New England IPA "Northeast" style IPA

[woof]

was just cleaning out a fermenter and noticed my "spent" dry hops still had a fair amount of aroma, even after steeping in beer for 3 days at 60º F. do your spent dry hops still have noticeable aroma? curious if i should take this as indication that i'm not using my hops efficiently and can/should dry hop longer, or agitate more during dry hopping.

 

[Beerdrinker85]

Have a half pound of Bru-1 that I'm going to pair with Citra. Looking for another hop to throw into the mix, any recommendations? I'm sure mosaic would work but wouldn't mind trying something different. Hoping to have this ready for Christmas/New Years.

I am going for Bru-1/citra/galaxy from YVH cyber pack very soon. I think I can't go wrong with that trio. I never used Bru-1 Thinking 40%/40%/20% galaxy

 

[Clyde McCoy]

I grew up and lived about 40 miles from them until about 2 years ago when I moved up to Albany. All I’ve ever heard is they are using a blend. They are huge on true brewing science and repeatability (both owners are MIT grads) as evident in their beer names lol but yea, they are open about most ingredients but very closed off on process. I’ve tried to harvest yeast from some doubles but no luck it getting a healthy repitch. I actually have a 4 pack of one of their pale ales sitting in the back of my beer fridge trying to get them as cold as possible so I can try to harvest from a low abv beer and send it out to a MTF member who can ruin genomes to find out what they are using.

The Fluctuation I had recently was dominated by melon/cantaloupe flavor. I found it slightly cloying but the flavor was outstanding. MC2 tasted like rotten mango. It was good, but didn't enjoy it quite as much.

You think Fluctuation is Cita/Mosaic?

So many IPAs today are pretty much indistinguishable - have to give EQ credit for putting out beers that have unique character.

I can test some of their beers next year and figure out what they're using for fermentation.

 

[secretlevel]

was just cleaning out a fermenter and noticed my "spent" dry hops still had a fair amount of aroma, even after steeping in beer for 3 days at 60º F. do your spent dry hops still have noticeable aroma? curious if i should take this as indication that i'm not using my hops efficiently and can/should dry hop longer, or agitate more during dry hopping.

I used to keg hop with the muslin bag and eventually throw that bag out. My god, the garbage always smelled so good when I tossed that hop bag. There was an interesting piece on "second generation dry hopping" in Craft Beer & Brewing mag. I don't think you can extract anything else out of them within the context of the same beer after the extraction has happened (24-48 hours), but there's likely some good flavors you can extract if you reuse the hops as a dry hop for another beer.

 

[Dgallo]

The Fluctuation I had recently was dominated by melon/cantaloupe flavor. I found it slightly cloying but the flavor was outstanding. MC2 tasted like rotten mango. It was good, but didn't enjoy it quite as much.

You think Fluctuation is Cita/Mosaic?

So many IPAs today are pretty much indistinguishable - have to give EQ credit for putting out beers that have unique character.

I can test some of their beers next year and figure out what they're using for fermentation.

They state on their site that they are using hand selected Citra but don’t list any others hops.

And yeah man, I’d love to know what yeast they are using

 

[couchsending]

The Fluctuation I had recently was dominated by melon/cantaloupe flavor. I found it slightly cloying but the flavor was outstanding. MC2 tasted like rotten mango. It was good, but didn't enjoy it quite as much.

You think Fluctuation is Cita/Mosaic?

So many IPAs today are pretty much indistinguishable - have to give EQ credit for putting out beers that have unique character.

I can test some of their beers next year and figure out what they're using for fermentation.

I find the intense melon flavor to be a combo of certain Citra/Simcoe lots. I’ve got a beer that I just tapped that is very similar in flavor to a lot of those EQ beers I’ve had... and I hate it.

 

[beervoid]

I find the intense melon flavor to be a combo of certain Citra/Simcoe lots. I’ve got a beer that I just tapped that is very similar in flavor to a lot of those EQ beers I’ve had... and I hate it.

I think citra on its own can be very cantaloupe. I had a tg king sue that was cantaloupe one time the other time it was nore citrus grapefruit.

 

[beervoid]

I'm trying to keep track of hop lot nrs to see if I can identify beforehand what citra has the nice bright fruit flavors. If anyone has any insights feel welcome to share.

 

[JoeMamasIPA]

I find the intense melon flavor to be a combo of certain Citra/Simcoe lots. I’ve got a beer that I just tapped that is very similar in flavor to a lot of those EQ beers I’ve had... and I hate it.

I get the same taste from a lot of Treehouse beers and feel like this base hop combo has a lot to do with their signature flavor. I have seen where Simcoe/Amarillo combos can lend a similar flavor which makes me think its more Simcoe dependent and the Citra I get is more consistent.

 

[Dgallo]

I get the same taste from a lot of Treehouse beers and feel like this base hop combo has a lot to do with their signature flavor. I have seen where Simcoe/Amarillo combos can lend a similar flavor which makes me think its more Simcoe dependent and the Citra I get is more consistent.

I agree but for the newer releases, not any of the core. Beginners mind, juice project, and all curiosities since 100 (haven’t had 105 yet) have the EQ Flavor. Beginners mind taste exactly like Fluctuation Wave.

 

[JoeMamasIPA]

I agree but for the newer releases, not any of the core. Beginners mind, juice project, and all curiosities since 100 (haven’t had 105 yet) have the EQ Flavor. Beginners mind taste exactly like Fluctuation Wave.

Agreed, but I have also tasted it strongly in Perfect Storm (also not core). I like it way in the background but it's too much for me when it takes center stage.

 

[beervoid]

I agree but for the newer releases, not any of the core. Beginners mind, juice project, and all curiosities since 100 (haven’t had 105 yet) have the EQ Flavor. Beginners mind taste exactly like Fluctuation Wave.

We are not talking rotten fruit flavor I guess?

 

[Dgallo]

We are not talking rotten fruit flavor I guess?

No that melon bomb flavor they have.

 

[couchsending]

I’ve seen the “honeydew” descriptor thrown around by Tree House, both by Nate and fans. I’ve never got it in any of their beers.

I’ve only had four different cans of EQ. One was great (their little 4.8% pale ale, Photon) the others were absolutely disgusting. Literally nothing but rotting melon. To me that melon “flavor” or aroma comes off as cantaloupe that’s been sitting in the garbage, it’s not pleasant at all.

I’ve had both Citra+ Amarillo Juice Project and now the Citra + Strata Juice Project as well as Curiosity 105. None of them have the rotting melon flavor/aroma I got from those EQ cans. I have some more cans of Citra + Strata Juice Project. I’ll have to see if I can find it.

I’ve only experienced that “overripe” melon flavor in I think 3 of my hoppy beers. One was a long time ago and two have been in the last few months. Both beers had a large dry hop of Citra and Simcoe at colder temps. First one also used HBC431 and the melon seemed to fade, thank god, as the beer conditioned in the keg. I attributed it to the 431 taking over. Most recent one that’s conditioning now had a large DH of Citra/Simcoe at colder temps. Citra is 2018 from Hops Direct that smells amazing out of the bag and I bought a lot of this summer. Simcoe is YCH 2018 that also smells really good. Used both of these a lot and even in the same DH but with other hops, and never encountered the melon.

I’m actually wondering if the melon is actually an off flavor caused by some poor yeast health and hop interaction. The most recent batch was an 8th generation VT Ale that seemed liked an incredibly healthy ferment. Pitched at 62 and let free rise to 70 since it was a 1.046 gravity beer. Hit 1.007 in 40ish hours and pH dropped a ton. Left it for a total of 5 days then cooled to 63 for two days, removed yeast, and cooled further to 58. No diacetyl or “off flavor” before dry hop at all. Melon was very apparent even after day 1 of DH. Actually now that I think about it I wonder if pH is at play here. I seem to get a much larger pH drop on smaller beers and especially when I let them free rise to a warm temp. PH was below 4.2 when I did dry hop it. Maybe certain hops, at certain temps, in a certain pH tend to bring out that rotting melon or cantaloupe flavor/aroma??? Whatever it is I’m not a fan and hope to not encounter it that often in the future.

 

[JoeMamasIPA]

I haven't tried any of the EQ stuff but the melon I am talking about in TH beers is not of the rotting kind; it's just straight up melon flavor that some may like in heavy doses but I think is almost cloying.

That VT ale ferment sounds ferocious to get down to .007 in less than two days. I think you are definitely on to something regarding temp/pH interactions and DH taste. I know some say it doesn't matter if you DH warm or cold but I can tell a huge difference between a room temp DH and one at serving temps (really noticeable with Citra). Likewise when using different clean yeast strains that result in different finishing pH its like a completely different hop was used in the DH.

 

[Dgallo]

I have certainly gotten rotten fruit in beers from a butch of breweries, pretty much every brewery I’ve gotten it from even HF and Th. There is an interesting article from I believe 2018 where Shaun Hill Is discussing how the craft beer movement is normalizing alcoholism and he kinda takes a jab at his beers tasting like rotten fruit and leading to alcoholism. I’ll see if I can find it

 

[beervoid]

I recall listening a podcast where hop stench is mentioned and it seems to happen more often at lower temps with lower quality hops

 

[Dgallo]

I recall listening a podcast where hop stench is mentioned and it seems to happen more often at lower temps with lower quality hops

To be honest, I bet it’s hop quality more than anything when it comes to that. I come from a Produce and Nursery/greenhouses backround and growing season and harvest date always had the biggest impact on final quality of the produce. Can’t imagine hops being any different

 

[stickyfinger]

I recall listening a podcast where hop stench is mentioned and it seems to happen more often at lower temps with lower quality hops

I think "Tropes" talks about that in this podcast:

https://beerandbrewing.com/podcast-...ultures-chris-tropeano-has-the-straight-dope/

 

[aaronm13]

I am going for Bru-1/citra/galaxy from YVH cyber pack very soon. I think I can't go wrong with that trio. I never used Bru-1 Thinking 40%/40%/20% galaxy

Can't see that not working. I do have a pound of Galaxy that I was saving for something else but might go with it now. I won't be putting in a Yakima order till the new year so will be just buying hops local and they aren't a patch on Yakima.

 

[Dgallo]

For what’s it’s worth, I grabbed some eq on the way home and since it’s been a month since I had any. This one is drier than most of what they put out and def as a distinguishable EQ flavor but certainly no rotten fruit. I would choose an Eq over most TH Offerings. But again everyone’s pallet is different.

 

[aaronm13]

Had this over the weekend, stunning beer.

 

[togodoug]

For me I regularly dry hop at 60-62 with little issue. I do let the dry hops warm up to room temperature for a bit first and this seems to help them break apart easier in the beer imo. Occasionally some pellets sink, but after about 15 minutes they seems to all be broken up well and mixed with the beer. Ive never swirled my fermenter after dry hopping either.

If the point is to get the hops from floating on the top, would it make sense to do a second stage and put the hops in the second carboy just before transferring the wart?

 

[stickyfinger]

just racked an ipa using Riwaka. wow, very pungent hop. i dry hopped 4 oz for 3 days and 4 oz for 2 days, all at 50F. It is a very fruity green pepper character. similar to ekuanot with more fruit. i like it. seems like a hop some people would like a lot and some not so much, ha ha.

 

[nebulabrewing]

I was able to squeeze a brew day in. I brewed one of my recipes that uses Citra, El Dorado, and Galaxy. Yeast is WLP095. Think I’ll keg it by the weekend. Makes me want to brew this weekend.

 

[couchsending]

Drinking that Simcoe/Citra little pale ale that’s finally conditioned and carbed. It tastes exactly like cantaloupe. Maybe not necessarily “rotting” but I guess that melon character is more vegetal/earthy to me than anything. I guess it’s not horrible but honestly it’s not that appealing. 2nd beer I’ve made with mostly Citra DH with 20% Simcoe at 58 that had this same profile. The other one faded over time and the 431 took over but this one has lasted and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

 

[couchsending]

I was able to squeeze a brew day in. I brewed one of my recipes that uses Citra, El Dorado, and Galaxy. Yeast is WLP095. Think I’ll keg it by the weekend. Makes me want to brew this weekend.View attachment 709449

not to be a downer but that yeast has a really really bad reputation. Maybe they’ve improved it but Imperial, The Yeast Bay, Omega, Gigayeast are all much better sources for that strain.. or were (might be better now??)

 

[HopsAreGood]

not to be a downer but that yeast has a really really bad reputation. Maybe they’ve improved it but Imperial, The Yeast Bay, Omega, Gigayeast are all much better sources for that strain.. or were (might be better now??)

It’s just the white labs version of Conan, correct?

 

[nebulabrewing]

not to be a downer but that yeast has a really really bad reputation. Maybe they’ve improved it but Imperial, The Yeast Bay, Omega, Gigayeast are all much better sources for that strain.. or were (might be better now??)

You’re not being a downer! This yeast brews delicious beers. That’s been my experience. I prefer Juice and 1318. I have six third-generation vials in my fridge.Those are what I prefer, but I’m cleaning out inventory.

 

[couchsending]

You’re not being a downer! This yeast brews delicious beers. That’s been my experience. I prefer Juice and 1318. I have six third-generation vials in my fridge.Those are what I prefer, but I’m cleaning out inventory.

good to know... heard nothing but terrible things about the WL version. Never used it myself. I use that “strain” of yeast for 90% of my beers and love it but I get it from somewhere else.