Grassy/dirty Aftertaste In Apa

[Adzmax]

Hi all, just a quick question regarding an APA I attempted about 4 weeks ago. By all means this stuff up could be my fault (and I'm sure it is) but I've got real grassy flavor in my APA. The initial taste is quite nice but there is a very strong grass/dirt aftertaste (when I say dirt I mean a similar aftertaste to Carlton Draught, this may be the bitterness in the hops?)

I tried a search but didn't come up with any good info. I did read that it may be to do with lower Alpha Acid hops or hop addition quantities/times but I'm just looking for some constructive criticism. I'm about to move to AG this w/e but I still like to know what went wrong so I can avoid future problems. Thanks in advance

Recipe was as follows -

10. (Ale) American Pale Ale using fresh wort kit

Brew date - 13/08/07 Bottle date – 30/08/07

Original Gravity – 1.056 Final Gravity – 1.011 6.7% Alcohol volume

• 1x Grape and Grain Artesianale fresh wort kit – type 2
• 30 grams Amarillo hops
• 30 grams Cascade hops
• 200 grams LDME


Final Volume – 21 litres

Temperature of wart when adding yeast – 19c

Brewing temperature – 17c

Yeast used – Wyeast liquid 1056 (American Ale)

Yeast notes - 1ltr starter (50g LDME) stepped up to 1.6ltr (50g LDME) over 48 hours then decanted to 1ltr for pitching

Brewing notes – Added 200 grams LDME to 2 liters water and brought to boil. Once boiling added 30 grams hops (50/50 mix) for 30 minutes then added another 30 grams (50/50 mix) with 5 minutes remaining. Once finished left to sit for 10 minutes and added 0.2 grams yeast nutrients. Added wort to fermentor then strained mini wort from hops into fermentor. Pitched yeast.

 

[PostModern]

Cascade hops, I reckon. Give it a couple more weeks.

 

[oldbugman]

Evil C hop!

 

[fraser_john]

Is it a dirty grassy after taste or a kind of lemony flavour?? Cascade definitely gives off a really distinct citrus flavour that is the basis of most American Pale Ales.

You might be just picking up those notes? Any chance of an infection having taken place?

 

[Adzmax]

Nope, it's not an infection. I'm a pretty big fan of the APA's so I'm reasonably familiar with the nose/taste, it's just my brew.....it's a little grassy

 

[reVoxAHB]

I did read that it may be to do with lower Alpha Acid hops or hop addition quantities/times but I'm just looking for some constructive criticism.

30 grams Amarillo hops
30 grams Cascade hops

So your total boil time was 30 mins? and hopping schedule:
15g Amarillo /15g Cascade 30 mins
15g Amarillo /15g Cascade 5 mins/10 rest ?

My guess, along with what you've read, is your first addition hops were a bit high. It sounds like you have a handle on hopping, but just in case: first addition hops are for bittering, mid addition hops are flavour, finishing hops aroma.

Based on your quantities (target IBU? bjcp APA puts this@ 30-45+) I would've done at least a 60m boil and something along the line of:
5g Amarillo /5g Cascade 60 mins
10g Amarillo /10g Cascade 30 mins
15g Amarillo /15g Cascade 5 mins or flame out

Or, it could very well be the combination of Cas/Amarillo. Next time around I might suggest one or the other, and BSaaz for aromatic.

Or Amarillo bittering, Cascade finishing only if you like that combination.
my 2c worth. others may disagree.

The good news, as others have pointed out, if you let it mature some of that grassy character should fade.

I also noticed your Final Gravity is 6.7% which is high for APA. You would be more in the AIPA category at 6.7% but who's complaining, right?

Oh, and do you blow-off your beers in primary? That would help to expel excessively bitter hop resins that could be contributing to the grassy taste.

reVox

 

[Adzmax]

Thanks for that info reVox, very helpful!

Yes you are right, that was my schedule.

My hopping schedule was a bit of guess work but the good news I've moved to Pro Mash now (and can I just say that the software rocks!).

I have a good understanding of the effect hopping has at different times eg. Bittering, Flavor and Aroma but the quantities to be used at these times are sill a bit fuzzy to me. I'm guessing Pro Mash can also help with this?

I'm not familiar with "blow-off" sorry. Can you explain a little? Thanks for your help!

 

[tangent]

is it kegged?
if it's in a cold keg, it'll turn remarkable in 2 weeks.

 

[reVoxAHB]

Thanks for that info reVox, very helpful!

Yes you are right, that was my schedule.

My hopping schedule was a bit of guess work but the good news I've moved to Pro Mash now (and can I just say that the software rocks!).

I have a good understanding of the effect hopping has at different times eg. Bittering, Flavor and Aroma but the quantities to be used at these times are sill a bit fuzzy to me. I'm guessing Pro Mash can also help with this?

I'm not familiar with "blow-off" sorry. Can you explain a little? Thanks for your help!

Yeah man, ProMash does rock and I know it very much helped me to get an grip on recipe formulation in regard to hitting target IBU's based on AA%, and more. You'll notice if you change the boil time, for example, on any given hop within a recipe, it will alter the Total IBU's accordingly. Same applies to grams used, etc.

Blow off is a method where you attach a tube to the top of your fermenter (in place of airlock) and submerge the other end in a catch jar with 1L or so of water+iodophor or water+bleach. The idea to acheive airlock, while allowing the fermenting beer to purge itself of any undesirables, including excess yeast & hop resins. The result will be your producing a cleaner tasting, healthier (in theory) beer. I ferment in 23L glass carboys and generally (with target boil-off) fill to 22.5-23L (which leaves around 1L of headspace by estimate) and blowoff using the larger vinyl tubing@G&G. You'll generally find blow off happens in the first 24-28 hours of pitching, depending on health of yeast, strain and wort.

After the blow-off phase is complete, you can swap back to standard airlock.

Hope helps,

reVox

 

[reVoxAHB]

Oh, and a longer boil time and strong rolling boil will better allow for isomerization of your hops, tho that's a whole different kettle of fish and not directly related to a grassy after-taste, per se.

reVox

 

[Adzmax]

Tangent - Nope not kegged, it's my last bottled batch. Just picked up some new kegs

reVox - Thanks for that info, Very helpful!