was good and now starting to taste cidery

I have been brewing for about 6 months and really like it. I have a citra pale ale and an IPA that were amazing 2-3 weeks after bottling. Huge hop aroma and flavor. Lots of grapefruit, citrus, melon, etc. It was awesome. Now the beers are around 4-6 weeks old and are definitely worse. They aren't bad but at their peak they were some of the best beers I've ever tasted. Now most of the amazing hop aroma is fading fast. The beers are fine and still fairly drinkable.

I have noticed that they have a cidery flavor which they either did not have before or I didn't notice it because of the hops. It's not completely unpleasant but it is a little weird because I didnt taste it before. None of my other beers have had this cidery flavor.

My best guesses are that:
1) The cidery flavor has always been there. It was fermented around 68F with US-05. Maybe this is too high.
2) This is actually a hop flavor I'm picking up. I have used US-05 at these temps for an amber and didn't get this flavor. The pale ale and IPA were dominated by citra hop flavor and maybe it's just "old" citra hop flavor as it ages.
3) This is caused by oxidation from aging of the beer.

What do you guys think?

 

Mind posting the recipe? Might help figure out what is going on because in my experience citra really doesn't hit it's peak and fade that quick. My last citra ipa was good at 4 weeks but wonderful at 7 and beyond

 

I had the time periods a little wrong. The pale ale is around 8 weeks right now and the hop flavor probably started falling off around 6 weeks. The IPA is also around 8 weeks right now and the flavor is just starting to change.

Citra Pale Ale (morebeer kit however it was more concentrated because I used 4 gallons instead of 5) http://hopville.com/recipe/1305660/american-pale-ale-recipes/morebeer-citra-pale-ale-2012

IPA http://hopville.com/recipe/1321264/imperial-ipa-recipes/1lb-strong-ipa

The pale ale went from amazing to average and the IPA went from mindblowing to good.

Another detail... I pitched the IPA onto the yeast cake from the pale ale. I doubt there is some microbe in there that is causing both to age poorly because they seemed so good/normal.

Also, looking at my notes closer I guess the IPA started fermentation a little warmer than I thought it had. ~72F which is not ideal. Some day I'm gonna get a fermentation chamber...

 

That's a lot of hips in the IPA, damn, I thought I went nuts.

You're probably just experiencing the hop flavor fade from the beers and another flavor that was masked by them is now becoming more pronounced. I have never had cider so I don't know what that tastes like.

 

It's possible you have an infection. I've had an infection that didn't ruin the beer, but took away from the major flavors/aromas and gave the beer a really cidery flavor.

 

How did you know you had an infection?

 

It eventually got worse and tasted like bandaids. It had that Kombucha/saisony bacteria smell.

 

Hmm, I've got none of that but i will post if it gets worse. Should the carbonation level always increase and the gravity drop if there is an infection? These haven't changed.

 

Yeah it was a crap ton of hops. Delicious and expensive like an IPA should be.