Eddiebosox
Well-Known Member
I have had this problem since I started brewing 4 years ago, and after maybe 40 batches of beer. I cannot get a really hoppy IPA. Sure I can get a nice bitterness to my ipa's, and some definite hop flavor, but I cannot, for the life of me, recreate that powerful grapefruit citrus aroma and flavor that I get from a commercial craft beer. Now mind you, I have tried everything. I have made a basic 2 row only single hop beer, I have mixed my grains to have just a touch of crystal, to a decent amount. I moved to all grain just to get more hop utilization thinking that was my problem. But still nothing. I've tried various yeasts from safale dry, to California yeast, to English yeast. And I've hopped the ever loving hell out of it. I've dumped in more hops in the last 30 minutes of the boil than you can imagine, and dry hopped it mercilessly, and I can't get that floral citrus punch I so desperately crave. What could I be doing wrong? I've used hops (pellets mostly) from hopunion, Austin homebrew, and brewmasters warehouse. All with the same results. A decent IPA with good bitterness but a very, very mild hop aroma and flavor. But I want a grapefruit hop BOMB. The odd thing is, every time I go to add my hop pellets, be it cascade, Amarillo, Willamette, or Citra, they really dont have that grapfruity citrus smell that I get from the commercial beers I like. But when I research the beers I like they all say they use pellets. maybe I should look at hop oils? Wet hoping?