IPA Too Sweet

[ricshayne]

Brewed a Simcoe IPA a few weeks back, had a bottle today and there was a sweetness to it that was a little much for me. OG was 1.008 so wondering where this could be coming from?

 

[jlinz]

Did you steep any speciality grains?

 

[Yooper]

The most common cause of too much sweetness in a finished beer is under bittering. It depends on the recipe and if the beer was a partial boil.

 

[Jaybird]

I'm assuming you meant FG was 1.008 correct not OG 1.080? post up the recipe man. Lets see what were brewing. Sweetness can come from loads of places in the brewing process. Could be a simple as the hops you were using were not the actual listed AAU and you are under the IBU you thought you were.

Cheers
Jay

 

[ricshayne]

post up the recipe man. Lets see what were brewing.

So this is the recipe:

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 3.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.62 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

6 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 84.4 %
12.0 oz Munich Malt (12.0 SRM) Grain 9.7 %
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.2 %
0.30 oz Simcoe [12.30 %] - First Wort 60.0 min 25.3 IBUs
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 15 -
0.20 oz Simcoe [12.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min 5.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [12.30 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min 14.7 IBUs
0.50 oz Simcoe [12.30 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 60.0 min 19.2 IBUs
0.28 oz Simcoe [12.30 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 min 5.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Simcoe [12.30 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 45.0 min 8.8 IBUs
1.0 pkg Harvested OYL-004 2nd Gen (Omega #OYL-004) Yeast 21 -
1.00 oz Simcoe [12.30 %] - Dry Hop 6.0 Days Hop 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [12.30 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 0.0 IBUs
Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.062 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.9 %
Bitterness: 78.9 IBUs
Est Color: 5.9 SRM
Measured Original Gravity: 1.066 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.008 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.6 %

I'm thinking one of two things, either the IBU calculations for the Whirlpool Hops are way off or there is still some priming sugar left in solution that the yeast have not got to yet.

The most common cause of too much sweetness in a finished beer is under bittering.

Will dry beers still have that cloying sweetness as well?

 

[eric19312]

I have seen similar results with whirlpool. Reliance on calculators that predict big IBU from flame out and later additions lead to sweet hop juice--it was delicious but not what I wanted in an IPA. Now I make sure all my IPAs and DIPAs get a solid bittering addition. 50-100 IBU from the 60 minute boil addtion depending on strength.

 

[bobbrews]

You should have went with a larger traditional bittering charge instead of a small FWH addition. You're also lacking overall kettle hops. Alpha acid isomerization grinds to a halt around 175F. Holding hops below this temp. in the whirlpool/hopstand will not draw out the IBUs.

Munich can also be quite rich and malty, which can come off as sweet and toasty. I don't use it in IPAs for that reason, but at only 10% use, it shouldn't be the main issue here.

 

[ricshayne]

You should have went with a larger traditional bittering charge instead of a small FWH addition. You're also lacking overall kettle hops.

Was trying to do very little boil hops, as I've heard thats what The Alchemist does for Heady. I've done this before with a Citra IPA and the results were great, but that was a five gallon batch and Im guessing that the wort held a higher temperature during that whirlpool causing more isomerization of the acids as opposed to the 3 gal batch.

 

[Grannyknot]

Your recipe estimates the color at 5.9srm. Do you think you hit that? Or was it darker?
Also, is the sweetness a cloying (unpleasant) sweetness, or is it a malty sweetness that isn't necessarily unpleasant, but just not dryness that you were going for?

& Last question...did you check the ph on your mash?

 

[bobbrews]

Was trying to do very little boil hops, as I've heard thats what The Alchemist does for Heady. I've done this before with a Citra IPA and the results were great, but that was a five gallon batch and Im guessing that the wort held a higher temperature during that whirlpool causing more isomerization of the acids as opposed to the 3 gal batch.

Heady does not use any boil hops, however they do add an enormous addition of HopShot at boil start. A hefty amount of pellet hops is then used in the whirlpool/hopback and especially in the dryhop.