My galaxy 2019 hops are terribe!

[raymarkson]

I know that the quality of hops can vary widely based on sources, storage conditions, etc., but I am just curious how many others are having bad experiences with Galaxy hops.

I recently made an NEIPA with a citra-mosaic-galaxy hop combination and the beer tasted HORRIBLE! I suspected that the brew must have picked up a wild yeast infection somewhere in my equipment. The flavor of it was was unbearably astringent and seemed slightly phenolic. It tasted like rubber (I know that is not really a phenolic description). Anyway I started breaking all of my equipment down cold side and cleaning it thoroughly and replacing tubing. I also decided to start using IODOPHOR instead of StarSan as a sanitizer.

Anyway, a couple of days later, I thought that I would like to dry hop a APA that I had in a keg. The APA tasted fine, but I just wanted to give it a little more aroma. I found the left over galaxy hops that I used in the aforementioned terrible NEIPA and I put 2 ounces in the APA (it was sitting at just under five gallons in the keg). I tasted it the next day and there was the same flavor that I had in the NEIPA. I realized that it wasn't a wild yeast infection after all- it was the Galaxy hops that were making that awful flavor in my NEIPA.

Out of the bag, the hops smelled fine. However, when I used them in a brew, they made it taste so bad that I thought it was infected. I have some left, but I think that I am going to just throw them away. I don't want them to ruin anymore beer.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Onion, garlic, sweaty armpit note?

 

[day_trippr]

I'm literally enjoying a wonderful Galaxy-focused neipa style brew using 2019 pellets, right now.

As implied above, it might be helpful to relate some of the off-putting characteristics you're experiencing. Galaxy does tend to get strong in the phenol department and plenty of folks have complained about harshness (though I've never seen "rubber" come up). If you are going straight from the fermenter to the tap in too short a time maybe that's the character you're experiencing?

Cheers!

 

[raymarkson]

Onion, garlic, sweaty armpit note?

I had to go and get them out of the freezer just now. In the aroma of the actual hops, I do think that I pick up onion or garlic. it's not overpowering, but I do think that I detect it. I also poured a glass just now and had my wife smell and taste it. She agreed that the beer tasted and smelled like a rubber band and it's very astringent. the astringency really lingers.

 

[raymarkson]

I'm literally enjoying a wonderful Galaxy-focused neipa style brew using 2019 pellets, right now.

As implied above, it might be helpful to relate some of the off-putting characteristics you're experiencing. Galaxy does tend to get strong in the phenol department and plenty of folks have complained about harshness (though I've never seen "rubber" come up). If you are going straight from the fermenter to the tap in too short a time maybe that's the character you're experiencing?

Cheers!

It's was carbonating in the keg for about two weeks before I tasted it. It's been in the keg three weeks now and the character is still there.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Rubber or plastic is something I usually attribute to wild yeast contamination. Allium character (onion, garlic, shallot, and I'd say armpit/BO) that I find very unpleasant in a lot of hoppy beers has been my gripe with Galaxy in recent years (as opposed to intense tropical as I got when it first hit the market). But that doesn't quite sound like your problem.

 

[raymarkson]

Rubber or plastic is something I usually attribute to wild yeast contamination. Allium character (onion, garlic, shallot, and I'd say armpit/BO) that I find very unpleasant in a lot of hoppy beers has been my gripe with Galaxy in recent years (as opposed to intense tropical as I got when it first hit the market). But that doesn't quite sound like your problem.

Yes! I agree that rubber or plastic sounds like wild yeast contamination and that is what I thought I was dealing with. But these hops put that flavor in a different keg of American Pale Ale in one day when I dry hopped with them. That flavor was not there before I dry hopped with these Galaxy hops. A flavor from wild yeast would not show up in one day, right?

 

[Qhrumphf]

I'd say probably not, especially from hops. It's possible, but doubtful. You may have a really crappy or really poorly packaged or stored lot. Hops oxidize just like anything else. Stored warm and exposed to oxygen and they can definitely throw unpleasantness.