Pilgarlic
Well-Known Member
After two years and about 40 all-grain batches I'm satisfied with my progress with one glaring exception. Hoppy beers.
My hoppy beers taste rough from almost all perspectives. The bittering is coarse. The aromas and flavors are muddy, grassy and harsh.
A recipe won't help because these characteristics seem to be there regardless of the recipe, so long as its higher IBU with ample finishing hops.
I've adjusted and readjusted my water/pH with salts. Used bottled spring and R.O. and various combinations thereof. Taken care of my chloramine. Shortened my dry-hopping to avoid grassiness/coarseness.
One thing I haven't addressed is oxydation, and I suspect that may be my problem. I'm a bottler. I use good bottling techniques. I've read that even with "good" bottling techniques its nearly impossible to avoid the oxydation of a hoppy beer, and that to get consistently good hoppy beers you really need to keg. I will, however, be brewing more hoppy beers before I invest in a kegging system, and I want better results.
I'm confident that my hoppy beers haven't been exposed to oxygen before bottling. I rarely open a fermentor and, when I do, it's with an abundance of caution. So, I need to control oxygenation at packaging. I'm considering getting a CO2 bottle and purging each bottle prior to bottling, and slow feeding CO2 to the bucket while bottling.
Other than "Start Kegging", any feedback or suggestions??
My hoppy beers taste rough from almost all perspectives. The bittering is coarse. The aromas and flavors are muddy, grassy and harsh.
A recipe won't help because these characteristics seem to be there regardless of the recipe, so long as its higher IBU with ample finishing hops.
I've adjusted and readjusted my water/pH with salts. Used bottled spring and R.O. and various combinations thereof. Taken care of my chloramine. Shortened my dry-hopping to avoid grassiness/coarseness.
One thing I haven't addressed is oxydation, and I suspect that may be my problem. I'm a bottler. I use good bottling techniques. I've read that even with "good" bottling techniques its nearly impossible to avoid the oxydation of a hoppy beer, and that to get consistently good hoppy beers you really need to keg. I will, however, be brewing more hoppy beers before I invest in a kegging system, and I want better results.
I'm confident that my hoppy beers haven't been exposed to oxygen before bottling. I rarely open a fermentor and, when I do, it's with an abundance of caution. So, I need to control oxygenation at packaging. I'm considering getting a CO2 bottle and purging each bottle prior to bottling, and slow feeding CO2 to the bucket while bottling.
Other than "Start Kegging", any feedback or suggestions??