Didn't remove my aroma hops before the fermentor...

[Nock]

Ok, I know the mantra - don't worry, have a home brew. I thought it might be worth asking so that I can better understand what is happening.

I made something resembling the extract version of this ginger ale (half way down the page)

During the boil:
I put my primary 60 minute hops in a hop bag and removed that at the end of the boil (no problems there), but the Willamette that goes in at 2 minutes, I just tossed in loose (and I used about .35oz more than the recipe calls for. oops). It's my first time not using the pellets, I didn't realize how big the full hop flowers were. I poured everything into the primary fermenter - so I have lots of grated ginger and willamette hops in there right now, fermenting away. I did this last night.

My question is: What impact will it have if I leave those Willamette hops in for the entire fermentation process? (ie: no secondary). Should I do a secondary, and if so, I can either do it after 3 days, or at the earliest 13 days (I am travelling in the middle) so which is better?

It's my first foray into a slightly more complicated recipe, and I'd like to understand a bit more about what I'm doing and why.. Thanks for any help or advice.

 

[sully20331]

You are perfectly fine! Many of us don't filter out any hops before transferring to a fermenter. This is a pretty common practice.

 

[wailingguitar]

Agreed, I generally dump my kettle into my ferm after chilling, hops and all

 

[Nock]

Thanks, I feel a bit better. My previous two batches were using pellets so I didn't even think about trying to remove the sludge.

In those old batches (totally different recipe), I also noticed a bit of an astringent taste to my beers (that only I seemed to notice), and wasn't sure where it was coming from. I switched from using brewers sugar (LHBS recommended) in the boil to using more DME, but the taste was still there. Not strong, but not good either.

I was suddenly convinced it was from the hops sitting in the fermenter. It might have just been the pre-hopped extract I was using.

 

[Brewnoob1]

Extract has a "twang" that people talk about. It could be that. What are your fermenting temps like? If they get too high, that can cause some off flavors as well.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks, I feel a bit better. My previous two batches were using pellets so I didn't even think about trying to remove the sludge.

In those old batches (totally different recipe), I also noticed a bit of an astringent taste to my beers (that only I seemed to notice), and wasn't sure where it was coming from. I switched from using brewers sugar (LHBS recommended) in the boil to using more DME, but the taste was still there. Not strong, but not good either.

I was suddenly convinced it was from the hops sitting in the fermenter. It might have just been the pre-hopped extract I was using.

It sounds more like water chemistry (perhaps tap water with chlorine or high alkalinity) than extract.

I would not go to brewers sugar, and instead use DME and add the majority of it at flame out instead of in the whole boil. I would also suggest using reverse osmosis water or distilled water, to see if that fixes the flavor issue.