big late addition hops causing grassy?

Hi there,

Had a few batches lately that I was expecting to a have a big hop flavor and aroma presence but actually was more of a grassy or strange hop flavor. Has anyone else had this with late kettle additions? So far it has happened with 5 gal batches of a pale (stone clone from this forum) and also with a brown but less noticeably so. The hops used were Ahtanum and Centennial respectively and I think 1 oz at flameout with the pale and 2 oz with the brown. I have have good with late additions of other varieties such as simcoe, cascade, amarillo, and even brewers gold. Is it maybe the specific hop variety that can cause these flavors if used in large amounts, or anything else I could be doing wrong?

Also, a question on technique, when doing flame-out additions, how long are you folks leaving the hops in? I generally leave them in until I'm nearly chilled to pitching temp (immersion chiller). Maybe this is too long?

Thanks for any help.

Coincidentally fellow Portlander I recently brewed a Stone PA. I am not in love with the beer and am trying to figure out if it's the Ahtanum hops, the WLP002 or a combo that leaves me less than satisfied. In your case two different beers leads me to think H20 possibly. Are you adjusting the water or filtering?

I did a Two Hearted clone several months ago with all Centennial and it took a few extra weeks beyond my normal conditioning time for it to mellow out. Drinking the last of it now and it turned out to be a very good, floral hop bomb.

I noticed an oniony type flavour on a beer I used centennial to flavor. It took an extra month to blend in.

Hmm, so it's not just me. I built up my water from RO, using TZ's spreadsheet and aiming for over 100 ppm Ca, RA of 70 and Cl:SO4 of 0.7. Also, I used Wyeast 1098 (WLP007 equivalent), and it is a bit fruity in a estery-yeasty way. But the brown ale was with either 1056 or US-05 and had the same thing.

Thanks for the feedback, let me know if your Stone PA mellows out with age. At about 5 months now, mine is still less than tasty, certainly drinkable though.