Brewed an IPA, but not impressed; is it just young?!

So, I brewed up my version of the Walker-San IPA. Basically it was 6lb. light DME, some crystal 60L, and a bunch of hops. Chinook for bittering, cascade and northern brewer for flavor. I did 8 hop additions between 30 mins remaining and flameout. I'm also dryhopping on 1oz. cascade and .25oz. NB. Safale US-56 yeast fermented from 1.060 to 1.012 in 7 days and went to secondary...

Anyway, I racked this to secondary 11 days ago and most of it is still on the dryhop. However, I wanted to get some idea of what I was getting into so I bottled the last two bottles that were in the carboy (nearest to the yeast cake). Anyway, 11 days later they are carbed and I'm unimpressed to say the least. Everyone says (and I'm sure they are right) that Walker's IPA rocks the house, but if this doesn't age better or the dry hop doesn't help this out a lot, I either did something wrong (i do not think this is the case) or I just don't know...

I know it is a green beer (and maybe that is the entire explanation) and these bottles are not dryhopped, but here are my impressions.

Very light mouthfeel (maybe not so bad if the rest of the hop profile was good), but lacking the hop flavor/aroma I had envisioned. How is this possible with 8 additions between flameout and 30 mins remaining?!? It is Definitely NOT lacking the bitterness. At the back of the pallette there is a very strong hop bitterness. This is so bitter it is bordering on astringency (but its not off-flavor astringency which I know from my first batch or two). I'm just amazed that the rest of the hop profile seems to be absent. Will these flavors show up over time?! I thouht hoppy beers were best drank fresh?! Will the dry hopping bring this desired middle palate hop profile out?!

I definitely hope so because this isn't something I desire to drink two cases of.

It's smooth and light in a way (I can see it might be a very good beer if the flavor/aroma were there), but the bitterness bite at the end seems a little over the top for only 50ish IBU. Further, it has no hop complexity in the mid-palate. What happened? Will this age better? Will the drop hop help that much? I sure hope so! Am I overreacting? I guess I'll just wait 3 more days of secondary, bottle, and wait three weeks in bottle before trying it again.

Someone reassure me that this is going to turn out OK though. Has anyone else brewed something similar to the Walker recipe and tasted it after only 18 days or so from brewing?

Where did you get the hops?

My FG was considerably higher than yours at 1.020 - the result of mashing too high. Not sure what Walker intended the OG/FG to be, but mine definitely has some body. Mine was drinkable going into secondary, but fantastic going into the bottle. I wouldn't worry about it, but someone with more experience here (read: Walker) might wanna chime in.

Don't worry and have a homebrew. I just cracked an IPA that I did a month and a half ago and it seems like it changed so much in the last week that I don't want to touch it for fear that it might get even better! The hoppiness "popped" into a wonderful floral and bright flavor, and the bitterness mellowed now and balances out the grain bill. Just let it go and you won't be sorry you waited.

Oh, I definitely don't plan on dumping it. I drank the entire bottle I opened, but it was less enjoyable than most homebrews I down...

I'll probably bottle, wait 3 weeks, try again. If it's still not so good, I'll wait longer. My personal rule is to wait it out up to 6 months before dumping a 1.060 OG beer...

ayrton said:

Where did you get the hops?

My FG was considerably higher than yours at 1.020 - the result of mashing too high. Not sure what Walker intended the OG/FG to be, but mine definitely has some body. Mine was drinkable going into secondary, but fantastic going into the bottle. I wouldn't worry about it, but someone with more experience here (read: Walker) might wanna chime in.

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You also did a full boil (??), whereas I did a partial? Not sure how much effect this has, but probably definitely some...

SilkkyBrew said:

You also did a full boil (??), whereas I did a partial? Not sure how much effect this has, but probably definitely some...

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Very true, especially in light of all of the things you've been extracting from people regarding hop utilization (all of that stuff was news to me too).

ayrton said:

Where did you get the hops?

My FG was considerably higher than yours at 1.020 - the result of mashing too high. Not sure what Walker intended the OG/FG to be, but mine definitely has some body. Mine was drinkable going into secondary, but fantastic going into the bottle. I wouldn't worry about it, but someone with more experience here (read: Walker) might wanna chime in.

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I got the hops from austin homebrew (8oz. package of each) and both were very fresh, green pellets. I was so excited for this brew based on the intense aroma the combo of Cascase/NB was giving off on boiling day, but man I hope it "pops" out sometime... I mean its really non-existent for some reason.

ayrton said:

Very true, especially in light of all of the things you've been extracting from people regarding hop utilization (all of that stuff was news to me too).

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Yeah, I just don't know. Even if I maxed out the utilization in my boil for bittering oils, I would think some hops flavors and moreso aromas would come through, but they are just not there yet... I mean, the fermenter smelled LOVELY out of the airlock and it has nothing now that its in the bottle it seems.

Friday bump - Anyone else with thoughts?

I had a similar experience with this recipe, but I think it was primarily due to racking too much yeast into the bottling bucket. I was careless with my racking cane and got so much yeast that there is a layer about a 1-2 millimeters thick in the bottles. i think the yeasty flavor combined with the sharp bitterness from the chinook hops is overwhelming the hop flavor/aroma. It did get better with aging (I'd say wait atleast 3 weeks since it is a relatively big beer) but next time i might sub northern brewer for the chinook and definitely be more careful with my racking

That could be part of the problem. As mentioned I racked to secondary 4.9g, but bottled two bottles directly from the primary, so there was substantial (2-3mm) amount of sediment in the bottle I tested.

Hopefully the cleared, aged, and dryhopped version is better. It almost has to be!

Mine was excellent- best beer I ever made up to that point. I used Cascade for bittering, though- I'm not "man enough" for chinook. Mine finished at 1.018 and has a bit of residual sweetness that offset the bitterness. That said, it's the dryhopping that truly make this beer IMHO. Wait until after it's dryhopped and clear, and it'll be much better!

Sweet. Hope so. I'm in no way trying to bash Walker's recipe here as I heard (and trust everyone) that it's awesome, just trying to figure out why mine was so bad at taste test #1.

As for bittering with Cascade (5%AA), that is quite different than 12% Chinook.

I should also note the Northern Brewer I was sent were close to 11%AA also. I, of course, adjusted this to the same AU of Walker's recipe (I believe his were 7%AA) by decreasing the amount, but maybe this is also part of the reason. The NB I got smelled fantastic though, especially when combined with the Cascade...

SilkkyBrew said:

Sweet. Hope so. I'm in no way trying to bash Walker's recipe here as I heard (and trust everyone) that it's awesome, just trying to figure out why mine was so bad at taste test #1.

As for bittering with Cascade (5%AA), that is quite different than 12% Chinook.

I should also note the Northern Brewer I was sent were close to 11%AA also. I, of course, adjusted this to the same AU of Walker's recipe (I believe his were 7%AA) by decreasing the amount, but maybe this is also part of the reason. The NB I got smelled fantastic though, especially when combined with the Cascade...

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Right- I used the right AA's though, for the bittering, just subbing more cascade for the chinook. So, the IBUs are probably pretty close. I agree that the NB and cascade together are awesome smelling.

Ahhhh... Gotcha. I thought you kept the amounts the same, silly me.

I may try your iteration of this recipe next time if this doesn't mellow (b/c those Chinook seem rough at this point)...

Have you cracked one after some time in dryhop, yet, SilkkyBrew?