NB Chinook IPA tastes like wheat

[jaysquared2]

So got tired of 1 gal batches and bought the NB brew enjoy 5 gallon kit that came with a Chinook IPA extract recipe kit as well. I tweaked it to add a bit of leftover Citra I had. It's now 13 days into fermenting and held a FG of 1.012 for a solid 3 days (meaning pretty much steady gravity). Issue is...this doesn't taste like an IPA in the least bit. Straight up taste like a blue moon/standard wheat beer. No real bitterness or bite to it. Smells of wheat. If i told you this was a blue moon you'd believe me and call me crazy if i said it was IPA. Like it's that off. Recipe was:

6# Pilsen LME
1# Pilsen DME
0.75# Carapils 8
0.25lb Caramel 40

1oz Chinook @ 60min
0.5 Chinook @10
0.5 Citra @10
0.5 Chinook @1
0.5 Citra @1

Supposed to be 1oz Chinook dry hopped once transferred to secondary or 1 week before bottling. Haven't done this yet due to fact if batch is shot I'd rather save it.

US-05 yeast. Added yeast nutrient to help.
Fermented @64F in a temperature controlled chest freezer (probe taped to side of bucket and outside covered in foam insulation).

What's the issue? They have a quality guarantee so not really too worries about if it's something on their end and isn't salvageable. Just trying to figure out if it's something on my end before I go after them.

 

[BobBailey]

Sounds to me like you're judging the beer before it's finished. Go ahead and dry hop it, bottle or keg it and allow it to condition at room temperature for 3 weeks or so. It may not be hoppy enough for your taste, but looks like it should be a very nice pale ale at very least.

 

[bransona]

This is the first recipe I ever brewed, and it came out great. Finish making the beer before you pass judgement

 

[Morrey]

Per the advice given above, give the beer a bit of time to see what flavors even out before forming a final opinion.

IF you then determine the beer is not hoppy to your liking, you can make a hop "tea" by steeping hops contained in a muslin bag and using the hoppy tea to add in to your beer. Another product I like even better is hop extract specifically designed to adjust your hop profiles and IBU's after the beer is fermented. Yakima Valley may still carry this product.

 

[toxdoc49]

This is the first recipe I ever brewed, and it came out great. Finish making the beer before you pass judgement

I followed the NB directions on this recipe. I agree, it is a bitter tasting IPA. However, I have a question about this recipe. It is about bringing the volume up to 5 gallons with water. I think this caused the beer to actually be on the watery side (some lack of body). I think this also is the reason for it being somewhat bitter. I don't mind the bitterness, but I am thinking of how to improve the recipe. As in, adding less water, or increasing the amount of grain? Not sure, but I think more flavor can be gotten from this recipe by some minor tweaks.

 

[ProblemChild]

Additionally - keep in mind that batches can vary.

If it is not what you expected, drop the expectation and decide if it is tasty enough to drink. I have had repeat recipes vary in OG and hop intensity.

This recipe hinges on the single ounce of Chinook @60 for all it's hop bite. If that ounce was not packaged as well as it should or was just that bit if the batch that did not carry the Alpha's for some reason, gonna come out different.

 

[flars]

Some of the flavors you are noticing probably come from fermenting with US-05 at 64°F. I call it peach flavor fermenting that low. I now go for 66° to 68°F.

 

[toxdoc49]

Some of the flavors you are noticing probably come from fermenting with US-05 at 64°F. I call it peach flavor fermenting that low. I now go for 66° to 68°F.

I tried to keep it at that temp for primary and secondary. But as you also pointed out, I use what they give me for yeast, and have not really experimented with other types of yeast. There are so many out there.
By the way, your edit of the recipe for the True brew red ale worked well! Still bottle conditioning, but the taste is good and I got about 10% abv.

 

[toxdoc49]

Additionally - keep in mind that batches can vary.

If it is not what you expected, drop the expectation and decide if it is tasty enough to drink. I have had repeat recipes vary in OG and hop intensity.

This recipe hinges on the single ounce of Chinook @60 for all it's hop bite. If that ounce was not packaged as well as it should or was just that bit if the batch that did not carry the Alpha's for some reason, gonna come out different.

it is tasty enough to drink, true. And I have many bottles.

 

[flars]

I tried to keep it at that temp for primary and secondary. But as you also pointed out, I use what they give me for yeast, and have not really experimented with other types of yeast. There are so many out there.
By the way, your edit of the recipe for the True brew red ale worked well! Still bottle conditioning, but the taste is good and I got about 10% abv.

I use US-05 for the Chinook but ferment at a higher temperature with this yeast. With this yeast I ferment as high as 70°F for some other ales. I first noticed the off flavor that comes from fermenting too cool in a dry Irish stout.

 

[FVillatoro]

So got tired of 1 gal batches and bought the NB brew enjoy 5 gallon kit that came with a Chinook IPA extract recipe kit as well. I tweaked it to add a bit of leftover Citra I had. It's now 13 days into fermenting and held a FG of 1.012 for a solid 3 days (meaning pretty much steady gravity). Issue is...this doesn't taste like an IPA in the least bit. Straight up taste like a blue moon/standard wheat beer. No real bitterness or bite to it. Smells of wheat. If i told you this was a blue moon you'd believe me and call me crazy if i said it was IPA. Like it's that off. Recipe was:

6# Pilsen LME
1# Pilsen DME
0.75# Carapils 8
0.25lb Caramel 40

1oz Chinook @ 60min
0.5 Chinook @10
0.5 Citra @10
0.5 Chinook @1
0.5 Citra @1

Supposed to be 1oz Chinook dry hopped once transferred to secondary or 1 week before bottling. Haven't done this yet due to fact if batch is shot I'd rather save it.

US-05 yeast. Added yeast nutrient to help.
Fermented @64F in a temperature controlled chest freezer (probe taped to side of bucket and outside covered in foam insulation).

What's the issue? They have a quality guarantee so not really too worries about if it's something on their end and isn't salvageable. Just trying to figure out if it's something on my end before I go after them.

Question, did you do a full 5 gallon boil? Or did you add water to bring up the volume to 5 gallons? It doesn't sound like you extracted much bitterness from the 1oz of Chinook @ 60 minutes boil.

Thanks

 

[ProblemChild]

Question, did you do a full 5 gallon boil? Or did you add water to bring up the volume to 5 gallons? It doesn't sound like you extracted much bitterness from the 1oz of Chinook @ 60 minutes boil.

Thanks

thinking about your comment, and if I remember correctly, high gravity equates to lower hop utilization. If the boil vol was low to begin with and the water was added after boil, then the bitterness could have taken a hit.