Beer smells/tastes very boozy in primary

[GoodmanBrewing]

Hello.

I brewed northern brewer's Chinook IPA last Wednesday. Hit all my numbers from mash temp to OG.

I ferment in a plastic carboy placed in a tub of water, it is completely submerged. The water temp and the strip on the carboy stay between 62-68 degrees. It did go up to 73 degrees for a few hours today as I was out of town and couldn't tend to it.

I checked the gravity today and I'm down to 1.016 from 1.053, I still got some good action going on so I hope I get to 1.012 like I'm expecting. I noticed when I took the sample that it smelled very boozy and honestly didn't smell very good or IPA-like.

I've had this issue before but it was due to me mashing far too low, 148 for 75 minutes. This was mashed at 152 for 60 minutes.

Could I have fermented too warm? I have been using this method for a while with good results (besides the IPA that was mashed too low). Is it too early to tell? After having one IPA that is just too dry and boozy I am really afraid of that boozy smell/taste making its way into this one as well. I'm using US05 btw.

Thank you!

Edit:
For what it's worth, I'm going to dry hop with an ounce of chinook, I'm hoping this will help the aroma of the beer quite a bit. I also hope it's way too early for me to be jumping to all these conclusions.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Let it sit for 2 weeks then dry hop as you wish. It is too early to jump to conclusions on how it taste today.

 

[Kerrbrewer]

Ive had several batches with estery/off flavors/smells with us05 that I think were related to temp swings. More to the lower side like 62f. After long bottle conditioning periods they toned down, but that has kept me from using that yeast unless I am certain I can babysit it through the first 4 days. YMMV

 

[GoodmanBrewing]

Thanks everyone.

I will wait it out. I may consider to start using a new "house yeast." I thought it was a forgiving yeast and I kept th fermenter cool, very frustrating. The boozy smell/taste(to a degree) is perhaps the biggest turnoff in a beer to me.

 

[kombat]

Just a quick point: Mashing at 148° F is not "far too low" for an IPA (or any relatively dry beer, for that matter). That's actually pretty close to ideal. "Far too low" would be more like 140° F or lower, as you'd be outside of the enzymes' window of activity, and wouldn't get any conversion at all.

 

[kombat]

A "boozy" flavour in a beer that isn't high ABV suggests fusels to me, which are due to stressed yeast or elevated fermentation temperatures. How much yeast did you pitch? Did you prepare/rehydrate it at all, or just sprinkle it in (if dry) or dump it in (if liquid)? What was your aeration/oxygenation protocol?

 

[GoodmanBrewing]

I got 5.5 gallons of 1.053 wort, I cooled down to 68-70 and transfered into carboy, I will admit I forgot to shake the wort like I usually do. I pitched an entire pack of US05. I did not rehydrate the yeast.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

A "boozy" flavour in a beer that isn't high ABV suggests fusels to me, which are due to stressed yeast or elevated fermentation temperatures. How much yeast did you pitch? Did you prepare/rehydrate it at all, or just sprinkle it in (if dry) or dump it in (if liquid)? What was your aeration/oxygenation protocol?

This is what I was thinking as well. Although you don't need to aerate a batch if using dry yeast and rehydrating seems to make very little difference if any. My bet is on under pitching or pitching at too warm of a temp combined with high ferm temps.
Im seeing numbers like 68f and 73f which are sort of pushing it. The temp inside the fermenter is usually warmer than what the brewmometer is reading. So with an aggressive yeast like US05 things could have gotten pretty hot and certainly out of the desired temp range.
Also FWIW save the 1oz you were going to dry hop with. For an IPA dry hop your going to be looking more toward something between 4-8oz IME.

 

[GoodmanBrewing]

Ahh this is good to know. I am going to attempt the Pliny clone (Plinian legacy from NB) this week and I am going to stock up on more water bottles to freeze so I can stay on top of this. It was my understanding that the water temp was very close to the actual beer temp inside of the carboy, if the vessel is completely submerged - due to heat specific heat of water being fairly high.

Any tips for me moving forward for this clone? I am really wanting to knock this out of the park. I get good boils, I hit my mash temps regularly, and I can cool to pitching temps. It sounds like I need more yeast (should I use us05 or perhaps white labs 001?) I'll have to make a starter if I go the white labs route. Would two packs of us05 be fine? Thank you all, this is a pretty expensive beer to make so I want to be sure I'm ready to roll.

Also just for more information, I do keg my beer.
Thanks y'all!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I used to use a swamp cooler and the big thing for me was making sure I brewed when I had a couple days to keep an eye on things. This way I could keep up with ice pack swaps for the most important part of the fermentation. If you can keep things cool through the start then later temp rises are more forgiving and sometimes even helpful.
As for yeast I'd probably grab a few packs of Nottingham and call it a day but thats me.

 

[GoodmanBrewing]

I may be loosing it..
Just got in from work and checked the gravity. I'm down to 1.012 which is great! Also the boozy smell/taste seem to be a lot more suppressed today. I'm thinking once dry hopped, chilled and carbed up this could turn out to be a solid brew.

 

[CU_tony]

You know what they say!

RDWHAHB!!

Let it ride and enjoy the results, yeasties will continue to work their magic long after you think theyve gone to sleep.

 

[GoodmanBrewing]

Feeling a lot better about this!
The beer does not smell very hoppy at all...do you think a heavy dry hop will make up for this? I've only got an ounce of chinook, but I can get more. How much do you all think it will take to get a nice strong hop aroma? I saw one poster recommended 4 ounces.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Feeling a lot better about this!
The beer does not smell very hoppy at all...do you think a heavy dry hop will make up for this? I've only got an ounce of chinook, but I can get more. How much do you all think it will take to get a nice strong hop aroma? I saw one poster recommended 4 ounces.

It's sort of a rough way to put it but it gives the idea....

1oz = might notice, maybe not.
2oz = you'll notice something.
4oz = you'll smell it as your pouring the beer.
4+oz = you'll smell it once you pop the cap.

 

[henryw]

Dry hop with the ounce. Ive recently made this and am a hop head as well. I thought the ounce was pretty good although I put some simcoe in the other half of the batch(split fermenters) and i did like it better than the chinook alone.

 

[GoodmanBrewing]

Just an update:
My beer is carbing in the keg right now and I just got in from a tennis tournament all weekend...ripped a bit into a glass and I must say it is fantastic! Not boozy smelling or tasting. I dry hopped with 2 ounces of chinook and 2 of simcoe. It looks/smells/tastes wonderful. Thank you all for your input and help.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Just an update:

My beer is carbing in the keg right now and I just got in from a tennis tournament all weekend...ripped a bit into a glass and I must say it is fantastic! Not boozy smelling or tasting. I dry hopped with 2 ounces of chinook and 2 of simcoe. It looks/smells/tastes wonderful. Thank you all for your input and help.

Sounds like one dank and tasty dry hop. Glad to hear it worked out for you.