Hop bitterness gone?

[iamatuna]

Hey All

i was just wondering if anyone has had this happen?

i made a hoppy dark lager with 1.5oz of hallertaur in 1 gallon few months back with san fransisco lager yeast and it took forever to ferment (didnt stop bubbling for 2.5 months).

I just tasted it and the hop flavour is GONE!! its not bitter at all and it does have this off flavour to it but its not bad....dont know how to describe it.

Just wanted to know if anyone has had anything similer happen??

im going to bottle it in a few days, i will let everyone know how it turns out

 

[ethalacker]

2.5 months seems like a long time for 1.5 hallertaur. Hops fade in time, unless this was a real big beer, then most of the hop flavor is gone.

 

[rexbanner]

2.5 months seems like a long time for 1.5 hallertaur. Hops fade in time, unless this was a real big beer, then most of the hop flavor is gone.

Really? I think most medium to big beers need about 2 months to really taste best. 3 weeks fermenting, 1 month conditioning. Some small beers and stouts will taste perfectly fine right off the bat, but even those end up tasting a little better after being given a small amount of time to mellow. Stouts definitely taste better fresh though. That's just my experience though.

 

[goose1873]

how long did you boil the hops? pellet?

 

[DrawTap88]

Just this morning, I read in the book Yeast by Jamil Z. and Chris White that an increased cell surface area depletes the isomerized alpha acids in wort. Not sure why or how, but throwing that out there as another possibility.

What everyone else said is correct too. To add to that that you probably got bad utilization from the hops since there was only 1-2 gallons of water during the boil since it was also a big beer.

 

[iamatuna]

I found out what had happend.....

Bret got in it, so the hop flavour was there but all of the bottles developed a nice white film on them which neutralized the flavour of the hops for the most part, the flavour did come back but with an underlying dirty infected taste

Anybody know of a good way to remove bacteria from bottle and carboys, i have something in the carboy now and it started to develop some white growth so i hit it with sulphites, racked it and re-pitched; i think i saved the batch but i fear the carboy is gone....any thoughts?

 

[DrawTap88]

What kind of carboy is it? Glass can probably be saved, but a bucket or better bottle probably not.

 

[JJL]

I found out what had happend.....

Bret got in it, so the hop flavour was there but all of the bottles developed a nice white film on them which neutralized the flavour of the hops for the most part, the flavour did come back but with an underlying dirty infected taste

Anybody know of a good way to remove bacteria from bottle and carboys, i have something in the carboy now and it started to develop some white growth so i hit it with sulphites, racked it and re-pitched; i think i saved the batch but i fear the carboy is gone....any thoughts?

Bleach the glass. Toss the plastic.