I have a freezer full of great hops but I am close to abandoning hoppy beers. Every time I brew with a decent amount of hops in a pale ale, IPA, or amber, it turns out vegetal. Here are the things I've explored...
Pellet dry hop
Leaf dry hop
Hop burst, no dry hop
Oxidation - No dryhop. Sealed before cold crash. Flush with co2 at every step.
Old hops - Used all fresh sealed, current year hops.
Yeast strains (1450, US05, 1968)
Hop debris - gelatin and cold crash
Clean bittering - switched to warrior for 60 min
pH and water chem - use brun water, tried sulfates at 50 and 150
In all cases, I get a nice hop flavor coming out of primary, but by the time I have it ready to serve it tastes muddled and vegetal. I brew solid Belgians and browns. Reading all these IPA recipes and new hop varieties is killing me. I see a minority of folks on the site experiencing the same problem, so I know I'm not alone but what are we missing?
Pellet dry hop
Leaf dry hop
Hop burst, no dry hop
Oxidation - No dryhop. Sealed before cold crash. Flush with co2 at every step.
Old hops - Used all fresh sealed, current year hops.
Yeast strains (1450, US05, 1968)
Hop debris - gelatin and cold crash
Clean bittering - switched to warrior for 60 min
pH and water chem - use brun water, tried sulfates at 50 and 150
In all cases, I get a nice hop flavor coming out of primary, but by the time I have it ready to serve it tastes muddled and vegetal. I brew solid Belgians and browns. Reading all these IPA recipes and new hop varieties is killing me. I see a minority of folks on the site experiencing the same problem, so I know I'm not alone but what are we missing?