Weird carbonation....

Hello all,
I just brewed a sweet water 420 clone and it's been sitting in bottles for 2 1/2 weeks.

Just popped one today and I was super careful with my pour so that I could check the clarity and there was no head on it. Plenty of bubbles, almost too much but no head. So I popped another one and poured straight in the center of the glass which gave decent head but it dissipated quickly, same weird over bubbly almost champagne like feel.

I know everyone says wait it out 3 weeks but I usually only wait 2 weeks in bottle with good results.

THe other concern I have is the flavor. It is a weird overly malty/sweet with an unpleasant bitter taste. I dry hopped 1 oz of centennial and I hardly get any aroma, just bitter.

I'm worried I screwed something up as this is only my 4th home brew batch and I just knew a bad batch was bound to happen....

What do yall think? Should I just give it more time?

 

For lack of head retention, it could be your glassware. If there is any soap/dish detergent residue on your glass, that can kill the head pretty quickly.

As for the flavor, it just sounds a bit "green". Try to give it a little more time to sit. Or, you can post the recipe and we can try to troubleshoot.

 

More time for sure, did you take a gravity reading before bottling to see if it was stable? The too sweet seems like it may not have been entirely finished but that is usually a gusher problem as well. Either way until another week or two has passed I wouldn't worry too much.

 

I will try to give the recipe from memory...

It was
1lb caramel steeped for 45 min
6 lb LME
1 oz Columbus hops 60 min
.5 oz Columbus 15 min
.5 oz centinial 5 min

I fermented for 15 days
Dry hopped .5 Columbus and .5 centinial for an additional 7 days

Bottled with .5 oz priming sugar and here I am 2 1/2 weeks later.

Every other pale ale/Ipa I've ever done has been way hoppier and tasted FAR better flavor and carbonation at this point in the game

It tastes sort of bland while also being overly malty and bitter

I hope I'm just jumping the gun on it cause pouring out 50 beers will probably make me cry lol

 

Re the bitterness, what were your gravities, and the alpha acid percentage on those Columbus hops?

I'm guessing based on your ingredients (and assuming a five-gallon batch... those aren't 50 bombers you're worried about dumping, are they??) that your OG came in somewhere around 1.045 or 1.050, which might be a little light of a beer for a beefy a bittering charge like an ounce of Columbus.

On the other hand, that may be way off-base if you finished with a pretty high FG and left a lot of body/sweetness in the beer, which you very well may have on an extract batch with a pound of un-mashed crystal.

4-8 oz of cara-pils might help with head formation/retention; unmalted wheat or flaked oats are also solid choices, but only if you're doing a proper mash.

 

Fg was 1.02 ....didn't take an og because I didn't have a hydrometer at the house...which kind of defeats the purpose lol

 

Also, the original recipe was one that my lhbs had in a book and it called for cascade in place of Columbus and I told him I like heavy hop bitterness along with aroma and he suggested I sub for Columbus, now I'm wishing I would've stuck with cascade

 

Any ideas on where I might of messed up or should I just wait?

 

I didn't read the entire thread but, Randy Mosher in Tasting Beer says to pour straight into the glass, giving it a hard pour and waiting for the head to settle before repeating until you have poured the bottle. This releases some of the C02, which helps give off aroma and flavor...as well as a nice head. It sounds to me like you may have been to easy on the pour.

 

Columbus averages a higher alpha acid content than Cascade. If you subbed the same amount without accounting for the change in AA content, that could cause the unbalanced bitterness.

It is still early though. I wouldn't write it off yet.

Also, how long are you chilling each bottle before serving? That could have an effect on the carbonation as well.

 

I just did a couple hours, just to chill it a bit before I tested. What would be an appropriate time in bottle/in fridge?

 

Try giving it a full 24 hours in the fridge before drinking.

If you try to rush it, sometimes the CO2 doesn't fully dissolve into the beer and can make the carbonation a little lackluster.

 

FG of 1.020 is high for a pale/ipa. That's why it tastes sweet. What yeast did you use?

 

Ok so I waited an extra week and the carbonation is perfect! However the columbus hops gave it WAY too much bitterness on the back end. It's not terrible but....it certainly isn't a 420. So note to self, no Columbus hops in a pale ale

Thank you for all the input!