tasted better pre-carb/bottling

[jpopejoy41]

first off...what a great forum, i've learned so much reading some of these threads.

anyway, I have brewed my first beer (an ipa) and had a question...

Prior to bottling, the hop profile was fantastic. I bottled 3 weeks ago and it's still not as good as it was pre-carb. Is this standard? has a little stringent nose, and the carb is pretty high (even tho I carbed it at 2.1, much lower than a standard ipa). will it come around?

anyway, here's the recipe, any thoughts would be great!

1lb 20L crystal malt (steeping grains 20 min)
3 lbs DME golden light
3 lbs LME Pilsen Light
1 lb Dextrose
2 oz Simoce (60 min)
1 oz Mosaic (25)
1oz Citra (10 min)
1 oz Simcoe (flame out)
2 oz citra dry hop 10 days

hit my calculated OG 1.061. abv ended up around 6.8%

anyway, any thoughts? i already see in hind sight i should've done 1 oz simcoe in the 60 min boil and probably done a 2 ounces at flame out.

thanks for the help

 

[ballsy]

What yeast, ferment temp, FG (was it confirmed with 2 readings few days apart), how was cleaning/sanitation done, esp w/ bottle prep? IPA should be easily good and drinkable by 3wks. What type of water was used? Possibilities would be too much bite from overcarb (if 2.1 vol carb'd and you're overcarbed from that then it either wasn't at true FG or u have infection), infection, water, possible oxygenation...

 

[jpopejoy41]

dry yeast (forget offhand, but recommended for IPAs).
ferment temp 67-70
FG: 1.011 - was confirmed with 2 readings

sanitized everything, everystep of the way w/ starsan - left in a bucket of star san as I was using everything. bottles dried on a bottle tree that was also sanitized. used pur filter water from tap in philly (and i'm close to the resovoir and has very clean readings)

 

[jpopejoy41]

to clarify...bottles were soaked in Oxyfree to get labels off...then rinse thoroughly and allowed to dry 3-4 days. then on bottling day cleaned in starsan (as well as caps)...bottle w/ a bottle cleaner that sprays starsan up in.

it does taste off for some reason...kinda bummed b/c it was fantastic prebottle. it was better this week than last...but i don't see it getting where it should be

 

[oxpajama]

I know every one seems to say drink hoppy beers fresh, but I have found all my beers are best at around 1.5 to 2 months in the bottle. And this considering ferm temp control in a freezer.

for example I brewed an amber that tasted quite fruity and muddy until 6 weeks, now the malt shines.

my 2 cents.

 

[jpopejoy41]

thanks. it's pretty odd to me. this last time i did get more of the original hop flavor than the week before, but only mildly. hopefully it'll keep coming around...

 

[ballsy]

It may improve some in taste, but pale ales and IPA's should taste pretty damn good at 3 wks in a bottle....Also, hops flavors do not increase with time, they decrease (though time wise this is over months...not weeks). Did you allow the bottles to dry after spraying them with Star san? Star san is only effective if still wet with it, you shouldn't let it dry. Was 67-70 deg ambient air temp, or was it in a keezer, or a swamp bucket? I don't know a lot about all grain re: mash, but do know the mash pH, temps, and efficiency can have effect. The one thing that continues to pop out here is your "overcarbed" despite bottling at 2.1 vol CO2. What was your final bottling volume of beer and how much of what type of primer did you use? Also, what is your water report? Does it have chloramines present?

 

[jpopejoy41]

didn't allow them to "dry" per se. I sanitized them, placed them on the tree, then started bottling.

67-70 ambient air temp...had no warm days over that time either, was in a carboy. I bottled 4 gallons, and used approx 1/3 cup of dextrose as the priming sugar.

water report: http://www.phila.gov/water/Drinking_Water_Quali.html "queen lane" is my reservoir.

 

[ballsy]

I would get a scale (I got a digital one from amazon for 15 bucks and works great) for measuring your sugar (helps with hops additions too). 67-70 ambient air temp might be a little on high side depending on ur strain of yeast. Ferment temps are anywhere from 5 to 10 deg's warmer in bucket so you may have been in mid to upper 70's depending.