What Happened to my IPA after 3 days?

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Zrab11

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Alright So I need some help to figure out what went wrong with my ipa.

I was making what I called a West coast IPA and I followed the process I put into beer smith and it tasted good on bottling day and then I let it carb for 14 days. Chilled a bottle and popped it. Wow the aroma was spot on and then the first sip was hoppy and the middle was a nice flavor of tropical fruits and then ended with a nice hop bite.

Basically a all around solid IPA and the best one I made yet. The middle might have been just a tad thin but I don't like my Ipa's to be too malty so I was ok with it. Well I then gave a bottle to a friend of mine 3 days later and he popped it that night and said it was just amazing. Let 2 more days pass and I pop one on a sunday and BAM.. It still has that great aroma when you pop it but the middle is watery and bland and the hops aren't very present either. But i can detect a little bit of bitterness on the very end.


SO Here is my general ingredients and brew process.

6 gallon batch

13# 2 row
1# cara-pils
1#Crystal Malt 40#

Mashed at 154F for 60min

1oz nugget 60 min
1oz amarillo 5min
1oz citra 5min
1oz citra at flameout

3oz citra Wirpool for 30 min. Brought the wort down to 180F then threw in the hops. gave them a stir and let them sit for 30 min.

S-O4 Yeast starter

Primary 168F 10 days

Secondary 14 day(dry hop for 7 of the 14)
2oz Citra dry hop 7 days
1oz Amarillo dry hop 7 days

Bottle and Carb for 14 days.

So where did I go wrong? Or what do I need to change in my recipe to not have my beer just totally fall off like that? This was my first time whir pooling and so I am not sure if that was the prob. or if something else is.

I use beer smith for all my recipes.
Mr malty for my yeast cell count.
Bru' Water to adjust my water.

I fell like I do a lot to try and make good beers but somewhere I went wrong.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Also let me know if I need to provide anymore info.
 
Was your serving temperature the same both times? An overly chilled IPA will taste like you described to me but the hop flavor will return upon letting the beer warm to a more appropriate serving temperature. I really notice this on camping trips where my beer is stored on ice in a cooler.
 
Did the beer you described have any prolonged sunlight exposure?


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Was your serving temperature the same both times? An overly chilled IPA will taste like you described to me but the hop flavor will return upon letting the beer warm to a more appropriate serving temperature. I really notice this on camping trips where my beer is stored on ice in a cooler.


Both were stored at fridge temp (35) And served right away.. Also let it warm up.. No change throughout whole process.
 
Did the beer you described have any prolonged sunlight exposure?


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Not at all.. Beer went straight from kettle to fermenter Chamber.. Then when we bottled we out beer in a dark corner with blanket over it. Then after 2 weeks straight to fridge
 
Have you tried it again since then? I think your taste buds change day to day. I can drink one of my favorite IPAs and love it. The next time, it will seem kind of boring. Could just be perceived differences.


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So where did I go wrong?
Too much crystal malt and too high a mash temperature will mute hop flavor and aroma. Between that and using S-04, an English ale yeast at 68 degrees, what you made will be hard to pass off as a West Coast IPA.
 
Any chance you were drinking something from Green Flash before cracking one of your own? That **** will wreck your pallet for any IPA!
 
Disagree on the English Ale yeast. Lots of breweries are making great "West Coast" IPA's using either an English Ale yeast or a close derivative of one. Two examples I can think of off the top of my head are Firestone Walker and Stone. Although I will agree that I personally would ferment a little cooler (I ferment at 62*F w/ British Ale yeast for all my hoppy beers).

Anyways, back to the the OP. I can think of a lot of things that will cause hop flavor to fade, but not much that would cause it to just drop like a rock as described in the OP. *MAYBE* oxidation, but you should notice either some sherry or wet-cardboard off flavors if that is the case.

I would keep sampling, maybe it was just a bad day for your palate. Also give you buddy another bottle and see if he describes the same thing. Try not to ask him and leading questions that may influence his analysis, just give him another bottle and ask him what he thinks.

*edit: One other note, I would call 35*F way too cold for serving an IPA. I think 42-44*F is much more appropriate. You said you let it warm up with no improvement so that probably isn't your issue, but I thought it worth pointing out. That cold of a serving temp will mute your hop flavors some.
 
Disagree on the English Ale yeast. Lots of breweries are making great "West Coast" IPA's using either an English Ale yeast or a close derivative of one. Two examples I can think of off the top of my head are Firestone Walker and Stone. Although I will agree that I personally would ferment a little cooler (I ferment at 62*F w/ British Ale yeast for all my hoppy beers).

Anyways, back to the the OP. I can think of a lot of things that will cause hop flavor to fade, but not much that would cause it to just drop like a rock as described in the OP. *MAYBE* oxidation, but you should notice either some sherry or wet-cardboard off flavors if that is the case.

I would keep sampling, maybe it was just a bad day for your palate. Also give you buddy another bottle and see if he describes the same thing. Try not to ask him and leading questions that may influence his analysis, just give him another bottle and ask him what he thinks.

*edit: One other note, I would call 35*F way too cold for serving an IPA. I think 42-44*F is much more appropriate. You said you let it warm up with no improvement so that probably isn't your issue, but I thought it worth pointing out. That cold of a serving temp will mute your hop flavors some.

Thanks for the advice. I will keep my fermentation temp down next time I ferment an IPA. and I will give my buddy one to check out again as well as pop a few over the next few days to see if they have improved.
 
Id disagree with the English yeast as well. I just read an article about IPAs and how some of the best (Stone, Three Floyd's, etc) all use English strains


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