Not So Hoppy

[FluffyMuffins]

I brewed my honey double IPA 5 days ago and decided to check on it and give it a taste today. The first thing I noticed was an extreme burn in my nostrils when I took a whiff of it. Is that normal? Will it lessen in time? The other thing was it wasn't as hoppy as I expected. The aroma was insane but it didn't have much of the taste until the end in the back of my throat. It was very sweet, which I expected would happen with 2 lbs of honey. I was also think of zesting a citrus fruit in it too. Good, bad?
Any words just to make me feel better about this.

I used 4 oz of Simcoe and 4 oz of Centennial.

Thanks

 

[iambeer]

An IPA brewed five days ago? Whoa... your burning nostrils probably was a nasty hit of CO2.

Come back in a week or so, get out a proper sample. Even then the aroma will be stronger than when it's done. Unless you dry hop.

 

[lowtones84]

What is your batch size? The sweetness will definitely fade as it keeps fermenting. And yeah, that nostril burn is very likely CO2 from active fermentation. I think as the sweetness fades the hoppiness will probably come out a bit more. This one is definitely way too early to pass judgement on, I think you'll be fine.

 

[FluffyMuffins]

It's a 5 gallon batch. Kinda sad the sweetness will fade. It tasted awesome, just wanted that intense hoppiness to accompany it.

 

[FluffyMuffins]

An IPA brewed five days ago? Whoa... your burning nostrils probably was a nasty hit of CO2.

Come back in a week or so, get out a proper sample. Even then the aroma will be stronger than when it's done. Unless you dry hop.

Dry hopping will be after I move it to the secondary fermentor, right? If so, I goofed and added it on the first day. How will that differ from actual dry hopping?


That's a combination of my stupidity and my drunkenness.

 

[lowtones84]

Yeah honey usually ferments out almost entirely. IPAs aren't really supposed to be sweet usually. Did you have a 60, 15 minute, and 5 minute or "flame out" addition as most IPA recipes suggest? 8 oz. should be -plenty- of hops for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[FluffyMuffins]

Yes, I had all of those additions and more.

 

[lowtones84]

Yeah dry-hopping should be done after fermentation is complete. That is a mistake but it shouldn't be a problem. Fermentation tends to "scrub" some of that flavor and aroma out which is why you dry hop when fermentation is complete. If you still have some hops around, it might be a good idea to dry hop it once it's done fermenting, but that's up to you and your tastes.

 

[ktblunden]

Honey will not sweeten the beer, it will actually dry it out. As lowtones said, it ferments out almost 100%. Dry hop pretty much just adds aroma, not a whole lot of flavor, and since you added it before fermentation, the release of CO2 will actually drive away a lot of the aroma you're trying to get. As has been mentioned, the sweetness is due to fermentation not being complete, it will dry out quite a bit when fermentation ends (which is true to style). At this point, just relax and let it do its thing, I'm sure it will come out tasting just fine. I would also forgo racking to secondary, but that's a personal preference. I don't find much added benefit from going to secondary.

 

[VincentK]

You'll be fine. If I've learned anything from brewing/reading/researching its that you'll never really know exactly what your beer will taste like until its done. Sanitize well and everything should be just fine. Btw you shouldn't dry hop until 5-7 days before its done.

 

[luke2080]

Yeah, besides trying it 3 weeks too early - carbonation helps the hops come through. Aromatically for sure, and I believe in taste. At least thats the taste perception I get.

Poor description, but the carbonation sort of releases the hop aroma when drinking, which impacts flavor. Here...someone already went into detail on this....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/how-carbonation-affects-flavor-aroma-271667/