IPAs have been tasting sweet

[Gentlemans_Ale]

I've recently picked up some sweet notes in my IPAs and I'm not sure where it is coming from - if anything, my most recent IPAs should be dryer than my previous batches. Here are some stats -

OG: 1.058
FG: 1.010
IBU:40
ABV: 6.3%
Mash pH 5.3

Grainbill
92% 2-Row (blacklands malt)
5% C-20
3% Dextrine Malt

Sulf/Chl 150:50, minor NaCl addition

Mash temp: 150

Yeast: Imperial A04 Barbarian

My thoughts: My previous water profile for the last 6 months was chloride forward, Chl/Sulf 150/50, and I was previously mashing at 154 to experiment with mouthfeel.

Am I just perceiving the increased sulfate as sweetness after having brewed with higher chlorides for the last 6 months? I'm not so sure.

Or is my abv/IBU ratio not appropriate and I'm just picking up more malt flavor vs. bitterness? Thanks.

 

[Smellyglove]

Sulfates are sort of the opposite of sweetness. So it can't be that. Could be the hops?

 

[LKABrewer]

Mashing lower will dry out the finish and may make that c-20 seem sweeter. I would try reducing/ cutting that first.

 

[Smellyglove]

It's 5%.. And a C-10 will probably be somewhat converted into shorter chained sugars during the mash due the light kiln and the enzymes from the base malt.

 

[SanPancho]

Low on ibus for an ipa in my opinion. Ibu to og should be much closer to 1-1. Maybe not exact, but approaching it.

Also, were you always using salt for chlorides? Or is that a recent addition? Cuz if you are sensitive enough and can pick it up then that could also be a possibility. Its like putting salt on a tomato. Folks say it accentuates the sweet tomato taste.

 

[micraftbeer]

My guess would be brewing salts change as detected by your palate. I brewed for years using distilled water and adding brewing salts to hit either a hop forward or malt forward profile. I could never figure out why my American Wheat ale always had a sweetness to it that I couldn't stand, but no one else seemed to notice. Finally one day when doing a mash experiment, I found that sweetness taste came from the same grain bill mashed in my malt forward water profile water versus in my hop forward profile. So there was some combination of my brewing salts plus wheat malt that triggered a sweet taste to my taste buds.

If I were you, I'd walk back your water profile toward what you used to brew with and see if you can figure out what's triggering it. It just do like I do now and just use a given water profile that your taste buds like regardless of the beer style.

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

Low on ibus for an ipa in my opinion. Ibu to og should be much closer to 1-1. Maybe not exact, but approaching it.

Also, were you always using salt for chlorides? Or is that a recent addition? Cuz if you are sensitive enough and can pick it up then that could also be a possibility. Its like putting salt on a tomato. Folks say it accentuates the sweet tomato taste.

I think you're right about the ibus.

I have been adding a smidgen of salt after reading that it can accentuate flavors. Some exBEERiment about it. But maybe it is making the sweetness stand out.

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

If I were you, I'd walk back your water profile toward what you used to brew with and see if you can figure out what's triggering it. It just do like I do now and just use a given water profile that your taste buds like regardless of the beer style.

True

 

[Jimbodaman]

Sometimes in brewing we miss the obvious, maybe get rid of the crystal malt, and/or mash lower.

 

[hottpeper13]

Swap out the crystal for Munich,it will give you the body without being sweet. I mash mine at 148* for 120 min(in total), sometimes with a protein rest. In an IPA with a protein rest you get a crystal clear beer with loads of head because of all the hops. At least that's the way mine turn out. I think they taste best when finishing at 1.010 - 1.008

 

[thehaze]

If you stick to base malt only, mash low 147-149F and use US-05 or Nottingham and add 5% simple sugars to the grainbill, the end result will be a beer with an FG at around 1.005-1.007. I had quite a few this summer and so easy obtainable. Many have noticed this quality for my beers, so they were dry enough to be perceived as such.

A04 is an estery yeast which combined with the low-ish IBUs for an IPA ( West Coast, right? ) could add some sweetness.

Your water profile looks OK, but you mention " a minor NaCl addition ". Is this to raise your Na or to add Cl or both? Adding NaCl after you already got your Cl from CaCl2, will add both Cl and Na, which can build up the perception of body in the beer.

 

[eric19312]

I agree IBU seem low.

I've grown increasingly unhappy with IPAs in general over last year or so including my own and many commercial beers I've tried. Tastes change and I am branching out more frequently to other styles. Everybody including me seems to be doing lower IBU higher hop flavor IPAs whether they are NEIPA or not. I went back through recipe notes and realized that the IPAs I was making that I loved a couple years ago were typically about 90-120 IBU with decent bittering hop addition and most of the ones I am making more recently are about 50-60 IBU mostly from flameout additions. Those are calculated IBU and TBH I am not sure I really believe the calculated IBU on these flameout additions. That was coupled with a pretty basic grain bill never more than 5% crystal malt and plenty of SO4 (200-250ppm) unless actually trying to make NEIPA then low SO4 and more Cl but at 7% ABV or so I just can't get away from sweetness without actual bitterness to balance it out.

So yesterday I went back to my roots and brewed one with 90 IBU of which 45 came from hop shot at 60 minutes and another 25 were from a 15 minute boil addition. Still plenty of late hops and will be interesting to see how they come through. My hope is to get back to the "how can anyone drink this stuff?" first taste reaction followed by "can I have another?" shortly thereafter.

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

My hope is to get back to the "how can anyone drink this stuff?" first taste reaction followed by "can I have another?" shortly thereafter.

Ha, so true. That's how we all got into IPAs in the first place right?

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

A04 is an estery yeast which combined with the low-ish IBUs for an IPA ( West Coast, right? ) could add some sweetness.

Good point, I forgot about the esters. I bet using something like Chico wouldn't do it.

 

[thehaze]

Chico - US-05 - is a fierce attenuator and will leave a dry, crisp beer, which is a good thing for what you are looking for. Conan can also attenuate more than its stated attenuation by mashing low and possibly adding a bit of simple sugars, to thin out the body.

 

[Hammy71]

Rule of thumb for me: Match your IBU to the OG. In other words if the OG of the beer is 1068, then shoot for at least 68 IBU. I can taste caramel or crystal malt in IPAs. It comes across as "sweet" to me too. I'd ditch the additional malts. Most of my IPAs are straight 2-row and maybe a little Carapils. Just my 2 cents.