Grassy Dry Hops

[Jarov]

So I dry-hopped a double IPA with 4oz of cascade pellet hops at room temperature for 7 days. Before the dry hop, the beer had a nice floral aroma and taste, with a good amount of malt backbone. Now, that floral citrusy aroma has been completely covered by a dank grass kind of smell and taste. The citrusy smells I picked up when I smelled the hop packets didn't make it through at all... Is this common when dry hopping with pellets? Will it mellow with age?

 

[BreezyBrew]

I definitely get a "grassy" type flavor when I dry hop with Amarillo. I'm not sure in your case.

 

[stpug]

Funny, I just dryhopped a pale ale with 2 oz of homegrown whole cascades and am experiencing the EXACT same scenario. My first impression was 'green tea' flavor which I then thought was actually 'grassy'. This was about 5-6 days ago I first noticed this and was disappointed. However, in the past three days the grassiness seems to be fading and the aroma is starting to come through. I'm hoping the grassiness will completely fade away and allow the cascade aroma to really come through. Overall, I'd say there's hope that the grassy aroma/flavor will go away with a little time. This is the first time I experience this grassy dryhop aroma/flavor.

 

[Jarov]

Funny, I just dryhopped a pale ale with 2 oz of homegrown whole cascades and am experiencing the EXACT same scenario. My first impression was 'green tea' flavor which I then thought was actually 'grassy'. This was about 5-6 days ago I first noticed this and was disappointed. However, in the past three days the grassiness seems to be fading and the aroma is starting to come through. I'm hoping the grassiness will completely fade away and allow the cascade aroma to really come through. Overall, I'd say there's hope that the grassy aroma/flavor will go away with a little time. This is the first time I experience this grassy dryhop aroma/flavor.

I decided to run an experiment with the leftover hop residue, trub, and bags of hops in the carboy. I put a bung on top and left it there instead of emptying it to see if the smell would change. Sure enough this morning, the aroma is very fruity, citrusy, and light, with just a small amount of that dank grass smell. I was lucky that I didn't have bottle caps, but I had already transferred the beer to the bottling bucket with priming sugar. As a result of this I may give the beer another week in the bucket and pop the airlock every day until the smell is just a tad grassier than I want. That way by the time the beer has carbonated in bottles, the smell will be exactly where I want it to be. I'll definitely update this thread if the beer changes aroma and flavor.

 

[Jarov]

Well, I bottled yesterday, and after stirring priming sugar into the beer very gently, it still had this dank grass aroma. It's not like a freshly cut lawn, it's more of a wet grass kind of smell. I was hoping dry-hopping would give me a more powerful taste and aroma of the citrus I could pick up from late addition boiled hops and flameout hops. I didn't get that, and it's now entirely covered by the dry-hop wet grass aroma and flavor, and not favorable for me. I'll let it bottle condition for 2 weeks, and then I'll pop one open to see if I still get the same thing.

 

[stpug]

I feel your pain. I'm working on a still lightly grassy pale ale at the moment. I'd say that the aroma has faded fairly well (90%), and the flavor has faded decently as well (80-85%); unfortunately, once you KNOW it's there then it's all you can pay attention to . Oh well, live and learn.

One more sad thing is that I have an IPA carbing up right now that had a new 2 ounces of the same homegrown cascade dry hops in the primary for 7 days. I've kegged this by now and dryhopped with different hops (more pungent varieties) so I'm hoping that I don't perceive any of the grassy notes in this one, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Jarov]

I feel your pain. I'm working on a still lightly grassy pale ale at the moment. I'd say that the aroma has faded fairly well (90%), and the flavor has faded decently as well (80-85%); unfortunately, once you KNOW it's there then it's all you can pay attention to . Oh well, live and learn.

One more sad thing is that I have an IPA carbing up right now that had a new 2 ounces of the same homegrown cascade dry hops in the primary for 7 days. I've kegged this by now and dryhopped with different hops (more pungent varieties) so I'm hoping that I don't perceive any of the grassy notes in this one, but I'm not holding my breath.

Let me know how the recent one turns out. It's good to know that the grassy aroma and flavor will fade, how long has it been since you made the pale ale? Has this happened every time you've dry hopped? I recently had Hoplar by Hardywood Park Brewery here in Richmond on tap, and it's dry-hopped and fresh, however I didn't pick up any of the grassy aroma mine has. Because of this, I feel like I did something wrong, but I've heard Cascade is good for dry-hopping and I only had the beer on the hops for a week.

 

[Jarov]

I also found this article, which I may follow on my next IPA recipe.
http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.php

It says, "Late-hopped additions have been characterized as more floral, fragrant, and less grassy than dry-hopped additions." Can I have some input from people who both dry-hop and only late hop? How different is the aroma and taste of a dry-hopped beer vs the same beer only late hopped.

 

[stpug]

I'll keep you posted on the new IPA when I finally test it out - probably in a few days.

I brewed the pale ale on 5/11. I put in a keg with dry hops on 6/3 - I had about 24 extra ounces that didn't fit in the keg so I drank those flat that day and there was no grassy. I probably started testing the keg it on 6/5 and the grassy was already there, BIG TIME. By 6/12 the grassiness had started to fade but was still very noticable. By today it's still there but much less so. I honestly don't have faith that it will completely fade away but I'm hoping for 95% fade (fingers crossed).

I've dryhopped many beers with a variety of different hops and amounts and I've never had this kind of prominent grassiness come through. I can't actually remember any grassiness in any beers that I've dryhopped so this is new to me - and I blame it on my homegrown hops (probably bad harvest timing; too early). I have used these same cascades during the boil from 60 to flameout and not had this kind of grassiness either; so it's something about them in the dryhop.

In my opinion, an IPA will not present itself hoppy enough without a dryhop addition UNLESS you're using somekind of whirlpool steep or hopback-like device. This is not to say that you can't make a great beer or even an IPA without dryhops; just that I find my beers lacking in the super-fresh/floral aroma department without dryhops.

 

[Jarov]

I'll keep you posted on the new IPA when I finally test it out - probably in a few days.

I brewed the pale ale on 5/11. I put in a keg with dry hops on 6/3 - I had about 24 extra ounces that didn't fit in the keg so I drank those flat that day and there was no grassy. I probably started testing the keg it on 6/5 and the grassy was already there, BIG TIME. By 6/12 the grassiness had started to fade but was still very noticable. By today it's still there but much less so. I honestly don't have faith that it will completely fade away but I'm hoping for 95% fade (fingers crossed).

I've dryhopped many beers with a variety of different hops and amounts and I've never had this kind of prominent grassiness come through. I can't actually remember any grassiness in any beers that I've dryhopped so this is new to me - and I blame it on my homegrown hops (probably bad harvest timing; too early). I have used these same cascades during the boil from 60 to flameout and not had this kind of grassiness either; so it's something about them in the dryhop.

In my opinion, an IPA will not present itself hoppy enough without a dryhop addition UNLESS you're using somekind of whirlpool steep or hopback-like device. This is not to say that you can't make a great beer or even an IPA without dryhops; just that I find my beers lacking in the super-fresh/floral aroma department without dryhops.

I agree with you 100%, when I was tasting my Imperial IPA before dry-hopping, it just didn't have enough aroma or hop flavor. Perhaps cascade is a very grassy hop and one that isn't great for dry-hopping. In the ingredients forum, cascade is listed as grassy, but I've heard other people have dry-hopped with cascade and had a nose full of grapefruit when they smelled their beers. I'm just hoping someone can figure out what is going wrong here. I've heard of home grown hops producing grassy beers, but my hops were 4 ounces of fresh cascade pellets purchased from northern brewer.

 

[BigFloyd]

+1 on getting something of a grassy flavor from dry-hopping with Cascade. It wasn't overpowering in the amber I used it on, but it was there enough that I won't be dry-hopping with Cascade again.

 

[stpug]

I just tried the most recent IIPA and do not perceive any grassiness. It had 2 oz homegrown cascades in dryhop for 8 days at mid-60s, then I pulled and squeezed those, and then kegged with 2.5 oz of a mix of Amarillo, Centennial, and Columbus. It's only been about 4 days with the new hops at this point but I don't get any grassy at all.

The only thing I did different with my dryhopped cascades is:
-Grassy beer had cascades put in cold kegged beer; cascades were supposed to be the STAR
-Non-grassy beer had cascades put in cool room temp beer; cascades were only used to provide balance

The conclusion: I don't know why one shines through with complete grass while the other is not perceptible. Damn, making beer is fun . Always a learning experience.

 

[Jarov]

I just tried the most recent IIPA and do not perceive any grassiness. It had 2 oz homegrown cascades in dryhop for 8 days at mid-60s, then I pulled and squeezed those, and then kegged with 2.5 oz of a mix of Amarillo, Centennial, and Columbus. It's only been about 4 days with the new hops at this point but I don't get any grassy at all.

The only thing I did different with my dryhopped cascades is:
-Grassy beer had cascades put in cold kegged beer; cascades were supposed to be the STAR
-Non-grassy beer had cascades put in cool room temp beer; cascades were only used to provide balance

The conclusion: I don't know why one shines through with complete grass while the other is not perceptible. Damn, making beer is fun . Always a learning experience.

Brewing is always full of surprises, I really wonder what the science behind this is. I've heard dry-hopping at cold temps can produce grassy aromas, but I don't know if it's true and I've never done it. My beer was dry-hopped at room temperature, so hopefully my beer turns out like your non-grassy beer. I won't open my IIPA for another week and a half when it's carbed, but I'll post the results.

 

[Ixtlanas]

I got a strong grassy flavour in my last APA. Used Centennial (pallets) for the first time in late addition and DH. After some bottles in which I was unable to get a clear taste, I finally got it: wtf, it's grass
A little bit disappointed, will retry again in September to check for a different outcome...

 

[stpug]

That's a bummer. I DO think the grassiness fades some over time but then again so does the hop presence so it's kind of a wash.

My own opinion is: I am under the impression that this grassiness is almost exclusively attributed during the dryhop phase. If a hop has the potential to give grassy attributes I am feeling that these will only be presented during dryhop; in other words, using grassy-giving hops at any point prior to fermentation seems to be fine, but if used after fermentation then there is potential for grassiness. Aside from those beliefs, I'm still trying to flush it out in me head . I can't explain why a dryhopped pale ale was pure green tea and grass, while a dryhopped IIPA was not at all (same homegrown hops from same harvest year). I've used these lots during boils and steeps but have only used them three times in dryhop (grassy pale ale, non-grassy IIPA, and an old red ale that I did not like the dryhop aspect of but couldn't put my finger on it at the time but perhaps it was grassy notes [it was only 1/2 oz cascades which would explain why it was subtle]).

 

[STB]

My experience is that the aroma as well as intensity of the bittering fades with time. I'd say Revy it up! Don't do a thing and let time mellow it out.