Lacking Flavor

I just tasted my second batch of homebrew, a Stone IPA clone. I followed the directions, but the beer is a little bland. It's hoppy, but not bitter. It almost tastes a little sweet and watery. Definitely does not taste like Stone. My first batch had the same issue, very bland. What could be causing this?

What is the recipe? What were your numbers OG / FG - etc.

We would need to see the recipe to have any idea. It could be any number of things.

BrewerStache said:

I just tasted my second batch of homebrew, a Stone IPA clone. I followed the directions, but the beer is a little bland. It's hoppy, but not bitter. It almost tastes a little sweet and watery. Definitely does not taste like Stone. My first batch had the same issue, very bland. What could be causing this?

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I made a clone of Stone IPA as well and wasn't impressed. Its not done fully conditionig yet, but its definitely lacking hop flavor and aroma. What recipe did you use?

@ MikeinCT - Sorry, very new to brewing still I don't know what you mean by OG/FG.

I'll post my recipe in a while.

OG = Original gravity or maybe SG = Starting Gravity, this is the reading you get from the hydrometer after boiling your wort but before adding your yeast. FG (final gravity) is the reading you get from your hydrometer after the yeast has completed it's magic of turning sugar to alcohol.

If you are looking for big IPAs you need to fix the water. IPAs are not a style for novice's and are more of an intermediate style needing much more care. Longer boils, water adjustments, temperature control. Just sayin

Grinder12000 said:

If you are looking for big IPAs you need to fix the water. IPAs are not a style for novice's and are more of an intermediate style needing much more care. Longer boils, water adjustments, temperature control. Just sayin

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Eh... The 2nd and 3rd batches of beer I made were IPAs. And they turned out great, 60 minute boils. Just sayin' ;-)

We need more info about the recipe to help you.For all we know you could be drinking this before a week and made within 2 weeks.It depends on a lot of things. Is it extract?What yeast?What temp? Log everything when you brew from times to water to..well everything,it will only help yourself in the future also.

Grinder12000 said:

If you are looking for big IPAs you need to fix the water. IPAs are not a style for novice's and are more of an intermediate style needing much more care. Longer boils, water adjustments, temperature control. Just sayin

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people forget that IPA's are just an english pale with a tad more alcohol and hops. Not a lot of mystery there.
the current american super ABV hop brews bare little resemblance to the IPA.

Then there's the American IPA