Brew-day Disection

[Julez]

Good evening all,

just tried my first AG, an IPA, one month after bottling. When I first tried it a couple of weeks ago, it was beautiful, aside from being a little too bitter. Last week it was still really nice and developing a really good head. Great body and mouthfeel and lots of aroma from the EKG hops. This week, it is ordinary at best. The bitterness has intensified and the hop aromas have deteriorated significantly. It leaves a very salty aftertaste.

I did make a few mistakes with the brew day. For one, I ended up with a lot more evaporation than I anticipated, but prior to that I was right on target for my OG. I also put in way too much gypsum (about 4 teaspoons - heaped ). I've since figured out the error in my maths!! Through a lot of buggerizing around with my kettle > fermenter transfer and mash tun > kettle, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some hot side aeration issues too.

In the end I diluted the over-evaporated quantity to bring it back to my target volume. This gave me an OG of 1.050 (should have been 1.060) and 50BU of bitterness.

So plenty of gaffs there, but I'm wondering if anyone can suggest why it was tasting great (apart from the bitterness which I put down to the missed BU:GU ratio and excess of sulfate from the gypsum) one week ago, and now it is totally lacking the hop character and is positively rude in terms of bitterness?

Just trying to analyse this one, may have answered some of my own questions, but any feedback greatly appreciated!!

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Hoops]

Gday Julez

I have only just started to get into water chemistry myself this year (did my 1st brew in about 2 years last weekend, so will see how it went soon) and on refering to my book, excess sulphate will give a "very sharp dry edge" to well hopped beers.
Too much calcium also strips the malt of phosphates (due to precipitation) which deprives the wort of yeast nutrients, so the little yeasties may have not been too happy either.
I add CaCl to my mash water, then acidify the sparge water with acid.

I would love to get a Brisbane water report for the Logan area to plug into Promash. I may actually start using it soon!

positively rude in terms of bitterness?

Sounds like an IPA to me

Hoops

 

[Ross]

:icon_offtopic: but welcome back Hoops... thought you'd dissappeared off the planet :icon_cheers:
Look forward to catching up sinking a few ales... :icon_chickcheers:

+++

julez, I'd be interested in trying a bottle & happily give you some honest feedback if you want to bring one round.

Cheers Ross

 

[berapnopod]

Deteriorating hop aroma/flavour is usually the first sign of oxidation. Can't really tell if this is the problem with so little evidence so far, but is a possibility.

Berp.

 

[Julez]

Hi guys, thanks for the comments.

I had suspected that oxidation may have been a major contributor to the deterioration as Berp has suggested. I'm pretty much thinking the excess of sulfate from my Gypsum overload was the main issue with the bitterness, combined with the BU:GU ratio being even more tipped in favour what was already a relatively high BU, since it is characteristic of the style.

Hoops, you can get water reports of the brisbane city council website with all relevant info - although Logan is not Brisbane, is it? Hmmm. Hopefully Logan council has same info available on their website?

I may have to take you up on your offer Ross. Will be organising some grains for my next brew day soon, so may have to bring a bottle along. It may give a new definition to a "cleansing ale" though....I don't know if I can do that to you :lol: . Seriously though, would be great to get your expert opinion.

I stuffed up AG#2 as well (second crack at the same beer). This time made the mistake of ending up with too much liquid into my kettle. I should have boiled longer to hit my OG target, but I removed the excess liquid. MISTAKE! I realised after I had done this that it meant I lost some of my total gravity in the process, which was significant in relation to my small batch size of 11L! So brew 2 is rudely bitter as well :icon_drool2: .

It's all quite the learning curve, but I bloody love it. Think I have learned a lot from the first two brews, so hoping to nail the third!

Cheers again guys. :icon_cheers:

 

[Snow]

Gday Julez

I have only just started to get into water chemistry myself this year (did my 1st brew in about 2 years last weekend, so will see how it went soon) and on refering to my book, excess sulphate will give a "very sharp dry edge" to well hopped beers.
Too much calcium also strips the malt of phosphates (due to precipitation) which deprives the wort of yeast nutrients, so the little yeasties may have not been too happy either.
I add CaCl to my mash water, then acidify the sparge water with acid.

I would love to get a Brisbane water report for the Logan area to plug into Promash. I may actually start using it soon!


Sounds like an IPA to me

Hoops

Hey Hoops - great to see you back!

Can you tell me how much acid you put in the sparge water?

Cheers - Snow.

 

[Hoops]

Snow

I added phos acid to my sparge water and used a pH meter (somewhere packed away with my brew gear.)
Next time I brew and measure everything properly I will measure how much I use.

Julez

if they are that overly bitter maybe brew a beer that is very under-hopped and blend them?

Hoops

 

[Julez]

Good evening all,

just tried my first AG, an IPA, one month after bottling. When I first tried it a couple of weeks ago, it was beautiful, aside from being a little too bitter. Last week it was still really nice and developing a really good head. Great body and mouthfeel and lots of aroma from the EKG hops. This week, it is ordinary at best. The bitterness has intensified and the hop aromas have deteriorated significantly. It leaves a very salty aftertaste.

I did make a few mistakes with the brew day. For one, I ended up with a lot more evaporation than I anticipated, but prior to that I was right on target for my OG. I also put in way too much gypsum (about 4 teaspoons - heaped ). I've since figured out the error in my maths!! Through a lot of buggerizing around with my kettle > fermenter transfer and mash tun > kettle, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some hot side aeration issues too.

In the end I diluted the over-evaporated quantity to bring it back to my target volume. This gave me an OG of 1.050 (should have been 1.060) and 50BU of bitterness.

So plenty of gaffs there, but I'm wondering if anyone can suggest why it was tasting great (apart from the bitterness which I put down to the missed BU:GU ratio and excess of sulfate from the gypsum) one week ago, and now it is totally lacking the hop character and is positively rude in terms of bitterness?

Just trying to analyse this one, may have answered some of my own questions, but any feedback greatly appreciated!!

Cheers :icon_cheers:

Well today the strangest thing happened - seems the bottle I tried the other night was the one dud one of the batch. The rest were beeeaauuuuutiful !! Even my mates loved them, so they MUST have been good. Bizarre - I must have just had one bottle that hadn't been sealed properly or not properly sanitized the other night. I've even got some orders to fill for the boys who want to buy a few cartons B)