Mosaic Pale Ale Fail

DJM3 · May 5, 2018

Ok, so I set out to try and create something close to the Adnams Mosaic Pale Ale which has an IBU of 41 and an ABV of 4.1% with strong mango / peach aroma and flavour.

However I have ended up with something which is really hazy and no aroma and an over powering flavour of wet cardboard. All research on the wet cardboard flavour says this is because of oxidisation but I cannot see where this could have happened.

My recipe was:

4000g Best Pale Ale Malt (BESTMALZ)
100g Crystal Malt 30l
30g Mosaic Hops 60 minutes boil
20g Mosaic Hops 5 minutes boil
50g Mosaic Hops Dry Hop for 5 days
White Labs WLP023 Burton Ale Yeast - no starter straight pitch into FV.

I did the usual mash for 60 mins and boil for 60 mins and then chilled with an Immersion chiller and pitched around 22 degrees C. And fermented between 20 - 22 degrees.

I aerated the wort before pitching also.

The beer has been bottle conditioned for 2 weeks now and hasn't cleared. It tasted of wet cardboard straight from the FV when I took a sample through the spigot to take a reading which was worrying but thought maybe it was the suspended yeast causing the off flavour.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

thehaze · May 5, 2018

Wet cardboard does indeed imply early oxidation, as terrible/advanced oxidation will taste like sherry/sweet.

How long did you ferment? The fermentation temperature, although maybe a bit higher, shouldn't produce anything bad, other than increased esters and " may " fusel alcohols, but not likely, seeing you used an English strain.

So that's about it on the wet cardboard.

" Hazy " could be due to a lot of things, but kettle finnings, cold crash and gelatin will help you clear the beer - to an extent.

Lack of aroma is due to your weak hopping. I would have used at least 2-3 times more hops. You need at least 5 oz in the boil + whirlpool and 5 for dry hopping. So that's a total of around 280 gr.

Cheers.

DJM3 · May 5, 2018

Thanks for the advice. I fermented for 2 weeks. There was a nice strong aroma when I was bottling the beer but nothing when I cracked one open.

The only other thing I did differently during this brew was for the whirlpool at the end of the boil I used my power brill and mash paddle to get a good strong whirlpool, but no splashing or bubbling occurred. Could this have oxidized it that much?

thehaze · May 5, 2018

I too use a stainless steel paddle to whirlpool and resuspend the hops during the 20-30 minutes steep, and I have not encountered any issues with oxidation, so that's unlikely. But could be a possibility? Curious to what others might say.

Since you are bottling - I also bottle myself - that could be one of the reasons. It's kind of easy to oxidize and lose aroma/flavour when bottling, especially if not done with a closed transfer, etc.

I would suggest trying to read some more on how to bottle, whirlpool, etc. and try to tighten things up. Brew the same recipe again and this time, use some more hops and bottle a bit earlier. 2 weeks in the fermenter for such a small beer, is too much for my liking.

My latest Session IPA was 4.6%, 35 IBUs and I bottled it after then days, one of which was a quick cold crash. Dry hopped with 250 gr hops and had 200 gr more in the boil + whirlpool. Already after 5-7 days in the bottle, it was really good and fully carbonated.

DJM3 · May 5, 2018

thehaze said:
I too use a stainless steel paddle to whirlpool and resuspend the hops during the 20-30 minutes steep, and I have not encountered any issues with oxidation, so that's unlikely. But could be a possibility? Curious to what others might say.

Since you are bottling - I also bottle myself - that could be one of the reasons. It's kind of easy to oxidize and lose aroma/flavour when bottling, especially if not done with a closed transfer, etc.

The beer tasted like wet cardboard when I took a hydrometer reading straight from the FV, so I am assuming something has happened between boil and transfer to the fermenter.

It's annoying because if it was something obvious that I did wrong I could correct it in the next brew, I've never had this problem before. Maybe this one will just be chalked up to the joys of home-brewing [emoji3]