3 weeks was too long in primary

Corky, when I read things like "...all the hop flavor and aroma were gone." I immediately think "oxidation". However, I can't for the life of me think how oxidation could occur over a three week primary.

Hopefully some other BA can figure out this conundrum.

Also, hopefully dry hopping will set things right.

Cheers!

 

Little carb and some dry hops and you'll be back in the game.

Did you introduce oxygen when sampling ?

 

i sure hope 3 weeks in the primary isn't too long.
seems like my brewing schedule doesn't alsways mesh with other things. you know. family, christmas, stuff like that.

this beer you have might be one of those that "comes around" after a month of cold conditioning and a good dose of CO2 bite. i personally don't believe an extra 7 or 10 days is going to make all that great a difference. especially if your techniques are sound.
Cheers.

 

?Could it be the other way around? Maybe the beer for some reason was not close to being fully-attenuated when you added the (dry?)hops initially and the flavor/aroma was scrubbed away. ???

 

Was that first sample at a higher temp than the 58-60 where the fermentor is now? Maybe your different comparison experience in the tastings has caused a less perceived flavor because of the colder sample.

 

Has your FG reading changed since the beer smelled/tasted nice. Perhaps something wild is at work and managed to rearrange the hop compounds and also some aroma gassed off with the fermentation continuing.

2 weeks is plenty long for a sacch strain to do its job but something wild could be at work maybe??

 

I could be wrong, but I'm wondering if you fermented a bit too cold?

 

I have no idea what the problem is, but I had almost the exact same experience with the Two Hearted clone kit I did recently (also Centennial-only). The gravity sample I took the day I dry-hopped seemed really nice, but the one I took on bottling day wasn't nearly as good. I know for a fact that I introduced way too much O2 into my beer during bottling, but that's not something you'd taste right away, is it?

Anyway, mine has improved from "kinda gross" to "inoffensive" in the 3-4 weeks since it was bottled, but I'm definitely disappointed with the result.

 

what was your hopping schedule like on brew day? predominantly all late hops / hop bursted by chance? how did you carbonate in 1 week? shake carbonate? force carbonate at a high psi?

 

Keg hop this beer to try to rejuvenate it. As said above, there's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza. I'd point a finger at oxidation. Keep an eye out in your procedures. KISS tells me to double-check hop ages and to calibrate instruments like scales and thermometers. This always sounds demeaning, and I've brought it up a lot lately on the forum. I know you know that I know that you've forgotten more about brewing than I know.

 

Could be hops in suspension settling out. Hops will drop out when yeast flocc's. There is definitely flavor contribution from having both of these in suspension. No surprise many great ipa brewers use low flocculating yeast (alchemist & hill farmstead being 2 well knowns).

 

What yeast does Hill Farmstead use?

 

Sounds like a combination of the full presence of your late hop additions volatile aromas and your higher gravity @ 2 weeks gave you the flavor and aroma you were looking for. At the 3 week point, the aroma intensity had already begun to fade and the gravity had dropped, leaving you with less sugars to make the "flavor" pop. It's something I've noticed with my beers from time to time. Some of my best hoppy beers to date, especially when looking for a "fruity" flavor, have had higher final gravities than typical for the style. I liken it to milk chocolate vs. bakers chocolate. The sugar added takes a fairly bitter cacao and turns it into a delicious chocolate. I believe the same thing happens with hops. Sure dryness accentuates bitterness, but a touch of sweetness accentuates fruity and (perhaps to a lesser extent) citrusy FLAVOR imho.

 

Dennis,

You made an intriguing statement/observation of: “Some of my best hoppy beers to date, especially when looking for a "fruity" flavor, have had higher final gravities than typical for the style.”

This is the first time I have heard this mentioned. When I brew my IPAs I shoot for a lower FG; my OG is typically around 1.062 with a FG of around 1.010 – 1.012. My IPAs have a very noticeable hop flavor/aroma from end of boil (and steep) plus dry hopping. Is there a target FG that you shoot for now for your hoppy/fruity beers?

Cheers!

Jack

 

In an article in the October 2013 BYO, Dave (@telejunkie) stated London Ale (WY1028/WLP013) for a clone of Hill Farmstead Everett. I am unsure whether this yeast strain applies to the Hill Farmstead hoppy beers.

Cheers!

 

Jack,

I don't have a target FG per say, but the fruity IPA's I've made in the past that seem to benefit, from a flavor standpoint, from a higher FG finished from 1.015 to as high as 1.020 even! I could be mistaken, but I do believe reading a recommendation from Sean Lawson once to not be afraid to use a high mash temperature when making IPA's and DIPA's. Might have even been something said to Dave when he was writing his BYO article perhaps? Anyway, that seems to also suggest that some additional residual sweetness might be more beneficial to hoppy beers than it is typically perceived to be. Especially in this day and age where bitterness isn't always the main flavor driver in super hoppy beers.

Regards,
Dennis

 

Everett goes from 1.087 to 1.031 (about 62.5% apparent attenuation) which would be even harder to achieve with WLP013 than with WLP002 but I'll keep that in mind for future recipe consideration thanks!

And to further complicate matters, @ShawDeuce22 posted the following information in the Everett Clone Recipe thread last year...

"From Twitter:

homebrewer: ...splitting into 2 fermenters, half with English Ale (WLP002) and other half with harvested yeast from @HillFarmstead Everett

HF: With our bottling strain =)

homebrewer: damn, thank you for the heads up before I pitched. Cheers! What is the bottling strain if you don't mind me asking?

HF: depends upon which bottling you have- but either american ale yeast or a wine yeast"