My last brew was a Belgian IPA, very similar to Flying Dog Raging ***** or Stone Cali-belgique. It stayed the fermentor for 3 weeks, had a full day of carbonation and then was kegged. At the unveiling it was hoppy goodness. Full of hop flavor with balanced bitterness and decent aroma. Much of the Belgian character was masked by the hops.
A week later the beer now has little of the hop character that was in it before and don't understand what happened. Belgian character is most prominent, with the hops mostly masked.
I've made 4 Really hoppy beers thus far. Three of which (including this one) had a similar problem. The first two (Fresh Hop Ale, Double Quad IPA), were both awesome in the first week, but the hop flavor actually changed into something nasty that I couldn't drink. Since these were in the same keg that had never fully been cleaned after arrival, I assumed this was the problem. My next beer, which I called Random Hop IPA, was placed in a different keg and the hop character lasted as you would expect. No problems. Now with this one I have the problem again. The weird thing is the keg was fully disassembled and soaked in concentrated star san before use. So unlikely to be bacteria from the keg at least
What is going on? Can oxygen degrade the hops that fast? Could it be my CO2 or beer lines? Maybe my ball locks? Other beers don't seem to change, just seems to be the hoppy ones. Maybe leftover sanitizer in the keg? I'm at a loss here....
One final note. It was a 10 gallon batch and the beer is split between two 5 gallon cornies. The one on tap is noticeably less hoppy then the on in storage. Not sure if the storage one has changed (maybe a little), but there is a gap between the two.
Very disappointed and need serious suggestions. I feel like not making hop bombs anymore, which would be sad
A week later the beer now has little of the hop character that was in it before and don't understand what happened. Belgian character is most prominent, with the hops mostly masked.
I've made 4 Really hoppy beers thus far. Three of which (including this one) had a similar problem. The first two (Fresh Hop Ale, Double Quad IPA), were both awesome in the first week, but the hop flavor actually changed into something nasty that I couldn't drink. Since these were in the same keg that had never fully been cleaned after arrival, I assumed this was the problem. My next beer, which I called Random Hop IPA, was placed in a different keg and the hop character lasted as you would expect. No problems. Now with this one I have the problem again. The weird thing is the keg was fully disassembled and soaked in concentrated star san before use. So unlikely to be bacteria from the keg at least
What is going on? Can oxygen degrade the hops that fast? Could it be my CO2 or beer lines? Maybe my ball locks? Other beers don't seem to change, just seems to be the hoppy ones. Maybe leftover sanitizer in the keg? I'm at a loss here....
One final note. It was a 10 gallon batch and the beer is split between two 5 gallon cornies. The one on tap is noticeably less hoppy then the on in storage. Not sure if the storage one has changed (maybe a little), but there is a gap between the two.
Very disappointed and need serious suggestions. I feel like not making hop bombs anymore, which would be sad