The mystery of Galaxy hops and harshness

[leesmith]

I have had 2 batches of galaxy and had the same problems with them. They smell great and pungent... I've had 2016 and 2017.. both similar problems..

8oz on 2.5 gallons that's ALOT of hops! how long did this take to settle out? How much adjuncts where in this particular brew?
It won't be long till I do another galaxy brew I still got 2017 left and I've just ordered the 2018 batch as i'm set on getting this hop to shine

Bummer...I guess you just need to find the right recipe for your process.

Yeah it was a lot....I was Galaxy happy there for a while. Did a heavy handed sour with it a couple times and people loved it. The IPA took quite a while to drop just right. Maybe 2 weeks? It was 15% white wheat malt, 5% crystal 20, and the rest Rahr Two-Row. 5% sugar in the boil too. 6 oz. Galaxy actually and 3 oz. Columbus for the dry hop split into two dry hop additions; one during fermentation and one after. I still reminisce about that beer but I'm done brewing DIPA's; really not into the alcohol content anymore. I posted about the recipe a while ago: Treehouse Brewing Julius Clone and got a little flack for my hop usage too.

Anyways...good luck and don't give up.

 

[couchsending]

I did an all Galaxy IPA with 1318 that I didn’t experience any harshness from.

6 gallons in FV

Hop shot at 60
1oz 20
1oz 5
3oz WP
8oz DH (1oz at terminal before crashing, 7oz at 60 after pulling yeast)

I did Lager it at 32 for a week while carbonating.

Rahr 2 Row
30% GP
2% Honey
5% Carafoam

After 3 days of DH I slowly cool the beer to 45 for two days before transfering. If I had a unitank I would go lower but I can’t go lower with the Chronicals and maintain head pressure effectively.

 

[Oldskewl]

I recently brewed a Variation of the Trillium Vicinity Clone using Galaxy, Nelson and Columbus. It had an extreme astringency for about 3-4 weeks. It has settled down some but still not enjoyable. I blamed it on the Columbus since I had a similar experience with a Hop Hands clone using Columbus for bittering.

72% Pilsen
15% wheat malt
3% carapils
3% c15
3% acid malt
4% corn sugar

.25 oz Columbus FWH
.75 oz Columbus 10 min
1 oz each Nelson, Galaxy, Columbus whirlpool 180 deg

3 oz Galaxy, 1 oz Columbus, 3 oz Nelson dry hop at high Krausen for 7 days.

I used 1318 for yeast. Targeted 100 ca, 150 cl and 75 so4.

I have used similar process for the NE IPA for brewfessor and turned out excellent beers. But this beer used higher amount of Galaxy.

 

[couchsending]

[QUOTE="Oldskewl, post: 8498614, member: 185402]

3 oz Galaxy, 1 oz Columbus, 3 oz Nelson dry hop at high Krausen for 7 days.

I used 1318 for yeast. Targeted 100 ca, 150 cl and 75 so4.

[/QUOTE]

These two things are causing the astringency.

Try the same beer and wait until either the absolute very end of fermentation before DH or after fermentation has finished.

Also be careful with Ca and Cl levels
That high especially when using CaCl. that can also amplify astringency in my opinion.

 

[Oldskewl]

This is the first time I raised the calcium up to the 100 level. I usually do 150 cl and 75 sulfate. Why would this hop combo(3 oz Galaxy, 1 oz Columbus, 3 oz Nelson) cause astringency dryhopping at high krausen and 2oz Citra, 2 oz Mosaic, and 2 oz Galaxy or El Dorado at high krausen not cause astringency.

 

[couchsending]

Polyphenols. Galaxy is much higher than all those other hops. Vic Secret, Enigma, Topaz as well. All the high oil content Aussie hops are.

 

[Oldskewl]

Polyphenols. Galaxy is much higher than all those other hops. Vic Secret, Enigma, Topaz as well. All therapy high oil content Aussie hops are.

Is there a particular oil I should be on the lookout for or is it just the Total oil content that is the culprit

 

[couchsending]

Is there a particular oil I should be on the lookout for or is it just the Total oil content that is the culprit

Sorry that was misleading. All those hops are incredibly potent and generally have pretty high oil content Which doesn’t exactly translate to polyphenols, sorry. With these hops they just happen to coincide.

I believe Denali is right up there close to Galaxy in total oil but you don’t get the harshness from it. CTZ, Eureka and some of the Hopsteiner varieties are incredibly high but nothing hits the total oils of Galaxy at 5%.

It has something to do with terroir down there I believe.

 

[wepeeler]

I too get a ton of harshness from Galaxy. Always have. Never had that issue with any other hop. Granted, I get harshness from most commercial beer with Galaxy as well. I think I'm just very sensitive to the flavor of Galaxy. I very rarely ever get tropical flavors.

 

[couchsending]

I've had the best luck with Galaxy doing the following:

Never dry hopping with it during active fermentation
Dry hopping colder (57/58)
Cold Conditioning the beer for longer at lower temps
Use a little less, a little goes a long ways with Galaxy

Awesome candied passionfruit character using these methods.

In fact about to add some Galaxy to a couple beers right now.

 

[beervoid]

Got to say the 2019 batch seems great. Did split batch 50/50 with citra and tasting good 2 days post dryhopping.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I had a commercial beer over the weekend from a very very popular VA brewery that usually cranks out great stuff. This one totally sucked and was astringent as hell. It had galaxy hops. Not knowing their exact process or any of their numbers I can't say for certain it was the hops but very well may have been.

 

[couchsending]

Yeah that’s classic Galaxy polyphenol astringency. You have to treat them differently.

 

[HopsAreGood]

I've had the best luck with Galaxy doing the following:

Never dry hopping with it during active fermentation
Dry hopping colder (57/58)
Cold Conditioning the beer for longer at lower temps
Use a little less, a little goes a long ways with Galaxy

Awesome candied passionfruit character using these methods.

In fact about to add some Galaxy to a couple beers right now.

When you say use a little less, how much are you talking? I’m currently soft crashing a beer down to 58 where I’ll let it sit for about 24 hours. I’m then going to dry hop with some 2019 galaxy, and a small amount of Columbus. This beer was loosely based around the trillium congress street recipe. JC said in another forum that they use the equivalent of 6 ounces galaxy and 1.5 ounces Columbus for the dry hop in the standard congress street recipe. No idea how much they use for the ddh version. I Used all Columbus in the boil, 2 oz galaxy in a 170 whirlpool, and added zero hops during fermentation.

I can, and am doing all of the above suggestions. Just curious as to how many ounces you’d suggest.

14 pounds 2-row
2 pounds white wheat
10 ounces Carapils
6 ounces c-15
6 ounces acidulated

ABV is right around 8

 

[couchsending]

25% less than normal DH amounts

 

[HopsAreGood]

Dropped in 5 oz. of galaxy and 1.25 oz. of Columbus. I’ll report back once it’s ready.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

It's not just homebrewers having issues because I've been getting harshness in a decent amount of commercial beers lately I've tried with galaxy, even from well regarded breweries. I had Astro Zombie recently from Aslin and it definitely had some astringency on the finish. I didn't find it very pleasant to drink. But my buddy who is from Cali and is more into west coast style IPAs actually liked it and thought it was one of the better Aslin beers he had(we both tried several together). So I think a lot of times people can't even tell the difference between astringency and bitterness and some people don't even mind the astringency if they're not into the soft juice bombs.

I was at Triple Crossing in Richmond right after Thanksgiving which is one of my favorite breweries in the world and got the same thing off one galaxy hopped beer, wasn't very good. Bummed me out. I had a Commonwealth pale ale with galaxy that was a straight up drain pour awhile back, and I never drain pour beers. People not on the east coast may not know these places but they are major heavy hitters in Virginia.

 

[lilbova3]

Reviving an old thread.

I just had a beer from a well known brewery that had Galaxy and it was very peppery, astringent and harsh. I used to love Galaxy. I’m wondering if it has changed over the years or if breweries are adding too much.

I have brewed with it in the past and enjoyed it but my last few brews with it I did not enjoy.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

It's fairly common as a hop become super-popular that the quality takes a bit of a dip as new farmers get to grips with farming it - getting used to when the best time to harvest, just physically managing manpower to crop at the right time and so on. There was a lot of oniony Citra in the early teens. Plus Australia hasn't had the easiest time of it lately with the bushfires at the height of the growing season, and then Covid interrupting things after harvest.

Beer is agriculture, it's human beings doing their best to tame nature. It's not like building an iPhone.

 

[beervoid]

I read one way to blow off some of the unfavorable characteristics from a "bad" batch of galaxy would be to dry hop during fermentation.
Anyone experimented with this?
I resorted to using it sparingly as a dry hop with good results. All my single hop attempts where nightmares

 

[jdauria]

Just kegged a Galaxy pale ale. 8 ounces total. 4.5 oz in two dry hop charges, 3 oz in whirlpool. Sample was definitely "hot" as most highly hopped beers are at first. I find that two weeks in the keg, and pouring off (or drinking) 4-5 pints to get rid of hop particles that make it into the keg can help reduce the harshness. Used 2019 harvest. Owner of a local brewery told me that the 2018 Galaxy hops were not very good, that they stopped making one of their best beers because they did not want to use that year's Galaxy. I have a special love with Galaxy though, as I used it in a Amber ale (along with Amarillo) a few years ago that took Best in Show at another local brewery's comp which allowed me to brew it professional and have it sold in stores. The passionfruit really came through in the commercial version.

 

[Twinkeelfool]

I love galaxy though I only ever use it as a dry hop, and not a lot, I might use 30g for a standard blonde ale. You can definitely taste it !. I do use wlp029, which really lets hops come through nicely.

 

[malhal]

My tonge has the Galaxy curse. I can taste the woody polyphenols at very low ppm. Whereas the exact same beer other people taste it as tropical juice, crazy. Fortunately eating salt blocks my taste buds and at least the beer can be finished.

Not every Galaxy beer can cause it though, so perhaps there is a way to use them in a way that can keep the polyphenols at undetectable levels or block them with other brewing salts but I haven't learned it yet.

 

[beervoid]

In light of the recent discussion in the great neipa thread here I thought ir would be a nice idea to start sharing experiences with Galaxy hops and hop lot nrs.

I think harvest time probably has the most influence on fruityness of a hop, as mentioned in a recent barth haas webinar about hops.

My latest bag I just opened smelled exceptionally well. Its was 2019 harvest with 15.9%AA and lot nr VU046.

 

[couchsending]

In light of the recent discussion in the great neipa thread here I thought ir would be a nice idea to start sharing experiences with Galaxy hops and hop lot nrs.

I think harvest time probably has the most influence on fruityness of a hop, as mentioned in a recent barth haas webinar about hops.

My latest bag I just opened smelled exceptionally well. Its was 2019 harvest with 15.9%AA and lot nr VU046.

All hops from Australia get blended. For everyone even the biggest breweries. It’s roulette for just about everyone.

That being said I tend to have better results with older Australian hops. The super fresh stuff is always insanely harsh to me. I think they actually benefit from aging. Just a thought but so far it’s been my experience lately with Enigma and Galaxy.

 

[beervoid]

All hops from Australia get blended. You could have Galaxy that’s A++ and they still blend it with stuff that’s an F. For everyone even the biggest breweries. It’s roulette for just about everyone.

That being said I tend to have better results with older Australian hops. The super fresh stuff is always insanely harsh to me. I think they actually benefit from aging. Just a thought but so far it’s been my experience lately with Enigma and Galaxy.

Possible yes, my bag was 2019 after all. Have you had any 2020 that was bad?
Still would be nice to track lot nrs as well just to see if there is a pattern. Please share if you do, we will get year nrs as well.

 

[couchsending]

Possible yes, my bag was 2019 after all. Have you had any 2020 that was bad?
Still would be nice to track lot nrs as well just to see if there is a pattern. Please share if you do, we will get year nrs as well.

I’ll often order Australian hops directly from Australia as they’ll be available there three months before they arrive in the US. This year I bought a bunch of Galaxy and HPA-016. They were both incredibly “rough” and astringent. Really strong Anise like flavor profile. Have since used some much older Enigma and Galaxy (2019) with much greater success. Almost zero of that rough astringent character. Granted they are different lots of hops.

I saved the rest of those 2020 Hops I ordered from Australia to see what they’re like a year later. one of the bags I purposely didn’t seal to see if some oxidation might actually benefit them???

 

[HopsAreGood]

I have some 2019 enigma I’ve been sitting on for a while. Just haven’t gotten around to using it yet but I think I’m going to do something with it soon. I’ve seen a lot of differing opinions on it but perhaps it’s because they’re similar to galaxy in the way that it’s a crap shoot in terms of what you actually get.

 

[BeerFst]

I’ll often order Australian hops directly from Australia as they’ll be available there three months before they arrive in the US. This year I bought a bunch of Galaxy and HPA-016. They were both incredibly “rough” and astringent. Really strong Anise like flavor profile. Have since used some much older Enigma and Galaxy (2019) with much greater success. Almost zero of that rough astringent character. Granted they are different lots of hops.

I saved the rest of those 2020 Hops I ordered from Australia to see what they’re like a year later. one of the bags I purposely didn’t seal to see if some oxidation might actually benefit them???

ive had oxygen fix some real oniony Columbus, so I think it’s worth trying

it didn’t take much though.I left the bag open during my brew day but then I put the Mylar bag in a foodsver bag and vacuum seal the whole assembly. My goal being to leverage the Mylars low oxygen permeability without having a sealer that gets hot enough.

next brew day with Columbus was a couple months later and they were beautiful

 

[couchsending]

I have some 2019 enigma I’ve been sitting on for a while. Just haven’t gotten around to using it yet but I think I’m going to do something with it soon. I’ve seen a lot of differing opinions on it but perhaps it’s because they’re similar to galaxy in the way that it’s a crap shoot in terms of what you actually get.

The 2019 Enigma I got from YVH recently is awesome. I ordered more after using the firs lb and they sent me 2020 instead of 2019. I reached out and said I wanted 2019 and they sent me 2 more lbs of it without asking for the 2020 back.