Grassy Taste Dry Hopping

[bodkincreek]

Hey Guys,
I just brewed my first IPA a few weeks ago. It was a simple SMaSH IPA with Marris Otter and Cascades.

The grain bill was 14lbs of Marris Otter, mashed at 153 degrees for 60 mins. My measure OG was 1.76 for a 82% efficiency. I boiled for 90 mins with a 90, 60, 15 and 5 min addition, all of them where 1 ounce additions.

I let if ferment for 2 weeks using US05 and the yeast fermented the beer down to 1.009. I transferred to secondary and the beer tasted wonderful. I dry hopped with 2 ounces of hops for 5 days.

This past weekend I transferred the beer to a keg. The smell test yielded great results. Wonderfully citrusy. The taste test, not so much. The beer has a great citrus kick at the front end, then turns overwhelmingly grassy and dry at the end and the taste stays in my mouth for 5 minutes after I took the sip. I hooked the keg to CO2 and put it in my kegerator.

Any ideas? Too much hops for the dry hop? This is my first dry hopped beer. I wasn't really expecting that kind of outcome. Should I let it sit and see if the flavor subsides?

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[jfk69]

I'd give it 10 days or so on gas with the set it and forget it method and then taste it. It's still young, and it's amazing how much proper carbonation changes the flavor profile.

 

[bodkincreek]

I figured letting it sit was my only option.

Any ideas as to the cause? To much of a dry hop addition? I wouldn't think that a 2 ounce addition would be too much considering I've read people on here doing 6 ounce additions? Is this typical of cascades when dry hopping?

 

[mrgrimm101]

They say that you can get a grassy flavor by leaving the hops in for too long..but 5 days is definitely not too long. The flavor should subside over time..I've noticed with my IPAs that hop aroma and flavor are the first things to fade.

 

[RM-MN]

They say that you can get a grassy flavor by leaving the hops in for too long..but 5 days is definitely not too long. The flavor should subside over time..I've noticed with my IPAs that hop aroma and flavor are the first things to fade.

I've read that leaving the hops too long gives a grassy taste but I've dry hopped for 2 weeks without it and I know that the second largest brewery in Washington state leaves hops in their kegs until they are empty. Why don't then get the grassy taste? Is it the hop variety, the mineral makeup of the water, the temperature during the dry hopping? Why do some get a grassy taste?

 

[mrgrimm101]

I've read that leaving the hops too long gives a grassy taste but I've dry hopped for 2 weeks without it and I know that the second largest brewery in Washington state leaves hops in their kegs until they are empty. Why don't then get the grassy taste? Is it the hop variety, the mineral makeup of the water, the temperature during the dry hopping? Why do some get a grassy taste?

It could be any one of those things. I'm not sure, I'm just reiterating what I have read.

 

[unionrdr]

Grassy taste is usually from dry hopping over 10 days or so. I always keep it down to 7 days. But 5 days shouldn't be doing that? And it shouldn't be old hops, as I've read they can give a cheesy flavor. Maybe something to do with the ingredients of the beer versus hop addition times? I have noticed that hop flavors can be altered slightly by the malts used in the beer myself. Especially when the flavors have had time to meld by way of carbonation/conditioning time in the bottles or kegs. So it might just of been a green beer flavor as was stated. The dry hopping time is fine.

 

[beerkench]

Two things I notice here, one being that your FG is quite low resulting in a drier beer. This can give a bitter taste affecting the balance. Another is that a lot of your hops went in early. Try adding more of them later on in the boil instead.


Sent from hell
using Home Brew

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah, since it's an ale, cut the boil time down to 60 minutes, bittering addition @ 60 minutes. Flavor additions from 20 minutes down to about 8:30 minutes. 5 minutes or less are for aroma generally speaking.

 

[mrgrimm101]

I've noticed that 90 minute boils are usually used in big beers like Double/Imperial IPAs. With beers like this, you have a lot more malty sweetness to balance the extended boil time, which can bring out some different qualities in hops than a standard 60 minute boil. I don't think the extended boil would have given the "grassy flavor" but it definitely could have given more bitterness.