New to brewing, a little paranoid.

[victory4MSU]

So I'm making my first batch, it's an IPA

1 oz. chinook 14.2% at 60 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 30 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 15 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 5 minutes

To start, I had an OG of 1.048 at 90 degrees if that helps at all with the advice. But anyway, I tested the beer before I sealed the fermenter and of course it just tasted like sugar water, but I didn't notice any impact from the hops whether it was the bittering, the taste, or the aroma. I was a little concerned, but figured it would play out and something would show up in a few days. I'm at day 4, and I went downstairs to the basement and stuck my nose up near the airlock and still was not getting any hop characteristics from the brew. It's concerning, but even more so considering I tried brewing an IPA and alas, no dedication of a single hop.

When, if ever, should I start noticing the hops in my beer? Does it show up later in the fermentation process or did I just completely f*** up? Btw, I steeped the hops and pulled the muslin bag as I transferred my wort to the ice bath.

Thanks for the info in advance.

 

[BigFloyd]

I'll bet that you're beer is fine (assuming that you pitched at a temp significantly cooler than 90*F and have fermented in the mid-60s).

Give it a couple weeks, take a hydro sample and taste it. You should certainly taste those 3 ounces of Citra.

 

[day_trippr]

So I'm making my first batch, it's an IPA

1 oz. chinook 14.2% at 60 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 30 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 15 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 5 minutes
[...]
Btw, I steeped the hops and pulled the muslin bag as I transferred my wort to the ice bath.

In light of the first four lines, I don't get that last sentence.

Considering how much I use both of those hops (though I don't use Citra quite that early) I'm surprised you're not picking up anything. Two ounces of Citra in the last 15 minutes should definitely have left its mark...

Cheers!

 

[surferdrew]

Looking at your hop schedule, you have plenty of hops added for bittering, flavor, and aroma in relation to your OG to *notice* it when you enjoy your first glass.

As the previous poster commented, hopefully you pitched your yeast when the temp was significantly lower than 90. Which yeast did you use?

If you're looking for some powerful hop flavor/aroma, try moving your hops later in the boil (15 minutes and later) and also dry hop.

For example, you can do those same hop amounts but move them to 60, 15, 5, 0. And add up to 4oz of dry hops at that OG to really get some great aroma and co-humulone oil flavor.

 

[feinbera]

There are two things working against you.

First of all, as many other posters have pointed out, you don't have the most aggressive hop schedule –*popular commercial West Coast IPA's, scaled down to five-gallon size, can easily have eight, nine, ten ounces of hops, and they will be weighted more towards that last 15 minutes of the boil, plus another three or four ounces of dry-hopping. That being said, you didn't brew a barley soda, here – you'll come in probably somewhere between a pale and an amber, at least in terms of hops/malt balance.

A bigger factor in what you're tasting is all the sugar in fresh wort. Malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness balance one another out -- but, before the yeast has had a chance to chew through most of the sugars, the balance is gonna be all out-of-whack. Give it a few batches, you'll learn what fresh wort that will eventually develop into a hoppy beer tastes like, but it'll never taste too much like the final product until it's fermented, carbonated, and chilled.

 

[RM-MN]

So I'm making my first batch, it's an IPA

1 oz. chinook 14.2% at 60 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 30 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 15 minutes
1 oz. citra 14.5% at 5 minutes

To start, I had an OG of 1.048 at 90 degrees if that helps at all with the advice. But anyway, I tested the beer before I sealed the fermenter and of course it just tasted like sugar water, but I didn't notice any impact from the hops whether it was the bittering, the taste, or the aroma. I was a little concerned, but figured it would play out and something would show up in a few days. I'm at day 4, and I went downstairs to the basement and stuck my nose up near the airlock and still was not getting any hop characteristics from the brew. It's concerning, but even more so considering I tried brewing an IPA and alas, no dedication of a single hop.

When, if ever, should I start noticing the hops in my beer? Does it show up later in the fermentation process or did I just completely f*** up? Btw, I steeped the hops and pulled the muslin bag as I transferred my wort to the ice bath.

Thanks for the info in advance.

If this means you steeped the hops in a muslin bag and removed them before the cooling step you may have greatly reduced the hop flavors because the muslin bag won't let the water circulate through the hops and extract the most flavor. Next time just dump the hops directly into the wort. Leave them there until the ferment it over and then report on the hop aroma. You can use a paint strainer bag over the siphon when you are ready to bottle to keep the hops from clogging things up. I secure the strainer bag with an rubber band and sanitize it well before letting it touch my beer.

 

[unionrdr]

I too was wondering about that steeping comment. The hop schedule should've been more like 60,20,15 10 & dry hop. 30 minute additions are on the fence,giving bittering & flavor. I don't bother wit 5-0 aroma additions,as the dry hop does a better job of that. 20 minutes is about max time for flavor hop additions.

 

[victory4MSU]

Looking at your hop schedule, you have plenty of hops added for bittering, flavor, and aroma in relation to your OG to *notice* it when you enjoy your first glass.

As the previous poster commented, hopefully you pitched your yeast when the temp was significantly lower than 90. Which yeast did you use?

If you're looking for some powerful hop flavor/aroma, try moving your hops later in the boil (15 minutes and later) and also dry hop.

For example, you can do those same hop amounts but move them to 60, 15, 5, 0. And add up to 4oz of dry hops at that OG to really get some great aroma and co-humulone oil flavor.

Yes, I pitched it at a much lower temperature. I used Safale 04, as my yeast. Although I must add that it still wasn't a low enough temperature and I can get a hint of an estery smell coming from the airlock.

 

[victory4MSU]

If this means you steeped the hops in a muslin bag and removed them before the cooling step you may have greatly reduced the hop flavors because the muslin bag won't let the water circulate through the hops and extract the most flavor. Next time just dump the hops directly into the wort. Leave them there until the ferment it over and then report on the hop aroma. You can use a paint strainer bag over the siphon when you are ready to bottle to keep the hops from clogging things up. I secure the strainer bag with an rubber band and sanitize it well before letting it touch my beer.

I steeped them in a muslin bag, and then took the bag out as I transferred it to an ice bath-- so will it significantly alter the flavor?

 

[GarageDweller]

quit judging your brew until its been in bottles for a month and then in the fridge for two weeks. you are trying to judge wort and guess how it will taste when finished. patience..
RDWHAHB....

 

[Homercidal]

Steeping implies you let them sit in hot wort. Boiling is what you need to do for hops. I'm assuming you actually boiled the hops.

IMO you don't need a muslin bag for the hops if you are going to do an ice bath. The hops bags and screens are generally used to keep the hops out of a chiller, like a Counterflow Chiller, or Plate chiller, or if you run your wort through a pump. You can just boil the hops directly in the wort if you aren't worried about clogging something up.

Some people then pour the wort through a screen to separate the hops, while others eschew filtering altogether and simply ferment, hops and all.

If you actually boiled with that hp schedule you will be able to notice the hops after fermentation. That's a fair amount of hops for an IPA. Maybe not for a face-melting West Coast IPA, but you certainly won't have a problem finding the flavor when the beer is done.

 

[BreezyBrew]

quit judging your brew until its been in bottles for a month and then in the fridge for two weeks. you are trying to judge wort and guess how it will taste when finished. patience..
RDWHAHB....

This. I don't even take a gravity reading until 2 weeks after I pitch the yeast. It's pointless.