Grassy bitterness in IPA

[BryggAnton]

So i just keged and carbonated my first own written recipe. I was looking for a fruity hop forward but still bitter Westcoast IPA.
And now I have actually tasted the beer, it's just as bitter as I wanted it to be. But i get a grassy type of bitter taste to the beer and a really small almost not noticeable hop burn.

I believe I used fresh hops. I dry hopped the beer on day 3 from pitching. The dry hops was in contact with the beer for totally 6 days. The two last days i cold crashed it.

Is it to early to call this a fail or will the grassiness and hop burn go away?

I have dry hopped with the same combination of amounts and types of hops for 6 days before with a extremely great results before.

My theory is that i used to much mosaic for the 13min edition. Or the combination of using 2 high alpha acid hops in the kettle?

What do you guys think?

 

[danylp91]

6 days seems a bit much with that amount of hops, a lot of grassy-woody components had time to dissolve into your beer. It might blend in a bit over time, but you can't be sure.

Read this paper by Scott Janish and you will receive new insights what to change in your dry hop regimen in the future:
http://scottjanish.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/TQ-58-1-0402-01.pdf

 

[BryggAnton]

6 days seems a bit much with that amount of hops, a lot of grassy-woody components had time to dissolve into your beer. It might blend in a bit over time, but you can't be sure.

Read this paper by Scott Janish and you will receive new insights what to change in your dry hop regimen in the future:
http://scottjanish.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/TQ-58-1-0402-01.pdf

Thanks for the reply, i will read through the paper But why did the same dry hopping amount, type of hops and procedure not produce the grassy off flavor i got in this one? May it be because of the 2,5% more alcohol in this one? Because I have heard that alcohol dissolve the hop oils more if the the % is higher.

And you you think the off flavor will fade?

 

[danylp91]

Thanks for the reply, i will read through the paper But why did the same dry hopping amount, type of hops and procedure not produce the grassy off flavor i got in this one? May it be because of the 2,5% more alcohol in this one? Because I have heard that alcohol dissolve the hop oils more if the the % is higher.

And you you think the off flavor will fade?

That might be the answer. The paper I linked also mentions that heavier ABV beers can dissolve these components quicker than lower ones. Or that batch of hops had a bit higher oil content.
And yes, there's a chanceit will fade over time.

 

[madscientist451]

Is it to early to call this a fail or will the grassiness and hop burn go away?

I have dry hopped with the same combination of amounts and types of hops for 6 days before with a extremely great results before.

My theory is that i used to much mosaic for the 13min edition. Or the combination of using 2 high alpha acid hops in the kettle?

What do you guys think?

Seems like a lot of dry hops to me, but if it has worked for you before, I guess I'm wrong about that.

Yeah, I'd say its too early for a dump out.

 

[BryggAnton]

Seems like a lot of dry hops to me, but if it has worked for you before, I guess I'm wrong about that.

Yeah, I'd say its too early for a dump out.

Thanks

 

[brewswithshoes]

don't dump it.

give a few weeks to let that grassy/burn fade. typically my IPAs take 3 to 4 weeks (sometimes longer) to hit their peak in the keg. There may be some IPAs that the "drink fresh" holds true, but one of my favorite recipes which is heavily dry hopped doesn't hit it's stride until about 6 weeks in.

I can't think of any IPAs i've made that had a grassy/burn that didn't fade back over time. Some of them never fully went away, some did, but all of them mellowed.

Also, read up on dry hopping cold. Something i've tried on my last 2 batches. Not ready to say its the smoking gun to eliminate an hop burn, but these last 2 seem to have all the dry hoppy goodness with way less hop burn then previous batches. I'm going to keep cold dry hopping as it seems to be helping. time will tell.

sample that beer as it ages each week. good luck!!

 

[MicroMickey]

The hops you use all have fairly low co-humulone levels. The hop bite and grassiness isn't coming strictly from your choice of hops (apparently). That pretty much leaves contact time post fermentation.

On the other hand, a good friend of mine loads his dry hops in the keg and quits dry-hopping immediately when the keg is empty.