Flavor Stability?

A little while ago I brewed my first AG IPA. When it initially came out, it was pretty good. The malt flavor seemed pretty balanced, and there was just an awesome hop flavor. The only thing that it needed a bit more of was some bitterness, something I planned on increasing the next time I brewed the beer. All in all, a successful beer (one of the first since i started AG brewing). I moved all the beer in the fridge, and left it there for about three weeks while I was out of town.

When I came back, I eagerly anticipated drinking my IPA, only to find out that it had aged into a completely different beer. So much so I thought someone had switched my beers out. The great hop flavor was completely gone, and the malt balance was way out of whack. It was like a dark, roasty flavor that just stuck in the back of the throat. Honestly, I disliked it so much, i could hardly finish the beer.

What gives? Why has my beer totally changed in flavor? My previous beers have all slowly changed over time, but this one was pretty drastic over a short time span. Commercial beers in my fridge dont change flavor.. so why do homebrew beers change?

Just sucks to hype up a beer to your friends, and realize its changed so much you dont even like it anymore.

What was the recipe? I am guessing that you might have end loaded your hop additions, which are the first to fade as the beer ages.

Grain:
13 lbs American 2-row
2 lbs Crystal 20
1 lb Victory

Hops:
1.5 oz Centennial (10.2%) @ 60 min
1 oz Willamette (5.5%) @ 30 min
0.5 oz Perle (7.2%) @ 30 min
0.5 oz Perle (7.2%) @ 15 min
1 oz Willamette (5.5%) @ 8 min

Yeast:
White Labs Pacific Ale Yeast


I understand that hop flavor/aroma may fade, but it really wasnt in the bottle that long.

It shouldn't have faded that quickly. You say you can barely stand to drink it, are you sure it's not contaminated? How many bottles have you drank?

It's not contaminated. I guess "barely drink it" is more an exaggeration based on my frustration. It's drinkable, but not terribly enjoyable. The malt flavor is just very strong, almost roasty, although i dont know where that flavor comes from. Probably the crystal malts.

Khirsah17 said:

It's not contaminated. I guess "barely drink it" is more an exaggeration based on my frustration. It's drinkable, but not terribly enjoyable. The malt flavor is just very strong, almost roasty, although i dont know where that flavor comes from. Probably the crystal malts.

Click to expand...

what were your SG/FG?

You are right about the time factor.

That is probably the victory malt you are tasting. I use it when I make english-style IPA's so I get that nice biscuity flavour. I can see a pound of it covering up some of the hops flavours, especially as the late hop addition flavours start to fade.

I agree with bradsul, it is the Victory. I suggest you make a change next time around and use base malt and Munich and your Crystal 20. Victory has a distinctive biscuit flavor that is more at home in ambers, nut browns and darker beers. Also, perhaps you had some air in your beer when it was packaged and is it possible you frig was off for a time while you were gone?? If so, it could be oxidation you are tasting. Just a thought.

Dr Malt

It could be the victory, i agree. It is a relatively high percentage compared to my base grain. I guess it still doesnt solve my nagging problem that my homebrews are just constantly changing with time. What is causing this change? Is it the yeast? Im going with the assumption that once you fridge a beer, the yeast settles out and makes a very little change on the taste of the beer. But I may be wrong. If i filtered out the yeast, would my beer flavor be more consistent with time? Again, i cite that microbrewed beer that sits in my fridge for 2 months tastes pretty much the same as a fresh pack.