The Serious Business IPA - Questions, Concerns

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project_dc1

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Hey guys. Well, it's been 2 weeks since bottling the "Serious Business IPA" (which I posted about here) and I had to try one to see how things went.

It's not bad. But it's really not what I was going for at all. Granted, it's still a week early, according to the 1-2-3 method. But I think something is amiss.

The main thing I notice is that it's very dry in the finish. Your mouth just feels dry and parched. There's a slightly earthiness about the flavor, perhaps on account of the oak chips?

I don't know. It's certainly bitter, but not the bitter I was hoping for. And I think I should have waited longer to add those cascade hops, as the aroma isn't quite what I wanted either.

Could the Columbus hops be a culprit as well? They had comparable bitterness to the magnums I wanted, but my shop was out of the magnums so I had to bite the bullet.

So, I don't know. Again, not bad, but still not what I wanted.

I want to re-try the recipe with a larger brew kettle, to get a full rolling boil for a solid 60 minutes, and I'm also going to invest in a secondary. I left this baby in a primary for 3 weeks. I wonder if that also is contributing to the funkiness.

Any tips or ideas? Thanks guys. :mug:
 
my only comment: last week I had a porter that a buddy put oak chips into. he suggested I let it age longer...he'd had it about 3 weeks in the bottle, I kept it about the same length.

there was something off about it...I chalked it up to the oak chips. i've read a few posts where slight over use of oak chips caused a funk that only time could fix.

I do know that hops will mellow a bit over time, so you might just give it another 2 weeks and try another bottle. I don't think 3 weeks in the primary would contribute any off-tastes unless temperture was high and stressing the yeast. Though I wouldn't expect it to be as clear as if it'd had time in secondary.
 
Fermentation never got above 70. My house is nice and cool. I think it's the oak chips as well. But again, the brew was also not without its problems.

Thanks for the tips. I'll see what I have in a week or two I guess. But next time, I think I'm going to skip the oak chips.
 
I don't think your variety choices are at issue... Your recipe loads two ounces of two high alpha bittering hops @ 60 with just that cascade addition @ 15 to cover all the flavor and aroma bases. Look at your anticipated SG from the ingredients and compare that to your IBUs just from the 60 min addition and you have....

Another thing to consider is the possibility of extracting tannins from your steeping grains if you were not keeping an eye on the temps. The previous thread mentions some vague temps and simmering.

The dryness...what was your actual SG and FG? High attenuation combined with big bitterness sure could make a dry finishing beer.

Patience may pay off on this one as it may require some extra conditioning in the bottle to mellow out some.
 
Just give it time. Hoppy IPA's can be brutal out of the gate. Another month or two and it might mellow out. Also, 2oz of oak is lot. How long did you oak it for?
 
project_dc1 said:
I did a 3 week fermentation, all in a primary, with the oak chips in the whole time.

Yeah...that accounts for some of the harshness. I'll typically use 1-1.5oz of oak for 2 weeks at the most.
 
So do you think this batch is officially shot, or will it settle with a little time? Got me kind of nervous now. :(
 
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