Hop character early in fermentation

[Aleksaah]

Hi,

So, we have made an IPA, and it is currently fermenting at day 4. We took an SG reading and taste today. It was still really sweet, and it strucked me how little hop character was in the beer. Is that something that will emerge gradually? The hop was fresh from the store, and added according to the recipie in hop "socks".

- Aleksander Hansen

 

[olotti]

I haven't been doing this long but day 4 is awfully early to check your FG, typically you can check at day 10 and then 14 or atleast day 7 and day 10 just to make sure it's stable and then u can dry hop according to your plan. Beer changes so much even between bottling and getting carbonation and then even after being carbed for a couple weeks. Patience as hard as it can be will be your friend.

 

[m00ps]

yeah 4 days is too early and will only introduce oxygen into your beer and further diminish the hop character. Wed really need to see the recipe and techniques to be able to help you out

 

[pdog44450]

Hi,

So, we have made an IPA, and it is currently fermenting at day 4. We took an SG reading and taste today. It was still really sweet, and it strucked me how little hop character was in the beer. Is that something that will emerge gradually? The hop was fresh from the store, and added according to the recipie in hop "socks".

- Aleksander Hansen

Don't judge a beer on the taste of the wort, especially after 4 days, it won't taste even remotely close to what the final beer will be. The reason it is so sweet is because that is what sugar is what the yeast ferments and after 4 days, hardly any of the sugar is fermented.

As for the hops, when following a recipe and using hop bags, extra hops need to be used as the hops will stay in the bag and you don't get all of the flavor/bitterness out of them. Bitterness will decrease over time, unfortunately. Worst comes to worst, play it off as an APA. Not much difference between the 2 except bitterness. Let us know how it tastes after a couple weeks fermenting.

 

[justenoughforme]

i accidentally made my last batch too bitter,

and it was horridly bitter as wort, bitter as hell when bottled, and is slowly getting less bitter (i'm pouring one now just to see)...

... i have only seen it go from more to less bitter.


if you're LOOKING for more bitter, and not finding it, you may be hard pressed to do much.


that said; it's perfect time to try a dry hop !! add a lot of aroma to the beer by adding some extra hops now.