Why Do My Beers Always Come Out Green?

[Benighted]

Hey all, I recently brewed the Pliny recipe from Zymergy and it is tasting super green, not clean, not much malt profile. I brewed it exactly to the recipe attached on this thread, the only difference being that I did a 2.5 gallon batch and used 2 packets of US-05. I used distilled water and added minerals to achieve about a 6:1 sulfate: chloride ratio and added lactic acid to get down to 5.4 PH. I fermented in a temperature controlled kegerator at 67f. In about 4 days it was down to the calculated FG and I let it go another 9 days, cold crashed, then siphoned into the keg to do a quick carb.

I tasted the beer once it had a little carb on it and it did not taste even remotely like Pliny. All my homebrews seem to come out like this (not much malt profile, super green, not very clean, almost wort like) and I can't pinpoint the issue. This is compounded by the issue that I keg hopped but the muslin bag came open while I was shaking the keg causing tons of hop sludge to clog my dip tube.....Any tips to help me not have to dump my next batch of homebrew? I am diligent with my sanitation (clean and sanitize absolutely everything post-boil with Oxyclean and Starsan, in some cases ethyl alcohol followed by Starsan) and my process seemed pretty smooth.

Here is a list of my equipment: Chapman Univessel fermenter, copper wort chiller, kegerator w/ Inkbird temp controller, 10 gallon Igloo circular mash tun.

 

[rburrelli]

Why did you do a 6:1 ratio of sulfate to chloride? Seems awfully high.

 

[brewdude88]

What was the ppm for chloride and sulfate?(6:1 sounds a bit high). Why 2 packets of US-05 in 2.5 gallons of 1.072 wort? I think one packet would've been more than sufficient.

do the beers improve with time in the keg? Or do they stay the same? Get worse?

Have you tried different base malts?

 

[Benighted]

Why did you do a 6:1 ratio of sulfate to chloride? Seems awfully high.

I used Tasty Mcdoles water profile for hoppy beers. He sometimes goes as high as 7:1 apparently.

 

[Benighted]

What was the ppm for chloride and sulfate?(6:1 sounds a bit high). Why 2 packets of US-05 in 2.5 gallons of 1.072 wort? I think one packet would've been more than sufficient.

do the beers improve with time in the keg? Or do they stay the same? Get worse?

Have you tried different base malts?

I attached a pic of Tasty Mcdoles water profile for hoppy ales, very similar to what I used. I used a yeast calculator and it was saying 1 was barely enough so I pitched 2 for good measure.

I haven't been kegging long and the last 2 batches I dumped based on how they were a couple days after carbing (maybe a little premature) so I'm not too sure.

The IPA recipes I have done have been very different base malts.

 

[brewdude88]

I have been experimenting with higher sulfate levels around where that picture shows with great results. I think your problem lies elsewhere.

I think you are pretty quick to dump a batch. Let the kegs cold condition for a couple weeks before making that decision. Time may be all that's needed.

If time doesn't help, or the beer gets worse, I would start to suspect cold side oxidation as a possible culprit. (How do you transfer to the keg, and do you purge the headspace in the keg before carbing?)

 

[eric19312]

My advice for IPAs is work out your process, especially closed transfer and carbonation with recipes with cheap hops and minimal ingredients,

I’d focus on working out a process that delivers a very good IPA with only 2 row, cascade hops and us-05. I know it sounds boring but it will Help you focus on the techniques, be they water chemistry or kegging practices that make all the difference in these beers.

 

[applescrap]

What does green taste like to you? Apologies if you already said.