I have been extract brewing low alcohol beers for the past few years, but in the last few months I tried getting more fruity hop aromas with several batches, and am failing. Several years ago when I brewed 10 gallons all grain, and made a batch with 3 ounces of different NZ hops, all @ 15 minutes, and had plenty of fruity aroma. Never tried fruity hops with extract until now.
Due to space limitations, I only have room for 5 gallons with LME and a partial mash. The problem I am having is zero aroma, no matter what beer I make, hop variety I use, or quantity. Nothing I make is hoppy because I am not a hop head, so I couldn't care less if my beer is 5 IBU.
I have a 3 gallon SS and a 3 gallon aluminum kettle. The aluminum is my steeping/boiling kettle, and the SS is my HLT. I bought the aluminum first which is why I use it as such.
When I start brewing, I have ~1.5 gallons water for steeping specialty malt, then I sparge and end up with ~2 gallons, add LME, and boil for 60 minutes. After boiling I have ~1.5 gallons left, cool it down, rack to fermenter, then top up to 5 gallons with water.
The major problem I have is no aroma with any of my beers. Every attempt has failed. I even ask roommates to smell it and there is none. I never check OG or FG because I don't care how much alcohol is in it, I want very little.
My typical recipe uses 2# of LME and about 2# of specialty malt, whether munich, 20L, 60L, victory, whatever I choose. I commonly use Wyeast 1332, 1272, or 1056, and the fermenter (plastic bucket) stays in the garage, usually between 70-78F.
First beer: 1/2 oz Amarillo @ 60, dry hopped for 7 days: 1/2 oz Amarillo, 1.5 oz NZ Pacific Hall, 1 oz NZ Saaz.
Second beer: .5 oz Citra @ 60, 1.5 oz Citra @ 10.
Third beer: 1 oz Amarillo @ 60, 1 oz NZ Pacific Hall and 1 oz NZ Saaz @ 10.
None of these beers had any aroma.
Current beer which is still fermenting:
All Citra:
.5 oz @ 60, 1.5 oz @ 10, 1 oz @ 5, 1 oz @ 0. At flame out I stuck my nose into the kettle. Zero aroma.
I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. When I brewed the 10 gallon all grain NZ hop beer years ago, it was very fruity. I would think with all these hop additions, especially dry hopping for 7 days, it should be killer. No hop aroma at all. Not even a hint. I am using both leaf and pellet if that matters.
I am currently bottling since my kegging setup is in storage. Using plastic flavored water bottles I bought over a 3 year period. Some are old, others are very new. Everything cleaned and sanitized between use.
Today I went to the local homebrew store and asked for advice. He guy I spoke with had no idea because he said everything I am doing sounds right, but most people don't want a low alcohol beer. His only guess is that since I am boiling ~2 gallons and adding the hops, when I rack to the fermenter and top it up, it is diluting the aroma. He admitted he was not positive, but it was all he could think of. While I can see that, with my last beer, I added most of the Citra in the last 10 minutes, and even smelling it right away there was nothing.
His suggestion was to boil 3 gallons of plain water for 60 minutes, add all hops according to hop schedule, and in the last 10 minutes, boil the 2# of LME separately, then combine both, rack to fermenter, and top up the remaining few gallons with water. It's worth a shot.
Does anybody have any idea why I am getting zero aroma with all of these hop additions? It does not matter if I use NZ hops, Amarillo, Summit, Citra, I have tried all those over time. All fresh and sealed.
I have been researching this for weeks, but have not found anybody with this same problem so far. My educated guess is that the hop oils need grain proteins to bond to, and since I am using so little LME and grain, there is not enough, but the store employee shot that idea down and said hop oils are water soluble, and said people make hop tea using plain water, so he doesn't think the issue is with the LME or grain content, but rather, I have such a low boil volume and I should boil full volume.
Sorry for being so long winded. I like to give as much detail as possible.
Due to space limitations, I only have room for 5 gallons with LME and a partial mash. The problem I am having is zero aroma, no matter what beer I make, hop variety I use, or quantity. Nothing I make is hoppy because I am not a hop head, so I couldn't care less if my beer is 5 IBU.
I have a 3 gallon SS and a 3 gallon aluminum kettle. The aluminum is my steeping/boiling kettle, and the SS is my HLT. I bought the aluminum first which is why I use it as such.
When I start brewing, I have ~1.5 gallons water for steeping specialty malt, then I sparge and end up with ~2 gallons, add LME, and boil for 60 minutes. After boiling I have ~1.5 gallons left, cool it down, rack to fermenter, then top up to 5 gallons with water.
The major problem I have is no aroma with any of my beers. Every attempt has failed. I even ask roommates to smell it and there is none. I never check OG or FG because I don't care how much alcohol is in it, I want very little.
My typical recipe uses 2# of LME and about 2# of specialty malt, whether munich, 20L, 60L, victory, whatever I choose. I commonly use Wyeast 1332, 1272, or 1056, and the fermenter (plastic bucket) stays in the garage, usually between 70-78F.
First beer: 1/2 oz Amarillo @ 60, dry hopped for 7 days: 1/2 oz Amarillo, 1.5 oz NZ Pacific Hall, 1 oz NZ Saaz.
Second beer: .5 oz Citra @ 60, 1.5 oz Citra @ 10.
Third beer: 1 oz Amarillo @ 60, 1 oz NZ Pacific Hall and 1 oz NZ Saaz @ 10.
None of these beers had any aroma.
Current beer which is still fermenting:
All Citra:
.5 oz @ 60, 1.5 oz @ 10, 1 oz @ 5, 1 oz @ 0. At flame out I stuck my nose into the kettle. Zero aroma.
I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. When I brewed the 10 gallon all grain NZ hop beer years ago, it was very fruity. I would think with all these hop additions, especially dry hopping for 7 days, it should be killer. No hop aroma at all. Not even a hint. I am using both leaf and pellet if that matters.
I am currently bottling since my kegging setup is in storage. Using plastic flavored water bottles I bought over a 3 year period. Some are old, others are very new. Everything cleaned and sanitized between use.
Today I went to the local homebrew store and asked for advice. He guy I spoke with had no idea because he said everything I am doing sounds right, but most people don't want a low alcohol beer. His only guess is that since I am boiling ~2 gallons and adding the hops, when I rack to the fermenter and top it up, it is diluting the aroma. He admitted he was not positive, but it was all he could think of. While I can see that, with my last beer, I added most of the Citra in the last 10 minutes, and even smelling it right away there was nothing.
His suggestion was to boil 3 gallons of plain water for 60 minutes, add all hops according to hop schedule, and in the last 10 minutes, boil the 2# of LME separately, then combine both, rack to fermenter, and top up the remaining few gallons with water. It's worth a shot.
Does anybody have any idea why I am getting zero aroma with all of these hop additions? It does not matter if I use NZ hops, Amarillo, Summit, Citra, I have tried all those over time. All fresh and sealed.
I have been researching this for weeks, but have not found anybody with this same problem so far. My educated guess is that the hop oils need grain proteins to bond to, and since I am using so little LME and grain, there is not enough, but the store employee shot that idea down and said hop oils are water soluble, and said people make hop tea using plain water, so he doesn't think the issue is with the LME or grain content, but rather, I have such a low boil volume and I should boil full volume.
Sorry for being so long winded. I like to give as much detail as possible.
