Fizzing me off

If you're getting gushers with hoppy beers but not with non-hoppy beers, I'd be looking at Hop Creep as a possibility. What does your dry hopping process look like? Also, are you measuring FG 2-3 days apart to make sure FG is stable before bottling?

Regarding loss of hop character and increasing sweetness, that does sound like oxidation. It also sounds like a separate problem from the gushing.

Gushing can be caused by infection, but I haven't heard of any microbes that increase sweetness.

 

Please provide more details about your dry hopping process. Specifically how long is your contact time for dry hopping.

Cheers!

 

How hop creep is 'addressed' likely is dependent on type of hops and amounts but I would have guessed that 7/8 days of contact time would be sufficient but maybe that guess is wrong?

FWIW I always permit my dry hops to have a longer contact time (e.g., 10 days) and I have never experienced any "fizzing" issues. From what I have read in the homebrewing forum plenty of folks have shorter contact times (e.g., 3/4 days) but if they are kegging their beers the issue of hop creep is a lesser issue.

My suggestion is that for your next hoppy beer let the dry hop contact time go longer (e.g., 10 or more days) and see how that batch fares as regards the aspect of "fizzing".

As to the topic of "increasing red apple sweetness" that does not sound like it is a consequence of hop creep to me. It would seem that is a separate issue. Hopefully between your planned steps of obtaining a new siphon (FWIW I perform my siphoning the old fashioned way - I do not use an auto-siphon) and a new fermenter this will eliminate/mitigate any impacts of oxidation.

Cheers!

 

One word. Kegs.

Let's be sure you are not overpriming before we eliminate the most likely cause of foaming.

Weigh your priming sugar, it is much more accurate than using volume. If you overprime, the residual sugar is going to increase sweetness.

Determine the volume of liquid you are actually bottling. It's probably less than 5 gallons and if you enter 5 gallons in the calculator it's going to give a higher weight of sugar.

Check that the sugar you are using is the sugar you are using to calculate.

There is some minor variation that accounts for some present dissolved CO2. All fermented beer will have a bit, even though you might not see it. If the beer remained cold throughout fermentation and resting it is going to have a pretty good CO2 content before you add any priming sugar.

Chill your bottles as cold as possible, as this will help to reduce foaming.

You can usually tell if the beer is infected, it's going to taste like an infected beer.

As for hop creep, well, not my bag. I'll let the others guide you.

Cheers

 

But he is not having over-carbonation issues with his non-hoppy beers. If overpriming is the problem those beers would "fizz" too.

Cheers!

 

Just be aware that adding the dry hops 'early' will result in some (a lot?) of the hop aroma being out-gassed through the airlock. I personally choose to add my dry hops after all signs of primary fermentation is complete because I want all of the hop's essential oils to remain in the beer. But this is your beer so you get to choose here.

I have read the same but I have never had this happen to any of my beers and I have several times had dry hop contact times of 14 days. In my opinion this whole grassy thing is not a thing.

Also I have read folks post that they dry hop their hoppy beers in their kegs and just let them sit there for the length of time it takes to drink the entire keg and they never experienced "grassy" in their beers.

But once again this is your beer so you get to choose.

Cheers!

 

I'm not as knowledgeable as others on here, but I wouldn't think that it would be possible as long as you're not using too much of any one thing and nothing is counteracting another. One exception may be using the ascorbic if the beer is already on the lower end of the pH for the style, you'll end up with a tart beer.

I'm also leaning towards your issue being hop creep. So far as the red apple flavor, that could be an ester derived from stressed yeast. What yeast are you using?

 

That has also been my experience with Verdant. Not a drainpour, but not my favorite, either.

 

I don't have a theory that explains all your observations. But I want to drill down a little on your bottle preparation. When you run them through the dishwasher, do you use detergent? If so, I would stop. Even a small amount of detergent residue could cause problems for your beer. (Because bottles have narrow mouths, they won't rinse as well as your dishes.)

And actually, if your dishwasher has a sanitize cycle, you can use that and skip the StarSan. You just need to make sure the bottles don't get contaminated in between the wash and bottling day, but that really shouldn't be too tough. If you have a drying rack or bottle tree or whatever, that would work, or you could just put them somewhere they won't get dust in them.

Again, I don't think this addresses all your issues, but it may help.

 

You’re most likely dealing with hop creep. You’re seeing additional gravity drop in the bottle which leads to over-carbonation and gushing.

How long are you leaving the bottles out warm?

Do you know what diacetyl smells/feels/tastes like? It often accompanies hop creep but it can dissipate.

An easy way to see if it’s additional attenuation is degas whatever’s left in the bottle (pour it through a coffee filter to degas it) and measure the final gravity. Ideally use a finishing hydrometer to be more accurate.

What size are your batches again? 1oz/gallon is minimum DH amount for an IPA if you want any aromatics.

Cerain varieties are more conducive to hop creep than others but there are other variables at play. Amarillo and Centennial can be major offenders. Citra however doesn’t tend to be as bad. Mosaic and El Dorado can be pretty bad as well.

Only way to prevent hop creep is to remove as much yeast as possible before adding hops and dry hopping colder (50-58) which prevents refermentation. However this is pretty much impossible with your setup.

Verdant is the best dry yeast for making modern IPAs. It’s generally pretty quick but yes krausen can say around forever. If you’re careful you can harvest a bunch of yeast for yourself next batch by top cropping it on day 2 or 3. Just gotta make sure your sanitation steps are very sound. This will also help the krausen drop a bit faster as there just wont be as much yeast left. With good dry yeast and gravities sub 1.064 you should see fermentation complete in 5-6 days, especially with Verdant.

I’d dry hop at the tail end of fermentation and leave for 7-9 days before bottling.

It’s really hard to make good modern IPA in buckets and with bottles. Hops are the first thing to go when exposed to even minute amounts of o2.

 

Hopefully this article will be helpful to you:

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Diacetyl_Rest

This article is more specific to the aspect of hop creep & diacetyl:

https://rockstarbrewer.com/how-dry-...n-beer-and-how-brewers-can-minimise-the-risk/

Cheers!