sledgewinston
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- Dec 7, 2016
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I've been home brewing for almost two years. I've made some decent IPAs in the past, but after a hiatus and moving my system to a new place I haven't been able to make a single one worth keeping. They aren't terrible by any means, and there aren't any particular off flavors. The biggest issue is that they either completely lack ANY flavor at all, or have a very weak flavor.
I've tried many different approaches and alterations of my water (it's been lab tested by Ward and I use Bru'n Water for any additions and alterations), my hopping amounts/varieties and schedules, mash temps, mash pHs, target efficiencies, malt bills, yeast strains and fermentation temps (which is controlled in a converted chest freezer). With all the different changes along the way, they all totally lack any malty or hoppy flavor.
I constantly read about and study these different parts of the brewing process and make changes based on educated sources, but haven't found a solution yet.
Here is an example of one of my latest recipes. It was intended to be a "NEIPA".
All Grain
Batch Size: 6.50 gal.
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%
Calculated IBUs: 70.5
OG: 1.065
FG: 1.014
6.6# Pale U.S. 2-Row
4.8# Golden Promise
1.5# Carafoam
0.85# Aromatic Malt
0.5# Corn Sugar (Added w/ 10 min left in boil)
Mashed at 154* for 60 minutes w/ room temp pH of 5.25
Fly sparged with water adjusted to pH of 5.5
Collected about 8.25 gal. into the kettle. Final lauter runnings were above 1.012.
Boil:
0.45oz Columbus FWH
0.25oz Amarillo 20min
0.25oz Citra 20min
0.25oz Mosaic 20min
0.45oz Amarillo 15min
0.45oz Citra 15min
0.45oz Mosaic 15min
0.65oz Amarillo 10min
0.65oz Citra 10min
0.65oz Mosaic 10min
1.50oz Amarillo 1min
1.50oz Citra 1min
1.50oz Mosaic 1min
(The 20,15 and 10 min additions were actually put in at 10 minutes less than written above (so really 10,5,0.) I put them in this way into Beersmith to account for the additional time they are at isomerization temps after flameout. The 1 min addition was actually the whirlpool addition done below 180*. I whirlpooled for 60 minutes before chilling to 70* where I pitched the yeast)
I didn't use any hop bags or anything and just stirred with the mash paddle to create the whirlpool.
(Side note: all of my hops are 2016 pellets that I bought from either Yakima or Hops Direct that come vacuum sealed and nitrogen flushed. I seal and freeze the hops in between use)
The target water profile calculated by Bru'n Water was as follows:
Ca 26ppm, Mg 13ppm, Na 83ppm, S04 103ppm, CaCl 137ppm, Bicarbonate -120 MASH pH: 5.24
I achieved this using Calcium Chloride, Gypsum, Epsom Salt, Sodium Chloride and Lactic Acid.
Additions were added to both the mash and sparge water per Bru'n water's recommendations. All additions were pre dissolved in water prior to adding them.
I have also done similar water profiles where the Calcium levels were around 100ppm and Sodium levels were <10ppm which seemingly made no difference. From what I've gathered, the malt provides plenty of Calcium and Magnesium and the Sodium levels above are well below taste threshold and according to some studies can accentuate the malt flavors in the beer. That's basically how I ended up with this profile for this particular batch. However, both ways ended up with weak flavored beers.
About 5.5 gal. ended up in the fermentor (glass carboy) and I pitched 2 packets of S-04 (neither were rehydrated) at 70* and fermented for six days at 67* which is when I raised it to 70* and added my dry hops (1.50oz Amarillo, Citra, Mosaic) and left it like that for four days, so 10 days total.
After the 10th day I transferred the beer off the trub and into a corny keg with a closed C02 system. I crashed the beer in the corny to 38* for three days before force carbing. I tasted the beer prior to carbonation and it had a SLIGHT fruity aroma but basically no malt or hop flavor. Barely any noticeable bitterness either. I used to dry hop in the keg with nylon bags but after getting no aroma out of it I figured that more transfers meant a bigger chance of oxidation so I switched to doing it in the primary towards the end of fermentation so any oxygen that got in would be taken up by the yeast as it finished.
I'm starting to run out of ideas for what could be going wrong. I've tried many different variations and every single one has the same exact flavor: None. It's really confusing and I'm at a loss at the moment. If anyone has any input or ideas please let me know! If I left out any information about the brew that you think would be useful for me to add, let me know. Thanks!
I've tried many different approaches and alterations of my water (it's been lab tested by Ward and I use Bru'n Water for any additions and alterations), my hopping amounts/varieties and schedules, mash temps, mash pHs, target efficiencies, malt bills, yeast strains and fermentation temps (which is controlled in a converted chest freezer). With all the different changes along the way, they all totally lack any malty or hoppy flavor.
I constantly read about and study these different parts of the brewing process and make changes based on educated sources, but haven't found a solution yet.
Here is an example of one of my latest recipes. It was intended to be a "NEIPA".
All Grain
Batch Size: 6.50 gal.
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%
Calculated IBUs: 70.5
OG: 1.065
FG: 1.014
6.6# Pale U.S. 2-Row
4.8# Golden Promise
1.5# Carafoam
0.85# Aromatic Malt
0.5# Corn Sugar (Added w/ 10 min left in boil)
Mashed at 154* for 60 minutes w/ room temp pH of 5.25
Fly sparged with water adjusted to pH of 5.5
Collected about 8.25 gal. into the kettle. Final lauter runnings were above 1.012.
Boil:
0.45oz Columbus FWH
0.25oz Amarillo 20min
0.25oz Citra 20min
0.25oz Mosaic 20min
0.45oz Amarillo 15min
0.45oz Citra 15min
0.45oz Mosaic 15min
0.65oz Amarillo 10min
0.65oz Citra 10min
0.65oz Mosaic 10min
1.50oz Amarillo 1min
1.50oz Citra 1min
1.50oz Mosaic 1min
(The 20,15 and 10 min additions were actually put in at 10 minutes less than written above (so really 10,5,0.) I put them in this way into Beersmith to account for the additional time they are at isomerization temps after flameout. The 1 min addition was actually the whirlpool addition done below 180*. I whirlpooled for 60 minutes before chilling to 70* where I pitched the yeast)
I didn't use any hop bags or anything and just stirred with the mash paddle to create the whirlpool.
(Side note: all of my hops are 2016 pellets that I bought from either Yakima or Hops Direct that come vacuum sealed and nitrogen flushed. I seal and freeze the hops in between use)
The target water profile calculated by Bru'n Water was as follows:
Ca 26ppm, Mg 13ppm, Na 83ppm, S04 103ppm, CaCl 137ppm, Bicarbonate -120 MASH pH: 5.24
I achieved this using Calcium Chloride, Gypsum, Epsom Salt, Sodium Chloride and Lactic Acid.
Additions were added to both the mash and sparge water per Bru'n water's recommendations. All additions were pre dissolved in water prior to adding them.
I have also done similar water profiles where the Calcium levels were around 100ppm and Sodium levels were <10ppm which seemingly made no difference. From what I've gathered, the malt provides plenty of Calcium and Magnesium and the Sodium levels above are well below taste threshold and according to some studies can accentuate the malt flavors in the beer. That's basically how I ended up with this profile for this particular batch. However, both ways ended up with weak flavored beers.
About 5.5 gal. ended up in the fermentor (glass carboy) and I pitched 2 packets of S-04 (neither were rehydrated) at 70* and fermented for six days at 67* which is when I raised it to 70* and added my dry hops (1.50oz Amarillo, Citra, Mosaic) and left it like that for four days, so 10 days total.
After the 10th day I transferred the beer off the trub and into a corny keg with a closed C02 system. I crashed the beer in the corny to 38* for three days before force carbing. I tasted the beer prior to carbonation and it had a SLIGHT fruity aroma but basically no malt or hop flavor. Barely any noticeable bitterness either. I used to dry hop in the keg with nylon bags but after getting no aroma out of it I figured that more transfers meant a bigger chance of oxidation so I switched to doing it in the primary towards the end of fermentation so any oxygen that got in would be taken up by the yeast as it finished.
I'm starting to run out of ideas for what could be going wrong. I've tried many different variations and every single one has the same exact flavor: None. It's really confusing and I'm at a loss at the moment. If anyone has any input or ideas please let me know! If I left out any information about the brew that you think would be useful for me to add, let me know. Thanks!
