This is a problem I've been struggling with for some time now. Every time I make an IPA or something else hoppy, by the time I taste the carbonated beer there is little to no hop flavor. I'm following the hop schedules with the recipes. I'm dry hopping. But when the beer is done there is very little hop flavor or aroma.
In fact I can only think of one time I got something that was actually hoppy and that was the Hop Hammer recipe from Brewing Classic Styles.
I can think of a few things that might be the culprit.
1.) I do one gallon batches. When I throw in flameout hop additions I can't leave them in there very long because the temperature of the wort drops to dangerous levels as far as sanitation goes. I strain out the hops with some pitchers and kitchen strainers. I have to rinse them out after each pour, so I can't keep them sanitized all the time. Usually I leave the flameout hops in the kettle for twenty minutes before straining them out. Maybe the hops aren't in there long enough?
2.) When I dry hop I use small hop steeping bags and I do the dry hopping in primary. Throwing the dry hops in loose causes my siphon and bottling wand to clog something fierce. Hence the baggies. Are the baggies not allowing enough contact between the hops and the wort? Is dry hopping in primary a bad idea?
3.) I bottle condition (I don't have kegging equipment and don't want to get it) so the beer is exposed to a lot of air in the bottling bucket and the empty bottles. Could the hop flavor be getting lost that way? I know that happens with the super hoppy New England IPAs but people have been bottle conditioning regular IPAs for decades, yes?
I tried getting around issue number one by immediately straining out the bittering hop charge at flameout and then tossing in the flameout additions in a hop baggie and stirring the wort as it cools in an ice bath. But the last time I did that the hops pretty much all came out of the steeping bag. I guess the pellets reverted to powder and got through the pores in the baggie.
It has been an ongoing disappointment to get a new hop and want to try it out. And then discover I can't taste the hop. All I get is the bittering and that's all. A lot of Citra and Mosaic has gone down the tubes. I usually end up just pouring out those beers.
I know this is a long post and a rather wide ranging topic. So thanks in advance.
In fact I can only think of one time I got something that was actually hoppy and that was the Hop Hammer recipe from Brewing Classic Styles.
I can think of a few things that might be the culprit.
1.) I do one gallon batches. When I throw in flameout hop additions I can't leave them in there very long because the temperature of the wort drops to dangerous levels as far as sanitation goes. I strain out the hops with some pitchers and kitchen strainers. I have to rinse them out after each pour, so I can't keep them sanitized all the time. Usually I leave the flameout hops in the kettle for twenty minutes before straining them out. Maybe the hops aren't in there long enough?
2.) When I dry hop I use small hop steeping bags and I do the dry hopping in primary. Throwing the dry hops in loose causes my siphon and bottling wand to clog something fierce. Hence the baggies. Are the baggies not allowing enough contact between the hops and the wort? Is dry hopping in primary a bad idea?
3.) I bottle condition (I don't have kegging equipment and don't want to get it) so the beer is exposed to a lot of air in the bottling bucket and the empty bottles. Could the hop flavor be getting lost that way? I know that happens with the super hoppy New England IPAs but people have been bottle conditioning regular IPAs for decades, yes?
I tried getting around issue number one by immediately straining out the bittering hop charge at flameout and then tossing in the flameout additions in a hop baggie and stirring the wort as it cools in an ice bath. But the last time I did that the hops pretty much all came out of the steeping bag. I guess the pellets reverted to powder and got through the pores in the baggie.
It has been an ongoing disappointment to get a new hop and want to try it out. And then discover I can't taste the hop. All I get is the bittering and that's all. A lot of Citra and Mosaic has gone down the tubes. I usually end up just pouring out those beers.
I know this is a long post and a rather wide ranging topic. So thanks in advance.