greenfrog5
Well-Known Member
4th beer batch (2nd IPA), my Recipe and Notes:
Had one half-filled 22oz bottle with the leftover from bottling, let it carb for a week and a half then tossed it in the fridge to avoid a bomb. I tried it the other day after a week in the fridge, it wasn't very carbed (as expected), but this beer had NO evidence of hops, AT ALL. SWMBO described it as 'funky honey,' kind of like bee pollen (I've never had) with a finish of weird honey. I'd say nothing but sweet, kind of like honey, no bitter, no hops, no hops. WTF? She and I agree, that there is no grassy flavor (since I dry hopped for 2 weeks, this was a concern), and not much else going on, aside from the obviously sweet character.
The 1st IPA I did was a kit, I think for 3-gal batch, and it came out good, but definitely a but under-hopped. It had bitterness, but not much hop flavor or aroma. It was also dry-hopped, but not as much.
Generally, I start with about 3 gal boil, and gradually build it up with boiling water additions to ~4 gal by flame-out. I suspect my problem is poor hops utilization. I haven't taken the partial-boil-reduced-utilization seriously yet, and never have adjusted the recipe (sometimes the recipes are already for 3-gal boil anyway). The more I've read-up on it, I should likely be doubling my hops for most hoppy recipes and RDWHAHB, I love hops, so unexpected hop bitter/flavor/aroma would be fine. This should be a hugely hoppy beer. Shouldn't I be getting something?
I'm considering a split/full boil next, because I don't like the idea of inefficient use of my favorite/most expensive ingredient. I haven't done any late-DME additions, which I will also try next and should help some.
It seems to have fully attenuated (shouldn't be unfermented malt). Tasting unfinished priming sugar, should still have hop flavor.
I imagine wetting my aroma hops prematurely (see notes) might decrease their contribution to the aroma. Dry hops should have helped here.
This recipe has a LOT of hops, no? Even with poor hop utilization, it should have some hop bitter/flavor? Am I missing something here?
Thanks
Aaron
Had one half-filled 22oz bottle with the leftover from bottling, let it carb for a week and a half then tossed it in the fridge to avoid a bomb. I tried it the other day after a week in the fridge, it wasn't very carbed (as expected), but this beer had NO evidence of hops, AT ALL. SWMBO described it as 'funky honey,' kind of like bee pollen (I've never had) with a finish of weird honey. I'd say nothing but sweet, kind of like honey, no bitter, no hops, no hops. WTF? She and I agree, that there is no grassy flavor (since I dry hopped for 2 weeks, this was a concern), and not much else going on, aside from the obviously sweet character.
The 1st IPA I did was a kit, I think for 3-gal batch, and it came out good, but definitely a but under-hopped. It had bitterness, but not much hop flavor or aroma. It was also dry-hopped, but not as much.
Generally, I start with about 3 gal boil, and gradually build it up with boiling water additions to ~4 gal by flame-out. I suspect my problem is poor hops utilization. I haven't taken the partial-boil-reduced-utilization seriously yet, and never have adjusted the recipe (sometimes the recipes are already for 3-gal boil anyway). The more I've read-up on it, I should likely be doubling my hops for most hoppy recipes and RDWHAHB, I love hops, so unexpected hop bitter/flavor/aroma would be fine. This should be a hugely hoppy beer. Shouldn't I be getting something?
I'm considering a split/full boil next, because I don't like the idea of inefficient use of my favorite/most expensive ingredient. I haven't done any late-DME additions, which I will also try next and should help some.
It seems to have fully attenuated (shouldn't be unfermented malt). Tasting unfinished priming sugar, should still have hop flavor.
I imagine wetting my aroma hops prematurely (see notes) might decrease their contribution to the aroma. Dry hops should have helped here.
This recipe has a LOT of hops, no? Even with poor hop utilization, it should have some hop bitter/flavor? Am I missing something here?
Thanks
Aaron