Where did my hop aroma go?

[thefost]

Made a batch of the famous 'Cream of 3 Crops' recipe 10 days ago. Instead of the standard hop schedule, I only added 4.5oz of amarillo pellets and whirlpooled at 180F for 30 minutes before cooling. Pitched Nottingham.

3 days into fermentation I take a sample, and it smells fantastic! Fruity, citrusy, delicious hop smells. Its already around 75% attenuated and I'm pressure fermenting, so I increase the psi to hopefully keep the aroma in.

2 days later I take another sample, it smells badly of yeast with very little fruit. I hope this is just because I got too much trub and yeast in my sample.

Last night I transfer the cold crashed, carbonated beer to the serving keg and try it. It smells... blah. Very faint aroma, but no where near where it was. What the hell! Where did my aroma go, and how do I keep it from disappearing again?

 

[skunkfunk]

Dry hop that thing.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Dh ftw!

 

[thefost]

Oh, there's no question I'm going to be dry hopping to bring back some aroma.

I'm more concerned about the loss of the hop stand aroma. I've had mixed results in the past, and this batch was just so striking in how much aroma it suddenly lost mid fermentation. I really want to figure out how to not lose late hop aroma.

 

[Callacave]

For me whirlpooling/steeping will always give me way more flavor than aroma. Dry hopping is always the way to go for aroma, and the combination of late and dry hopping brings it all together.

 

[norcalhomebrewer]

Yeast scrub out hop aroma, I've always felt that I get more of that great hop burp from the whirlpool. Fermenting on the cool side helps keep hop flavor in the beer, low and slow, also the more neutral the yeast strain the better for hop presence.

 

[ArcLight]

>>3 days into fermentation I take a sample, and it smells fantastic! Fruity, citrusy, delicious hop smells. Its already around 75% attenuated and I'm pressure fermenting, so I increase the psi to hopefully keep the aroma in.

Pressure fermenting?!?!!
What is that?
The pressure is toxic to the yeast, that's why an idea starter is made without an air lock.

Id do whirlpool hop stands like you, adding hops at flame out. And I also dry hop for a day or two or three.