First time poster, but have been following this thread for years. Big thank you to all the contributors, there’s a wealth of information in here.
After somewhere between 30-40 iterations of an NEIPA, I finally feel like I’m close to hitting the mark of what I look for in commercial examples of the style. My only gripe, is that there is really no individuality in the hops I use. Everything I make (IPA wise) comes out practically the same in terms of hop flavor. If I had to describe it, I would just say generic hoppiness or a hop soup. It’s not a taste I hate, I’ve certainly had worse commercial examples, and some friends think it’s great. But again, no individuality to my brews, just more of the same. This happens using different hops, different styles (WC and NE), even using just a single hop (Citra, Columbus, Chinook are what I’ve tried.). I buy my hops exclusively from YVH, vac seal the whole Mylar bags they come in, and keep them in the freezer out of light.
I originally chalked this up to oxidation, given how much that can wreck and change the taste. But since I feel like I’ve really dialed in low oxygen techniques, I don’t think this is my issue anymore. Additionally, the beer has the same taste right after initial kegging all the way to ~2 months out, with no perceptible change in color. I even bottled one straight from the faucet of my kegerator in December, and opened it this past weekend. Color had changed a little, but the aroma and flavor was still way better than many commercial examples (mainly referring to bigger brands that taste fine if found fresh but after a month or two on the shelves just turn into that bleh IPA taste) which I did not expect at all. So again, I really do not think oxygen ingress is my issue, but I will detail my process.
Brew day: BIAB mash at 154 with 7gal water, sparge until 7gal reached. (My kettle only holds 9gal, so I can’t full volume mash). Boil, usually with a full wort or boil hop addition at 60min. Whirlpool 170-180. All hops in wire screen can for removal before going in fermenter.
Ferment: Using a chest freezer. Omega DIPA normally, though have used LA3 and Verdant. Start at 68, 70 after 2 days, 72 after 2 days, 74 until about 2 weeks has passed since entering fermenter. I use a blow off tube into water/starsan until that has slacked off, then attach spunding valve at ~12 psi.
Dry hop: Fill dry hop keg with starsan mix, push mix out with CO2 (can’t fit two kegs in freezer or would use excess CO2 for this.) When it’s spitting just CO2 and bubbles I attach the ball lock liquid post to the empty spitting end, to theoretically “purge” my liquid transfer line. When post is attached to line I also press the plunger to push more C02 out, just for assurance. Once keg empty as possible, set psi to ~5 and run CO2, open, dump hops, close, purge a few times. Closed transfer from ferment keg to dryhop keg. In the past I was dryhopping at 50-52, but the last 2 batches I placed the pressurized keg in my kegerator at ~37, and roll the keg every 6 or so hours for 1-1.5 days to suspend the hops. For me, this has yielded the best concentration of taste (that generic hop taste!) and aroma with almost none of the green harsh bitterness I had when using different methods and contact times. After 1-1.5 days in dry hop keg, I transfer to the serving keg, again purged by starsan and the liquid line “purged.” Every single line connection everywhere, gas or liquid, is sealed with an oetiker hose clamp. I do not see bubbles forming in the liquid lines that would suggest a leak. I usually also spray starsan on posts etc of anything pressurized to see if bubbles form/a leak is present.
All that said, the only variables I feel like I may not be doing right are water chemistry and the PH. I use Bru’n Water, and my city Raleigh offers a water report for brewers, so I feel like I’m doing it correctly, but I could be entirely off. However, I have used Raleigh water treated with my additions, Raleigh water untreated, Primo dispenser RO water treated (from 3 different dispensers, and Primo dispenser RO water untreated and the “taste” has largely remained the same, though sometimes there’s more or less of it. Outside of the values obtained from Bru’n Water and my additions, I don’t monitor PH during brewing and definitely don’t adjust for it. I’ve seen various information regarding PH’s impact on dry hops, so I feel like this could be where I’m going wrong and am happy to get a meter if its what will up my game.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. And another big thank you to the contributors in this thread! I’d be so behind without it.
Hopefully I included everything necessary. I will attach my recipe, city water report, my inputs on Bru’n water, and the Bru’n water outputs in hopes someone can tell me where I’m going wrong. Also attaching a picture of my dryhop keg setup in case it helps someone out. Many ways to do it, it was just what worked for me given the equipment I already had on hand.
EDIT: My water chemistry mash and sparge amounts are set at 5gal because I use two plastic fermenters marked at 5 gal and dump the excess, just to keep measurements/additions the same, if that makes sense.
