Homebrewing has ruined me of commercial IPAs

Yooper said:

Ah. Well, I use pretty flocculant yeast when I can (WlP001 has been pretty good for me), but sometimes I use Denny's Favorite 50 when I want a strong malt presence too, and it takes forever to floc out! But normally, the beers are done by about day 5, pretty clear by day 8-9, dryhopped for 5 days and then kegged. If I add more hops to the keg, it takes a while for that aroma to "work", since it's at fridge temps but normally the aroma is just fine.

I think pitching a healthy yeast starter, having the OG in the 60s, using whirlfloc in the kettle, and kegging clear beer means having mine ready really early.

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Yooper,

I've only been brewing for a year or so and have yet to brew an IPA I prefer over the commercial stuff.

I've been doing BIAB 2 gallon batches lately. I did a pumpkin ale for my wife for Halloween and that came out clean and well rounded.


I've done two versions of Northern Brewers IPA and then a version of Chris Colby's Roswell IPA from his Beer and Wine blog.

I believe my measuring, mashing, boiling and cooling techniques are good....may not be perfect but I produce wort that hits the numbers. The IPA's so far are lackluster...drinkable....yes....but no where near anything like the commercial beers I enjoy; Maine Brewing's Lunch, Flower Power and Lagunitas etc etc.

Could it be my water? I use campden in my tap water and don't know my water profile. Do I need to play with my Ph and mineral content to produce a decent IPA? Should I clarify; I use no finings at all so far.

I have fermentation control also (I made the ebay aquarium controller and hooked it up to a mini-fridge along with a heating pad). I usually let it ferment (US05) for 1 to 2 weeks and then bottle...letting it condition 1 to 2 weeks.

I did ask Chris Colby about bottle conditioning and he suggested 1 week at warm temps (80 degrees at most) and 2 to 3 days in the fridge. I did that and nothing...not much aroma (I did dry hop) and lackluster flavor.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Yes, if the IPAs are lackluster, but the recipes are good and other beers come out well with no off-flavors, then I would look at the water as the likely suspect.

Can you find a water report? If not, try buying reverse osmosis water from the store for just one batch. Use some additions (we can help you with how much and which ones), and see how it comes out. If it's great, then you know your water is at fault.

You can get a water report from Ward Lab for about $26 or so, if you want to send in a sample. It's helpful because mash pH is criticial, and you may find that you can use a few simple additions to make your beers really shine.

Yooper said:

Yes, if the IPAs are lackluster, but the recipes are good and other beers come out well with no off-flavors, then I would look at the water as the likely suspect.

Can you find a water report? If not, try buying reverse osmosis water from the store for just one batch. Use some additions (we can help you with how much and which ones), and see how it comes out. If it's great, then you know your water is at fault.

You can get a water report from Ward Lab for about $26 or so, if you want to send in a sample. It's helpful because mash pH is criticial, and you may find that you can use a few simple additions to make your beers really shine.

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Ok...thank you for the response.
Is RO water easy to find? Could I use distilled?
I'd like to try the experiment with store bought water just to convince myself about getting a water report.

adamjackson said:

It seems these days, the only IPAs I care to buy are local Vermont beers like Heady and Hill Farmstead. Any IPA that's nation-wide at my local beer store simply doesn't match my homebrew. I'm a terrible homebrew but I keg so usually I'm drinking an IPA 14 days after brewing it...it is just the freshness that makes my homebrew my favorite go to IPA? Or is it something else?

Am I alone in this one?

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Man, do your stores have the good ipa's then? Because I cant seem to get enough of them, the key is usually to get them seasonal(sometimes not so much) or just released and fresh as with any ipa. Any way I have kegged and dryhopped in the keg and it was pretty awesome and with better results than bottleing(because you can stick the hops right in there!). It makes sense but to me nothing I would stop buying great ipa's. Probably only because I like a constant variety,like- I love hop wallop (probably not even close to my favorat ipa though) but I havnt had it in more than a few months because right now I have tasmainian ipa and some Euphoria,Oasis,Dales IPA,Founders red rye,Hop rod rye,maharja,avery ipa, and etc.... goes on and on.

Its like with Pliny for example I received it by mail after a few weeks from bottleing even in the winter but it probably doesnt compare to it being just tapped at the brewery/brewpub. That said I thought it was a pretty great ipa but I have had some I preferr better. Freshness is usually one of the reasons that homebrewers preferr homebrew over commercial, that is if they are making it good and right. Just like why you like G-mas pie over pie in the store.

leesmith said:

Ok...thank you for the response.
Is RO water easy to find? Could I use distilled?
I'd like to try the experiment with store bought water just to convince myself about getting a water report.

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Sure, distilled is fine as well.

The RO water is easy to find, and cheaper. It's in those big "water machines" at grocery stores and places like Wal-Mart.

on the original topic, i feel the same way. i thought i was being snobby so i try not to mention it. i'm also not the greatest brewer. i understand the methods and a lot of the ingredients but my weakness seems to be learning equipment and setting things into motion. i usually miss mash temps by 2-4 degrees either way for example. need a better brewing environment.

Yooper said:

Sure, distilled is fine as well.

The RO water is easy to find, and cheaper. It's in those big "water machines" at grocery stores and places like Wal-Mart.

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Ok, finally got around to brewing again. Did a 1 gallon rebrew of Chris Colby's Roswell IPA and used his recipe for building water from distilled. Also, added some acidulated malt to help keep the ph down. I used Brewers friend mash water calculater, entered in the water profile, malt bill and the acidulated malt brought the ph from 5.6 to 5.4. BIAB mashed at 150 for an hour. Preboil gravity was calculated by Beersmith to be 1.045 and I hit 1.047. Boil went fine but was low on target gravity and added .26lbs of DME to hit 1.068. Rehydrated a pitched yeast amount according to MrMalty. Fingers crossed.