trying to find cause of off flavor in hoppy beer

[MHBT]

Ok so for the last 5-10 batches of ipas i have made all have this particular off flavor which is hard to describe usually shows up after packaging..The beer always has a very one dimensional hoppy character with maybe a chemically note,maybe vegetally and the malt presence is either very low or non existent..The aroma is not bad but this strange flavor dominates all other flavors..Im having a hard time pin pointing what im doing wrong..Could not separating out the kettle trub/hops before going into the fermenter cause these flavors?..Im stuck in a rut any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Weezy]

It'd be great if you could describe the off flavor. That's really help point the problem.

Chemical flavor could be poor cleaning of fermenter and bottles, yeast stress due to underpitching or poor temp control, or your source water.

Are you dumping everything including boil hops into fermenter?

Extract or AG?

Tap water or bottled?

Are you adding salts or treating the water at all?

Can you show us a recipe?

 

[beernutz]

Need more info such as a typical recipe and your brewing/fermentation/sanitation procedures because imo "very one dimensional hoppy character with maybe a chemically note, maybe vegetally and the malt presence is either very low or non existent" describe two or more different problems.

For example do you dry hop and if so how, where, and when?

 

[MHBT]

The last recipe i brewed that i had this problem was a heady topper clone
Vermont DIPA yeast from Omega Yeast Labs
Batch Size: 5.00 gal

Boil Size: 7.5gal

11.25Lb Pearl Malt (84.9%)- SRM 2.4
12 oz Caramalt (5.7%)- SRM 17
12 oz White Wheat (5.7%)- SRM 1.7
8 oz Corn Sugar (3.8%)- Added at flameout.
Mash at 156 degrees for 60 minutes.

Boil Time: 90 min

10.00 ml** *Hopshot- Boil 90.0 min- 117.8 IBUs
1.00 oz*** Simcoe[13.00 %] Boil 5.0 min-8.3 IBUs
0.50 oz** *Apollo- Boil 5.0 min -4.0 IBUs
1.00 oz** *Columbus [14.00 %] Boil 0.0 min – 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz** *Simcoe [13.00 %] Boil 0.0 min -0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz** *Columbus [14.00 %] Aroma Steep 30.0 min-0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz** *Simcoe [13.00 %] Aroma Steep 30.0 min-0.0 IBUs
1.00oz** *Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] Aroma Steep 30.0 min-0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz** *Centennial [10.50 %] Aroma Steep 30.0 min- 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz** *Apollo [12.50 %] Aroma Steep 30.0 min- 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz** *Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] Dry Hop 8.0 Days-0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz** *Simcoe [13.00 %] Dry Hop 8.0 Days -0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz** *Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] Dry Hop 8.0 Days-0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz** *Centennial [10.50 %] Dry Hop 8.0 Days-0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz** *Apollo [17.00 %] Dry Hop 8.0 Days-0.0 IBUs

i use distilled water and add salts and phosphoric acid 10% for this recipe
(CA 80) (mg 0) (sodium 8) (sulfate 53) chloride (105) (alkalinity -37) mash ph 5.3

i went with a higher chloride to sulfate to try and get a softer mouthfeel for this NEIPA

i dry hopped during active fermentation (day 3) and another time once active fermentation slowed down (day 7) kegged on day 11

as for sanitation i soaked my fermenter in pbw then rinsed well allowed to drip dry upside down added about a liter of star san mixure ( made with distilled water) and made sure all surfaces were contacted..as for small parts and silicone hoses i put in a pressure cooker for 15mins at 15psi which is what i do for every batch (overkill i know) then they get sprayed with star san as im handling them..once i get the wort ready to chill i cover with foil..i go over board with sanitation..i do not seperate trub i just dump it all in the fermenter..i chilled down to 64*F and pitched a 2L starter and let the temp rise to 66*F and towards the end let it rise to 72*F

 

[MHBT]

I feel i have a very standard brewing technique so the problem must be recipe related or not separating the trub

 

[Dcpcooks]

Why are you pushing your beers out so quickly?

I doubt it's sanitation. I really think you should slow things down and let your yeast work for you. It's a living thing and your pushing it pretty hard. A dry hop at day three and 7 and kegging at 11 is too quick in my experience.

 

[Sammy86]

Ok so for the last 5-10 batches of ipas i have made all have this particular off flavor which is hard to describe usually shows up after packaging..The beer always has a very one dimensional hoppy character with maybe a chemically note,maybe vegetally and the malt presence is either very low or non existent..The aroma is not bad but this strange flavor dominates all other flavors..Im having a hard time pin pointing what im doing wrong..Could not separating out the kettle trub/hops before going into the fermenter cause these flavors?..Im stuck in a rut any advice will be appreciated.

Not separating your kettle hops and trub will not cause off flavors...I've been throwing everything into mine and just did my 27th batch...never had an off flavor.

I would agree that it may be your yeast and you might be tasting green beer...I've found that it really takes 2-3 weeks for a beer to find its stride so maybe a little patience wouldn't hurt you either

 

[MHBT]

Why are you pushing your beers out so quickly?

I doubt it's sanitation. I really think you should slow things down and let your yeast work for you. It's a living thing and your pushing it pretty hard. A dry hop at day three and 7 and kegging at 11 is too quick in my experience.

for the most part i do give the beer 3-4 weeks on the cake and dry hop on the last week but being a NEIPA dry hopping during active fermentation was recommended to get the bio transformation so i did not want to leave the dry hops in the beer too long..But on a good note the beer got drank and im gonna brew up another soon and tweak the process a bit..probably add the dry hops in a bag so i can remove them the last batch i had a carboy so i could not get the hops out..gonna use a bucket next time..just hope i dont get that off hop flavor im pretty sure it was grassy

 

[JJ900]

How many of these off flavor batches have been NEIPA beers as opposed to just IPAs?

 

[Gravity]

If you're last 5-10 batches have had the same off flavor, it's something in your technique, as mentioned, I suspect the speed of your process. If you have a big enough starter, it should be able to finish fermentation in about 1 -2 weeks, that window still doesn't allow for what your doing