My NEIPA tastes like I'm eating a hop

[psu12288]

My friends and I brewed our first NEIPA with our own recipe (nothing far off from any other). We ran into quite a few issues and most of which we have an idea on how to correct other than the fact that it tastes like an actual hop, not just hop flavored. We did the BIAB method with flaked oats making up slightly less than 10% of the grain bill. 5.75 ounces of hops went into the secondary, in bags, with marbles for suspension. The beer was conditioned on pineapple chunks. Our main issue was we didn't realize we needed a starter until the day of, and then when we pitched we realized the yeast pack wasn't mixed well and it came out separated. Needless to say we had a poor fermentation with little alcohol.

Could poor fermentation be the cause? If the yeast didn't flocculate well could it have left dry hop debris in suspension? Most solutions I've seen in other posts suggest filtering with a muslin bag but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a hazy beer?

 

[r4dyce]

I could be wrong but I wouldn't think that passing it through a cloth filter would eliminate too much haze. Might just want to let it ferment longer and then cold crash to drop some of the hop particles etc before packaging

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

My friends and I brewed our first NEIPA with our own recipe (nothing far off from any other). We ran into quite a few issues and most of which we have an idea on how to correct other than the fact that it tastes like an actual hop, not just hop flavored. We did the BIAB method with flaked oats making up slightly less than 10% of the grain bill. 5.75 ounces of hops went into the secondary, in bags, with marbles for suspension. The beer was conditioned on pineapple chunks. Our main issue was we didn't realize we needed a starter until the day of, and then when we pitched we realized the yeast pack wasn't mixed well and it came out separated. Needless to say we had a poor fermentation with little alcohol.

Could poor fermentation be the cause? If the yeast didn't flocculate well could it have left dry hop debris in suspension? Most solutions I've seen in other posts suggest filtering with a muslin bag but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a hazy beer?

When you say "tastes like an actual hop" what do you mean? NEIPAs are, by design, extremely hoppy flavored. If you mean it's like eating a hop pellet (kinda spicy, burns the throat, etc.), then give it time. Pretty much every NEIPA I brew has hops in suspension that give that spicy burn in the throat for about 2-3 days. After a week, they're spectatcular.

Here's a typical schedule:

Brew on day 1, pitch yeast
Ferm 95% done after about 30 hours (yours would have been longer)
One big dry hop at about 20 hours after pitch
Cold crash day 5 or 6
keg on day 7 or 8, set CO2 to 30 psi
After two days, drop PSI to serving pressure and sample
by about day 14 it's tasty
by day 18 it's amazing

 

[jodell]

They all taste like eating hops

In actuality while you did under pitch but I don't believe that is your issue. If it wasn't mixed well it will still bit during fermentation (everything moves around a bunch there). Underpitching also doesn't mean lower alcohol, but more off flavors (called esters and fusel alcohols mostly). Your beer will still attenuate normally (assuming what you pitched was still healthy, I'm assuming you pitched conan??)

I'm not much of an NEIPA guy but thought I'd put my 2 cents in on what I know

 

[Homercidal]

There is not much to go on, such as your method of brewing, fermentation type and timeline. Those things all contribute to the finished product.

If I had to guess I'd say you should wait longer. Generally hop debris is not included in "Things that won't settle out" in beer. They are big and heavy compared to the yeast and proteins that make for a hazy beer. Sure, you could strain it, but IMO it's an unnecessary step for most any beer, especially one that is designed to be murky from the start. It would only help introduce oxygen to the beer, which you surely do not want!

Check the gravity and see if it's close to where you estimate it ought to be after fermentation. If it is, then wait 2-3 days for the yeast to clean up, and then cold crash. I suspect you will see much of the hops particles settling to the bottom in that time.

 

[schematix]

mission accomplished

 

[Morrey]

If the yeast didn't flocculate well could it have left dry hop debris in suspension?

When you are looking at your beer in a glass, are you seeing floating/suspended particulate? Not haze, but flakes of hops or other floating matter in the beer? There is a big difference from being hoppy by design or being hoppy due to excessive hop trub in the beer.

 

[triethylborane]

I could be wrong but I wouldn't think that passing it through a cloth filter would eliminate too much haze. Might just want to let it ferment longer and then cold crash to drop some of the hop particles etc before packaging

Agree. A muslin bag is not going to filter out proteins that cause haze or the molecules that bind to them.

 

[psu12288]

When you are looking at your beer in a glass, are you seeing floating/suspended particulate? Not haze, but flakes of hops or other floating matter in the beer? There is a big difference from being hoppy by design or being hoppy due to excessive hop trub in the beer.

While it tastes like there is, there actually isn't. It has a really nice and clean hazy look and all the yeast hop debris are at the bottom of the bottle and stays there while I pour. It just tastes like I'm eating a hop pellet. I love the flavor of hops but this is just harsh. And my OG was 1.054 but I only clocked in at 2.89%. While the harshness has calmed down since our initial tasting, it also has a lot of off flavors. From my research, that could be attributed to the lack of a quick, aggressive fermentation.

And as far as letting it condition, it conditioned at 68 degrees for 1 week and then cold crashed for 4 days before we tasted. Didn't think I'd want a dry hopped IPA to condition for too much longer. But I wouldn't be here if I knew what I was doing...

Thanks for the input everyone, I appreciate it.