First brew - not bad but something is off

[Terminum]

After seven long weeks I finally got to drink my first homebrew last night! Dead Ringer IPA extract kit from NB. I was satisfied to find that it is quite drinkable, but it's definitely not great.

This beer has rave reviews on NB - over 100 and nearly all 5/5 stars. Many others did this for their first brew and were ecstatic about how great it turned out. Something in mine is definitely off, so I'm hoping someone here can shed some light on what I may have done wrong.

First, it has an extremely malty aftertaste. I like malty beers but this one is supposed to have a well-balanced hop/malt taste. I would say it is at least as malty as He'brew Lenny's RIPA maybe moreso (obviously without the rye taste) and in fact it is even darker in color than Lenny's. Dead Ringer is supposed to be a pale amber color.

That doesn't bother me terribly, other than the fact that it's not supposed to be that way. What does bother me is that the hops seem underpowered, and the finish of the hop taste also seems off. I'm having a hard time describing it, but the finish is an extremely bitter perhaps grassy taste. I've read on other parts of this forum that it might be from dry hopping too long, but I'm not sure if they were just too old. I dry hopped it exactly 1 week before bottling day (instructions said dry hop for 1-2 weeks). At least it has a great aroma.


I pretty much followed the recipe and instructions found here, with exceptions noted below.



Here are some things I did that were probably wrong or less than ideal:

1.) The recipe kit was about a year old (it's been a busy year, lol)

2.) The temperature during fermentation ranged from 71-75 (I live in Florida and can't afford to keep the temp much cooler, and a water bath won't fit in the closet I have available right now).

3.) The boil actually went for 65 minutes instead of 60 due to accidentally adding some hops too late. I decided to just let the hops boil for the correct amount of time.

4.) I let the beer sit in the fermentor (6 gal glass carboy) for a total of 4 weeks and 5 days (no secondary), then bottle conditioned for 2 weeks.

5.) Oh, and don't ask about hydrometer readings because I forgot to measure the OG :O

6.) Probably something else I don't know about...

 

[chickypad]

My first guess is old LME and the fact that you boiled all 9lb of it in a concentrated volume. Liquid extract I would try to use fresh. Also read about late extract additions - basically boiling a lb or two with the hops and adding the rest at flameout. Avoids over darkening of the wort and extract twang.

Secondly I would not ferment with 1056 over about 68 degrees. Low 70's (beer temp not ambient) may not be high enough to give you fusels but I've gotten diacetyl from those temps.

 

[unionrdr]

A year old kit isn't going to be at it's best. Getting the temp lower would've been better,but a yeast like US-05 would've still ben clean at 71F. The bottled beers likely need more conditioning,like a total of 3-4 weeks at room temp. Try that,then chill in the fridge 7 days.

 

[duboman]

It sounds like your year old kit produced year old beer

You did a pretty good job self diagnosing what went wrong, the kit was old meaning the ingredients were a year old, hence the poor taste and lack of hop presence

Fermentation temperatures were kind of high so that is definitely something you need to improve on as you move forward. 1056 is pretty forgiving but fermentation temperature control is one of the most important aspects of producing great beer!

 

[Terminum]

Thanks guys. I guess I'll need to invest in a fridge. We have a storage space issue, I may have to pick that over a kegerator for now.

 

[darrenbrews]

Everyone here seems to agree on the old kit, and this is also mentioned in Palmer's book I believe.

Kits can set around at the homebrew supply for a while before being purchased and is why I check the expiration date of the kit before I purchase.

-DZ

 

[amandabab]

1.) The recipe kit was about a year old (it's been a busy year, lol)

old LME, lme ages a lot faster than dme

2.) The temperature during fermentation ranged from 71-75 (I live in Florida and can't afford to keep the temp much cooler, and a water bath won't fit in the closet I have available right now).

kinda hot on the ferment

3.) The boil actually went for 65 minutes instead of 60 due to accidentally adding some hops too late. I decided to just let the hops boil for the correct amount of time.

this really isn't an issue

4.) I let the beer sit in the fermentor (6 gal glass carboy) for a total of 4 weeks and 5 days (no secondary), then bottle conditioned for 2 weeks.

2 weeks is still a little early to see final results

 

[billl]

1) Beer is food. Year old ingredients are far from ideal.
2) Too hot. You've got to figure out a way to fix that.
3) Won't produce off flavors
4) Primary length is fine, but 2 weeks in the bottle is too soon to judge the beer.
5) Doesn't matter. The kit will give the OG listed as long as you have the volumes right.
6) Get used to it. Even professional brewers are learning new things all the time.

6a) If you used year old yeast, that is probably a contributor to the "too malty". You really need to pitch a proper amount of healthy yeast to properly dry out an IPA. Unhappy yeast don't attenuate as well and will leave more sugar in the finished product.
6b) Year old hops are OK if stored properly, but they could have been close to a year old when you got them. The hop season is only once per year, so dates matter.
6c) I don't think 1 oz of dry hop is going to give commercial level hop aroma. You probably want to up that to 3+oz if you want that hop kick.
6d) Boiling LME or dme darkens it. An easy fix is to use a portion to start at 60 minutes and the rest at the end of the boil

Overall though, cut yourself some slack. You made beer! A few little tweaks in the process will get you to commercial quality (or better!) pretty quickly.