NE IPA: things went bad

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by pants678, Jul 19, 2017.

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  1. pants678

    pants678 Maven (1,374) Jan 26, 2009 California
    Trader

    1 gallon batch

    GRAIN
    2-Row
    Flaked Oats
    American Wheat
    I'll update the amounts when I get back to my BeerSmith.

    HOPS
    10mins: 0.2oz Citra
    10mins: 0.2oz Galaxy
    Whirlpool: 0.5oz Citra
    Whirlpool: 0.5oz Galaxy

    PROBLEMS
    1) 1318 pack arrived two days before I expected, I was still on my NE beer expedition. So it sat outside my door in a cardboard box in east LA for ~48HRs.
    2) Whilst stirring during cool down, a lot of foam started forming. Meaning, I've been doing this for years and never got foam. So any foam is a 100% increase.
    3) Wort smelled weird during cool down, like baked beans.
    4) Resulting beer was not hazy and had an oily texture.
    5) Resulting beer tasted bad and had little to no hop flavor.
    6) I'm less happy than I was before making this batch.

    Ideas?

    I wonder if I have bad malt. I've made 2 saisons and one stout since. The stout involved oats but otherwise none of my stored ingredients for this beer were used in those beers (is that non-sense?).
    Was this all due to unrefrigerated yeast?
     
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Well, yeast certainly had nothing to do with your wort foaming and smelling weird during chilling.

    But did you make a starter, particularly after heat stressing the yeast?

    I'd guess the oily texture probably came from the flaked oats.

    Tasted bad in what way (other than lack of hop flavor)?
     
  3. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    Not enough hops? No dry hops, no bittering hops. I've sometimes felt good about pale ales without dry hops, and the whirlpool seems pretty substantial for batch size. I've never been happy without zero bittering hops in my own brews (except sours).

    No idea about foaming during chilling. Never heard anything like it.
     
    DrMindbender likes this.
  4. Sweatshirt

    Sweatshirt Initiate (0) Jan 27, 2014 New Hampshire

    I can't speak towards the bean smell but not enough hops are in play here. 3 oz in a gallon timed right gets me a hazy beer with great aroma and hoppiness. That's with no wheat or oats and using us-05.

    Watch your process and add more hops at the right time.
     
  5. pants678

    pants678 Maven (1,374) Jan 26, 2009 California
    Trader

    I did not, but fermentation took off as per usual. My poor man's temp control (mini-carboy in a water bath with frozen water bottles in a home depot bucket) kept me ~72°F for two weeks.

    Touch astringent. Meaning, bland beer until back of palate where it made me pucker.

    I've only dry hopped once, the result didn't seem significant. I did only use 0.25oz per gallon. That much in a hop sock is difficult to get out of my mini-carboy's neck.

    I've used this same amount before with the same process (minus the f'd up yeast) and came out much closer to style. That said, 3oz/gallon sounds tasty, so my argument with you goes no further.
     
  6. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    You'll want to be more generous with your dry hops (see the Averagely Perfect IPAs in the recipe section -- one of them is NE style) so you'll want to solve that problem. One solution is a hooked wire inserted in the carboy to snag the sack, after you rack the beer out. I do this, pulling enough of the sack out so I can cut it with a scissor and allow the hops to spill out more freely.
     
  7. WIexile

    WIexile Zealot (526) Jul 20, 2017 Michigan
    Trader

    Gonna throw a random hat in the ring... maybe soap in your batch?
     
    chavinparty likes this.
  8. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    What was your mash pH?

    And how did you sparge? And with what water and temperature?
     
  9. pants678

    pants678 Maven (1,374) Jan 26, 2009 California
    Trader

    I haven't ventured into the mash pH realm.

    Fly sparged at 168°F. This involves me pouring the grain into a steel colander and following that with sparge water.

    I dunno if taking a photo of the whirlpool foam would help, but it grew as a stirred and was enough to be jarring. I stirred with a glass thermometer that had been sitting in a StarSan bath. The hop bags in the wort whilst whirlpooling were in the same StarSan bath until about the time of the addition. They were also new out of the packaging. No OxiClean on them, maybe that was the bad move? Even so, they're going into a boiling environment.
     
  10. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Mash and Sparge pH are the first places I'd look if I were getting astringency. You say you haven't ventured into mash pH, but do you know what's in your water?
     
    chavinparty likes this.
  11. pants678

    pants678 Maven (1,374) Jan 26, 2009 California
    Trader

    I do not. I use Brita filtered water! Chastise as you see fit, I'm ready. That said, I'll look into it.

    I've made good NE IPAs before which is why initial thought was bad ingredients. And the stout I've made since had no weird foam issue. Taste test is pending.
     
  12. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    So from a mash chemistry (pH) perspective, whatever is in your tap water.

    [​IMG]

    Water reports can be very enlightening. In my case, it helped convince me that building from distilled was the way to go for me for most styles.
     
    pants678, DrMindbender and Eggman20 like this.
  13. Eggman20

    Eggman20 Crusader (433) Feb 14, 2017 Minnesota

    And once you know your water there are a number of free calculators that make water chemistry really simple. So like VikeMan said I'd look into your water. My lighter colored beers had an off flavor to them until I started focusing on mash PH and chemistry. Now they taste a ton better and it takes very little additional work.
     
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