Letting New England IPAs "sit"

For NEIPAs a lot of the hop matter or polyphenols can drop out as well as either yeast and proteins in suspension. Recently had a monkish and I washed the cans out. A bunch of green trub came out. All those particles can have a negative impact on mouthfeel and finish.

all beers condition over time but there is a big push to can, or package neipas as fresh as possible. Or the breweries are small and don’t have space to let beers sit in bright tanks.

 

Some folks use the term "green" to describe 'too fresh' NEIPA beers. As was mentioned above the super high amounts of hops used to produce this beers (e.g., a metric shit ton of hops for dry hopping) add tons of polyphenols (and other stuff). If you have ever experienced hop burn from drinking these sorts of beer you know what I mean.

If you let the can sits in your refrigerator for a couple of weeks this stuff will settle out and you will experience less hop burn. Some beer drinkers will refuse to do this since the 'company line' is to drink these beers super fresh.

Cheers!

 

Is it also possible that all the residual hop residue-doo in the can is still “dry-hopping” the beer?

 

The desirable aspects of the hops for dry hopping are classified as essential oils (terpenes, thiols, etc.). I suspect the majority of the essential oils are extracted during the dry hopping phase. In addition to the essential oils other 'stuff' is extracted from the hops (e.g., polyphenols). My guess is that there is no more extraction of essential oils once the beer is packaged (in the can).

Cheers!

 

Plus I've got to guess that the amount of sediment in a can is way less than .01 percent of the total volume of hop matter that performed the DDH so, that what's in the can is negligible and useless.

 

I believe many are turning back to clear hoppy options due to this problem. I know I personally get tired of opening up a can “too early” only to dump it down the drain, wasting a 1/4 of my expensive 4pk. I’ve never had that problem with super fresh clear IPA.

it shouldn’t be the consumers job to determine when it’s ready to drink. It should be ready when it’s sold to the consumer.

 

This.

Why does it seem that this "waiting" trend is something started by tickers who came up with some theory that something was wrong with their beer?

This debate comes up all the time, but why would a brewery ship their beer to consumers if it needs to "sit" another week -- that could be done at the brewery... and probably is, in all reality.

 

I believe Jack's right here. There's a finite amount of oils that can be extracted out of a hop. By the time a beer is packaged and in the hands of a consumer, that process is long since finished.

 

This is likely accurate. My understanding is that the vast majority of the extraction will take place within the first few days. Of even quicker.
Moreover, I would suspect, as well, that once the physical hops (cones or pellets) are removed, there is nothing left to extract from.

 

My sweet spot is 4 to 6 weeks. Sue me.

 

A lot of the smaller breweries that "specialize" in the Murkbombs probably don't have a lot of cold room space to store the packaged product. As long as consumers are willing to do the breweries work for them, there is no incentive for the brewery to invest in more space.

 

Any evidence that this is how they're working?

 

Not without going and looking at a given breweries physical location.

But, look at all the breweries releasing multiple 'new' beers each week; let's say a brewery has a 10bbl system, and they get full yield and no waste from each batch (both highly unlikely, if not impossible), that gives them 310 gallons of beer. A 16oz x 24 can case is 384 oz (or 3 gallons) of beer. That is, under the best case scenario, 103 cases of beer. A full pallet, plus 3 cases. If our brewery also kegs beer for on-site and accounts, kegs also have to be stored. Ask yourself, of the smaller breweries you've visited, how many of them have a cold room big enough to store pallets of kegs, and multiple pallets of 2-3 weekly releases, in addition to their core beers?

Our hypothetical brewery maybe makes 6-8 core beers (Blonde, Lager, IPA, Stout, whatever) at 20 kegs per batch, and maybe the weekly releases don't sell through in a week, that equals a lot of floor space to keep it all. A cold room that size takes up a lot of the overall square footage these smaller breweries have. Can they afford to can a beer on the 1st of the month, but not release it until the 15th, without completely filling their cold room? Why not let the customer let the beer condition in their cold room (refrigerator) at home?

 

So, no.

 

Anecdotally (i.e. for me, personally) it caused me to completely stop buying local NEIPAs. I'll still try the national brands, and have found the big guys NE-styles to be enjoyable, whereas many of the locals were (before I gave up... I have no idea whether they have improved) unpleasant if not during the second half of the beer, at least during the second beer.

So, I quit wasting my money.

My little boycott seems to have had no effect on the local murk train, though.

 

I’m calling Stone’s legal team.

 

It took me a while to figure this out. I got a huge haul of Tree House in December. Because I bought so much, some of the DIPAs were 4-6 weeks old upon consumption - fantastic and a big improvement over fresh-2 weeks. Now I don't rush to drink hazies.