What is this taste?

[Craig George]

I have brewed three batches of IPA now and they all seem to have a similar off/not pleasant flavour. The easiest way to describe it is, if you have tasted wort before putting in hops and then tasted it after hop additions, that bitter taste you get from the hops in the wort. It's not the same as normal hop bitterness in beer and I have proved this to myself by steeping some hops in hot water for a minute or so and I still get the same taste. It does seem to dissipate with time but the first batch was brewed 6 weeks ago and i can still taste it slightly. Is it just a case of the beer being green and needing more time? Or could it be hop particulates in the beer? I have seen IPA's brewed and kegged within 2 weeks but mine are nearly undrinkable at two weeks.

 

[Homergah]

How about you post up one of your recipes? That might help with a diagnosis.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

When you say undrinkable at 2 weeks, is that after 2 weeks in the keg or 2 weeks from fermentation, and newly kegged? I've had beers taste a little harsh with less than a week in the keg. Sometimes it's hop particles floating around, which some people call hop burn. I've had some that just had a harsh bitterness/astringency for some reason that mellowed after a few weeks in the keg.

 

[bracconiere]

Extract or all grain? if all grain what temp is your sparge water?

 

[parjay]

Do you cold crash? Recipe would help. Do you ever taste something similar in commercial NEIPAs?

 

[Craig George]

Each recipe was completely different. Varying calculated bitterness between each one, varying abv, different source water and water profile, different hops, different malts. It is most noticable in this recipe:

8L into fermenter

2.5kg Maris Otter

5g Citra and 5g Amarillo 60 min
10g Citra and 10g Amarillo 10 min
15g Citra and 15g Amarillo dry hop

Roughly 7% abv and 55 IBU

After two weeks in the fermenter when I am bottling, the taste is still there. I would have thought that it should be tasting pretty nice by the time it comes to bottling. It seems to get better after a few weeks in the bottle. What you describe as hop burn seems to be along the right lines.

All grain, sparge water temp is 70 degrees. Batch sparging awell.

No cold crashing. I don't think so, I had a brewdog hazy jane the other day that was quite similar to one i have brewed but mine has that harsh kind of bitter hop taste to it but not normal bitterness.

 

[parjay]

Try to share as much about your process as possible. What kind of equipment are you using? How do you control fermentation temps? Are you making any additions for clear beer? How do you determine when your fermentation is complete? So on and so forth. The first thing I would say before you answer any of that stuff above is just leave your beer in primary for another week or so. I delay the dry hop by the same amount of time so you don't have your beer sitting on hops forever, but there are a lot of things that can get better with a little more time in the fermenter. One more question that I will break out so that it stands out, what was the time line like after you bottled? How much time at room temp and how much time in the fridge?

 

[Craig George]

Just as a bit of an update. I put some gelatin in the fermentor and put it in the fridge for 2 days and this has got rid of the taste. Im presuming it must be from hop particles or 'hop burn' as someone suggested. At least I know I either have to be more patient and let it all drop out, or I can fine with gelatin and be done in a few days.

 

[jrgtr42]

If you're talking about the taste as you are bottling, it possibly could be too fresh. Some beers, especially hoppy ones, sometimes need a bit of time to really be their best, it's called green beer.
Also, the flavors to change as carbonation happens; obviously when you're bottling it's still flat.
Something that I learned a while in, is that even though it may say it's takes 2 weeks to finish, that's not always the case. I generally leave mine in the fermenter for 3 weeks minimum. It came from days that I would religiously bottle after 2 weeks; cause that what the instructions said! One brew, something came up and I had to go away that weekend, so I had to put it off an extra week. That turned out the best beer I'd made up to that point. So, I started leaving it be.
Also, if gelatin cleared something up, you may need to do what's called a cold crash. A couple days before bottling time, put the fermenter into a fridge or freezer, temps as low as you can (in the fridge) somewhere in the mid-30s seems to be good, from what I read. That will help suspended particles, be it yeast, hops etc drop out.
Also, along those lines, do you dump everything from the kettle into your fermenter? If possible, try to keep as much of the boiled hop sludge out of these as possible, I pour mine through a big kitchen colander (sanitized, of course) which gets most of that stuff out and also serves to aerate the wort.

 

[doogster]

When you say undrinkable at 2 weeks, is that after 2 weeks in the keg or 2 weeks from fermentation, and newly kegged? I've had beers taste a little harsh with less than a week in the keg. Sometimes it's hop particles floating around, which some people call hop burn. I've had some that just had a harsh bitterness/astringency for some reason that mellowed after a few weeks in the keg.

Yep - I would say you are experiencing "hop burn", though I've never heard that term before. I have had the same in some of my more hoppy IPS, especially if heavily late/dry hopped. And yes - I have found that gelatin or just more time in the keg will drop that out and make for a better beer. Side note, I get some of this too in some of the NEIPAs I've tried... which are heavily late/dry hopped and obviously not filtered.

 

[Loud Brewing]

Def hop burn, its almost a sharp black pepper burn from hops in suspension