Jesse Runowski
Well-Known Member
Hey Everyone,
I've been having the same problem over and over again with my west coast and new england IPAs. I can’t seem to get the flavor and aroma I’m looking for without getting a hoppy / astringent aftertaste. I’ve adjusted my recipes and tried different techniques but they all end with the same result. Very low to almost non-existent flavor from the hops, usually a great aroma though, with a “nasty” hop pellet after taste. It’s not a veggie taste, it's more like the taste you would get if you licked a hop pellet. Which is crazy because I’ve tried every method i can think of to filter out the hop particles, none have resulted in what I am looking for. My question is how can I get the fantastic flavor and aroma that hops bring, without the hop pellet aftertaste? If i reduce dry hopping it helps but then I lose the tiny bit of flavor and aroma I had. I’ve tried waiting weeks for the beer to condition and the hop pellet taste starts to disappear but at that time so does the little aroma and flavor it had. As far as filtering, I’ve tried mesh bags, keg filters, and inline filters. Each of them work to some degree but the beer still doesn’t have that smooth taste I'm looking for. It often tastes somewhat tropical nothing like the beers I drink commercially but then finishes with that astringent hop taste. My whirlpool and dry hopping rates are not nearly as high many of the recipes I’ve seen online. I have tried lowering the rates but like i said the little bit of flavor i had is gone if i drop the numbers too much.
I know this is an extremely hard question to answer without knowing my equipment, recipe, hop schedule, etc so I’ve included all of that below.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Equipment:
Recipe: ( NEIPA aiming for a piney fruity flavor and aroma profile)
Brewing Notes:
I've been having the same problem over and over again with my west coast and new england IPAs. I can’t seem to get the flavor and aroma I’m looking for without getting a hoppy / astringent aftertaste. I’ve adjusted my recipes and tried different techniques but they all end with the same result. Very low to almost non-existent flavor from the hops, usually a great aroma though, with a “nasty” hop pellet after taste. It’s not a veggie taste, it's more like the taste you would get if you licked a hop pellet. Which is crazy because I’ve tried every method i can think of to filter out the hop particles, none have resulted in what I am looking for. My question is how can I get the fantastic flavor and aroma that hops bring, without the hop pellet aftertaste? If i reduce dry hopping it helps but then I lose the tiny bit of flavor and aroma I had. I’ve tried waiting weeks for the beer to condition and the hop pellet taste starts to disappear but at that time so does the little aroma and flavor it had. As far as filtering, I’ve tried mesh bags, keg filters, and inline filters. Each of them work to some degree but the beer still doesn’t have that smooth taste I'm looking for. It often tastes somewhat tropical nothing like the beers I drink commercially but then finishes with that astringent hop taste. My whirlpool and dry hopping rates are not nearly as high many of the recipes I’ve seen online. I have tried lowering the rates but like i said the little bit of flavor i had is gone if i drop the numbers too much.
I know this is an extremely hard question to answer without knowing my equipment, recipe, hop schedule, etc so I’ve included all of that below.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Equipment:
- 10 Gal cooler for mashing
- 12Gal Spike brewing kettle
- Hop stopper screen for kettle - Allows hops to roam free but stops them from entering the fermenter
- Spike CF5 ( 5Gal Conical) Fermenter - My christmas present this year!
- Temp control system, cold and warm. Inkbird to help keep temps with 1 degree of my setting
- CO2 closed loop transfer kit to move beer from FV to keg without any O2 introduction.
- Keg and draft system
Recipe: ( NEIPA aiming for a piney fruity flavor and aroma profile)
- Grain
- 2-row - 68%
- Oats malted - 20%
- Oats flaked - 10%
- Caramalt - 2%
- Hops - Going for a piney / citrus profile (think alien church from Tired Hands)
- All hot side hops are added in two additions after flameout.
- Whirlpool - added hops below at 175 degrees (total 3oz)
- No bag, i have a screen (hop stopper) to filter hops & trub
- Mosaic - .75 oz
- Citra - .75 oz
- Centennial - .50 oz
- Chinook - .50 oz
- Columbus - .50 oz
- Whirlpool - added hops below at 160 degrees (total 3oz)
- No bag, i have a screen (hop stopper) to filter hops & trub
- Mosaic - .75 oz
- Citra - .75 oz
- Centennial - .50 oz
- Chinook - .50 oz
- Columbus - .50 oz
- Dry hopping
- No bag, i have a screen (hop stopper keg version) to filter hops
- DH #1 - 4 days (4 oz total)
- In fermentation conical
- No bag
- 4 days from pitching
- Mosaic - 1.0 oz
- Citra - 1.0 oz
- Chinook - 1.0 oz
- Centennial - .50 oz
- Columbus - .50 oz
DH #2 - 4 days (2 oz total)
In fermentation conical
In fermentation conical
- No bag
- 4 days from pitching
- Mosaic - .50 oz
- Citra - .50 oz
- Chinook - .50 oz
- Centennial - .25 oz
- Columbus - .25 oz
- Yeast = Juice from Imperial
- 1.5L starter 3 days prior to brew day
- Water profile
- Calcium: 115, Magnesium: 5, Sodium: 0, Sulfate: 100, Chloride: 200
- Mash Temp: 155 for 60mins
- Boil time: 60 mins
- Whirlpool 10 mins
- Eff: 69%
- Batch size (into the fermenter) - 5.5 Gal
- OG = 1.065 - 1.070
- FG = 1.018 - 1.021
- ABV 7.0 - 7.2
- Fermentation
- 4 days at 65
- 4 days at 70
- Cold crash after fermentation is complete
- 50 degrees for 3 days
- Closed loop transfer from FV to keg using Co2
- Carb at 2.0 vols for 10 days
- Serve at 8 psi
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