Raw, Bland Hop taste

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

Moderator: slothrob

Post Reply
User avatar
mrocco
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat May 12, 2007 9:03 am
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Raw, Bland Hop taste

Post by mrocco »

For the second batch in a row, I dry-hopped in the secondary for 1 week. I tasted this batch (an IPA) at 3 days into the dry-hop as I was about to crash cool it for the remainder of the week. It tasted great! Not a ton of hop aroma, but great taste. 5 days later, the good taste is gone--just a raw, bland hop taste and aroma. I used 1 ounce of Cascade plugs in a bag for the dry-hop. Is this just a green taste that may need some aging, or is this IPA just doomed to suck?
User avatar
wottaguy
Strong Ale
Strong Ale
Posts: 361
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:00 am
Location: Florida
Contact:

RE: Raw, Bland Hop taste

Post by wottaguy »

Hello mrocco,

I am assuming that you are getting a rather pugnent grassy flavour at this point. Some brewers seek out this particular flavour profile for their beers, and their are others that don't like this. It's all a personal choice.

Seeing that you have sampled the raw beer already, I would stay the course on the recipie and brewing process and complete the beer and get it bottled or kegged and aged and carbonated. The beer just might end up surprising you by being a lot better when it's properly finished. Also, if the grassy taste does persist to the finished beer, if you condition it for 1 to 3 months it will diminish and blend into the rest of the brew's flavour profile.

Make a note of your observations that concern you with this brew session on your recipe, and give it another try at a later date!

And if you still don't like it..well...just send it all over to me!! :lol:

Hope this helps!
Visit my blog @ http://www.wottashomebrewblog.blogspot.com

On Tap:
HL Pale Ale
HL Lite Lager
Bottled:
HL Simcoe Pale Ale
HL Wizeguy Weizenbock
HL Reveur Saison
HL Dry Stout
HL Kentucky Common
User avatar
mrocco
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat May 12, 2007 9:03 am
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

RE: Raw, Bland Hop taste

Post by mrocco »

I've seen that some folks have said they get the "grassy" flavor/aroma when dry-hoping cold. I'm imagining a fresh-cut grassiness. This is more like a wet pile of cut grass. It's not that I think there is anything biologically wrong with the beer, it's just not pleasant. I have filtered, kegged and carbonated. I only filtered to 5 microns to remove sediment, so I hope this brew can still evolve and surprise me. I'm storing at about 65-68F under pressure in a corny. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be finished for may vacation which begins this coming weekend. Oh, well live and learn. I think I'll limit dry-hopping in the future to cellar temps, not while cold conditioning because, as I said earlier, this brew tasted great and had a decent aroma before I crash-cooled it.
Post Reply