Cascade SMASH gone wrong

[alywiscious]

I brewed a single hop Cascade IPA and it's oddly not bitter, or hoppy, or aromatic at all. Any thoughts on why? I've brewed a good dozen IPA's with half the amount of hops and never had this problem. Now it just tastes like a bad version of shiner bock and is a deep amber color. Here's the recipe I followed:

7 lbs light malt extract
.5 lbs steeping grains (2 row for 15 mins)

4 ozs Cascade whole leaf hops for 60 mins
2 ozs Cascade whole leaf hops for 30 mins
2 ozs Cascade whole leaf hops for 15 mins
2 ozs Cascade whole leaf hops for 10 mins
2 ozs Cascade whole leaf hops for 5 mins
2 ozs Cascade whole leaf hops dry hopped for 5 days

Pitched Imperial Yeast Citrus at 68 degrees.

Fermented at 72 degrees for a solid two weeks with good activity.

Was aiming for a low ABV sessionable brew. But nope.

No idea what went wrong. Ideas, thoughts, advice appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Dixon9717]

I'm assuming 5 gallon batch? How old was the hops? How was they stored?

 

[jerbrew]

^^This^^ and then the only thing I can think of is oxidation. How were these packaged and did they always taste like that or have they developed that flavor over time?

 

[alywiscious]

Hops were 2016 harvest (meaning only a few weeks off the vine), and yeah it was a 5 gallon batch. They were sent to me straight from the farm, vacuum sealed... THOUGH... I noticed a little tear in the bag that had broke the vacuum seal. Would that have done it?

 

[TAK]

Full boil, or partial boil? That's a lot if whole leaf hops for a partial boil, if that was the case. That could have led to low utilization.

As a side note, 2 row us not a stealing grain. It needs a saccrification rest to conver starches to sugar.

 

[alywiscious]

Full boil, or partial boil? That's a lot if whole leaf hops for a partial boil, if that was the case. That could have led to low utilization.

As a side note, 2 row us not a stealing grain. It needs a saccrification rest to conver starches to sugar.

Partial boil. Had no idea partial boil could render all those hops totally that tasteless. Is there a way to get higher utilization for a partial boil extract recipe that's using 10-16oz of hops?

(And good call on the 2 row; that was a typo. I looked back over my recipe, it was Crystal 15L.)

 

[chickypad]

It's not just the utilization but also the dilutional effect of topping off. So say you managed 80 IBU in 2.5 gal post boil, if you top up to 5 gal you've just gone to 40 IBU. I think it's hard to make a good IPA with a partial boil. Maybe try doing a smaller batch next time without topping off and see if makes a difference for you.

 

[alywiscious]

It's not just the utilization but also the dilutional effect of topping off. So say you managed 80 IBU in 2.5 gal post boil, if you top up to 5 gal you've just gone to 40 IBU. I think it's hard to make a good IPA with a partial boil. Maybe try doing a smaller batch next time without topping off and see if makes a difference for you.

Thanks for all the advice here. Much appreciated.

Even with a low utilization, though, the total lack of a hops presence in this brew is inexplicable to me, as I've done many partial boils with fewer hops than this recipe and produced much hoppier beers. The AA on these 2016 cascade hops was 6%. Is it possible the hops, being exposed by a torn bag in the shipment to me, lost all their oomph through oxidation?

Thanks again.

 

[drunami]

I think it's hard to make a good IPA with a partial boil.

I disagree. I do partial mash BIAB brewing with a max boil volume of about 3.5 to 4 gal. I don't have an issue making hoppy 5.5 gal batches. Your utilization will decrease some, but you can compensate with more hops and still get pretty hop-heavy results. Obviously, you should aim to dilute as little as possible when making a hop-forward beer for this reason. Still, 10 - 16 oz should not yield no noticeable hop flavor or aroma. there might be less than desired, but there should be some.

Some other possibilities:
how did the hops smell when you were adding them?
what temp was the beer stored at after packaging?

 

[chickypad]

Even with a low utilization, though, the total lack of a hops presence in this brew is inexplicable to me, as I've done many partial boils with fewer hops than this recipe and produced much hoppier beers.

Ah, I see. Maybe then as drunami suggested it has to do with freshness of the hops themselves or handling of the beer.