Tips for saving batch?

[roxbob]

Hi all,

I've recently set myself up to start doing lagers, and my first batch, a Munich Helles from a recipe kit, came out great.

I brewed my second using a "seat of my pants recipe", with ingredients I already had on hand - extra light malt extract, yeast harvested from the helles, and homegrown hops (brewer's gold for bittering, cascade for aroma). Fermentation went fine, did a diacetyl rest, and have been lagering @ about 35 degrees for six weeks or so. I tasted it a couple weeks ago and it was kind of blah, so I threw in another ounce of homegrown cascades as a dry hop.

Tasted last night, and think that the dry hopping idea was a mistake, because I now have a pretty distinct grassy off flavor. A few threads on the topic have suggested that once I bottle, the off flavor should subside, and others have suggested dry hopping with another variety to hide the grassiness a bit.

So, any thoughts? I'm thinking either bottle it up and hope for the best, or order an ounce of citra pellets, dry hop for another week and bottle then. Other ideas would be welcome - I hate the idea of losing a whole batch!

Thanks!

 

[nebben]

Personally, I would warm the beer up if I could and let it sit for a while. My tastes might differ from yours, but most lagers I like use noble hops, and aren't dry hopped per style. I like dry hopped beer, but in ales instead.

I am also a big believer that sometimes overcorrecting can produce worse results than just leaving something alone. My vote is to warm it up, let some of the dry hop aroma dissipate, then bottle.

 

[roxbob]

Thanks - that was where I was leaning. Would you rack the beer off of the hops first, or just let it be until bottling?

I agree that what I used was off style and noble hops would have been better... my wife was getting sick of our freezer being overloaded with this year's harvest though, so I pretty much just brewed this batch up to use stuff I had on hand. Not a huge loss if it doesn't pan out, but it's always better to have more beer onhand, not less...

 

[nebben]

I would rack off of the hops into another carboy or keg if you have one, let it sit for a while, then bottle from that. If you have CO2, I would recommend purging your carboy/keg and keeping the aging beer in a dark place without being disturbed if possible.

 

[roxbob]

Thanks! I will do that - I happen to have a spare empty keg right now, so I will rack into that, purge with C02, wait, and hope!