1st brew, 6 days of ferm, all is well but taste no hops...add hops?

[MattyIce]

This is my first brew. I started with a Coopers IPA can and told the guy at the LHBS that I wanted a little more alcohol and more hops than the can was likely to give me.

-2.5 gal boil
-At start - IPA can, 3# CBW Light Pils Extract, 1 #Dextrose, 1 oz Centennial hops pellets in a hop sock
-10 min left - Add 1 oz Simcoe hops pellets in hop sock
-Flameout - Add 1 oz Simcoe Hops pellets in hop sock
-Cooled in ice bath + top off to 5 gal - down to 65* in about 20 min
-Realized I lost hydrometer somewhere along the line, ran to LHBS and bought one while wort sat covered out of ice bath for one hour. All hops remained in socks in wort during this time.
-SG 1.062
-Rehydrated and pitched yeast from kit at 67*
-Bubbling of airlock started ~67 hours of temp controlled ferm at 65

*Six days since pitching*
-Gravity at 1.018, good krausen ring inside bucket
-Tasted next to no hops...almost sweet and fruity.


Don't get me wrong, I am sure I will enjoy this beer. I would just like to add some hop flavor and aroma since I am going to end up with five gallons of this stuff!

 

[Conan]

Your best bet is dry hopping in the fermenter. Cascade or centennial or Simone would be okay options. I'm sure someone can suggest a better combination, but generally just sanitize a muslin sack like you boiled with, tie it off with the hops inside, and put it in your secondary fermenter if you use one. Either way make sure fermentation is complete before dry hopping. Let it sit for two weeks, then bottle as usual. I do recommend finishing your first beer by the instructions since what you taste now and the final product will be fairly different. Reaching FG will cut down on sweetness, bringing out more choppy character. Carbonation will also give a hoppier perception than a fermenter sample. There's nothing wrong with experimentation, but knowing how a beer will respond to adjustments can take some time... and a few poorly altered batches. Good luck! Kyle

 

[BrewWNC]

I agree with dry hopping and waiting on the taste. It changes with aging and carbonation. My last ipa seemed only somewhat hoppy (not that hoppy though) before kegging but ended up a hop flavor bomb.

 

[ncboiler]

I agree with Conan. Wait for it to finish fermenting before you do anything as the sweetness will obviously be reduced when it gets to the FG. Six days seems far too early to make a judgment on the final hop flavor on a beer you have no experience with.

 

[unionrdr]

The biggest problem I see here is boiling the pre-hopped Cooper's can. Never do that! It changes the hop profile brewed into the canned LME & can also darken it through Maillard reactions. A 10 minute hop addition is OK for flavor, but I like 15 or 20 minutes to get more flavor out of them. The flame out addition would give some aroma, but dry hopping gives more.

 

[MattyIce]

Thanks for the advice fellas. I decided to not mess with it and just enjoy the brew that develops.