My IPA has n hoppiness//fruitiness... Help?

Hi all, This has been my 6th 5galleon batch of extract brewing, and my 2nd of this particular brew. Each batch I have done has followed the same recipe only really changing the hops throughout.

This batch is:

boil 1.5kg light malt extract in about 13.5l of filtered water, with 45g of Amarillo & 45g of Nelson Sauvin for 60mins, then adding 30g Nelson & 20g Amarillo with 10mins left. I then added 500g light malt spray, 1kg sugar, topped it up with filtered water to reach 5 galleons. I added Gervin yeast, and dry-hopped 35g Amarillo and 25g Nelson Sauvin.

The end product is a little too bitter, tastes very 'beery', but has absolutely no fruitiness or hoppiness cutting through (for those familiar with IPA's in the UK, think Thornbridge Jaipur/Wild Swan/Kipling on tap, Oakham Citra, Hawkshead Windermere Pale Ale, etc.)

Any ideas on what I'm missing or doing wrong? Thanks!

 

Wow, that calculates out to something on the order of 160IBU, using typical %AA values of those hops.

You'd have been far better off, in my opinion, cutting the 60min hop additions to 1/3 to 1/2 what you have listed, and transferring what you took out there to add to the dry hop amounts. That will give you something on the order of 70-90IBU, and should retain a lot more hoppy flavor and aroma.

I also think that 35-40% of your OG being supplied by sugar is a bit too high a proportion, but maybe that works with a hop like Nelson? Or with that yeast (which I am unfamiliar with)?

 

I've found the calculated IBUs a lot of times aren't a good indicator of what the perceived bitterness will be. I just did a Pliny clone which had a calculated IBUs of around 160 and it's not very bitter, although only 105 of those were from the boil. Others I've done with lighter malt backbones and IBUs in the 80s have a sharper bitterness.

Try whirlpool/hopstands. Basically you're steeping the hops after your boil ends. Depending on your temperature you can still pull IBUs during a hopstand but under 160 degrees and you shouldn't.

If that still doesn't help boost your flavor you may have to look at your water and see if something is going on there. When you say filtered, is it just tap water through a normal filter or are you using a charcoal or RO filter?

 

Were your hops fresh(ish)? I just brewed a batch a couple weeks ago that turned out similarly. I also described the smell as "beery." The only thing that I could point to was using some hops that were probably past their prime.