including mentioning extended primaries and total time from grain to glass that are more inline with the gravities of the beer.

Revvy said:

SEE! If it says something like that, and you KNOW you tried it too soon, then why stress out about it? There's a REASON we say these things. It's NOT to yank new brewer's chains by depriving them of their beer. It's Because carbing and conditioning beer is not like making koolaid. It takes time. I don't understand the propensity to disregard what an instruction or information has to say, THEN get worried if the result is less than expected.

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I am not stressing about it, but since I may have been storing it a little cooler than it is supposed to be, I wanted to make sure the yeast didn't go dormant, which is the only reason I popped one open. I am a new brewer (2nd batch and 1st IPA) so I was just checking on if I needed to wait to enjoy the rest or if I could just continue drinking now because it is carbed enough. Since the flavor change was quite dramatic I didn't know if it was possible for the beer to get its flavor back.

But my original post was not meant to be one of panic that I ruined my beer. I'm just trying to learn more about the process in general. I know you're a respected poster and was glad to see you commented on the thread, so this response is not meant in a negative tone in case that is how it comes off, just to explain my main reason for posting to begin with...I'm green, just like my beer.