Missing hop flavor/aroma

[abledsoe]

A buddy and I recently brewed a Rye IPA:

5 Gallon Recipe
8.5# 2-row
3.0# Wheat Malt
1.0# Rye Malt
1.0# Flaked Rye
2.0 oz. Caramel 60
2.0 oz. Victory Malt

1.0 oz Nugget (60 min)
1.0 oz. Cascade (15min) -recipe called for Crystal but LHBS was out
1.0 oz. Chinook (5 min)
1.0 oz. Amarillo (1 min)
1.0 oz. Chinook (1 min) - recipe called for Summit but LHBS was out.

The recipe called for the 1.0 oz of Amarillo and 1.0 oz. of Chinook that we used at 1 min. to be used for dry hopping, but dry hopping just wasn't an option for us on this beer, so we just decided to toss them in at the end.

After 2 weeks in the fermenter we bottled and now, a month after bottling, these beers have no hop flavor or aroma. We tried a beer after 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks in the bottle and at no point has this beer had any hop presence.

Where did we go wrong? Just not enough hops to begin with?

 

[unionrdr]

It should have some little aroma & flavor. I like 20 & 10 minutes for flavor additions. I've also found that 2-3 minutes for aroma is better as well. Maybe your hops were old enough that 15 & 1 minutes just didn't give enough lupulins to do the job normally?...

 

[jethro55]

5 oz of hops and no hop flavor? Really?

 

[Gartywood]

I think it's tough to get the flavor and aroma that you're looking for in an ipa without dry hopping. You end up with more of an English ESB IMHO. If you really don't want to dry hop due to time constraints try a 15 minute hop stand at 140-180 degrees before final chilling.

 

[unionrdr]

Dry hopping only gives aroma. But since our senses of smell & taste are linked,dry hopping can give the illusion of a bit more flavor. And steeping after the fact will add a little,but it's the boil where better flavor comes from. I've don hopping a couple different ways,& the boil is best. I can't understand why 5oz of hops gave nothing. Do you maybe have a cold? Or did you maybe just think you added the hops while drinking,& didn't really?
I know how this sounds,but there's no reason why the hell there's no hop flavor with 5 solid ounces in there. In the boil no less. They say too many coooks spoil the soup. That's why I asked the qiestions about hop additions.

 

[abledsoe]

I am 100% certain we added all the hops, there wasn't much drinking going on during the brew. Also not sick and both of us have noticed the lack of hoppiness in this beer. We're really at a loss. The good news is the beer still came out really well. I just wouldn't call it an IPA.

 

[unionrdr]

Damn...this just isn't logical. The hops would have to be really old & poorly stored to give nothing at all.

 

[abledsoe]

Yeah, I don't get it. I bought the hops the day before we brewed from the LHBS and they were kept in the fridge until we used them. I suppose they could've been old hops?

 

[Callacave]

What about looking into your water? When I did my first IPA I used Spring water, and didn't adjust the Sulfate up high enough. The beer wasn't bad, just didn't have the pop that properly adjusted water can give you.