NEWS: A Small Taste of SuperIPA…Say it Ain’t So
By General German on Mar 9, 2008 in Brew News
Guys: I am not sure what to make of this. I gave my IPA a taste just before bottling. It was both hoppy and reasonably bitter, almost to a point of harshness. Completely understandable–after all, this was a very young IPA.
Fast forward to last night. It’s been in the bottles for a week, and I began thinking about how the flavor is refining. My wife suggested I open one; after all, I have 50 left. Impatient as always, I quit brooding over the issue and stuck one in the fridge. A couple hours later, I opened it, and was delighted at the sound of gas escaping as I used my favorite wall-mounted bottle opener. It whispered to me, “Psst! I have bubbles!” as the cap came off. At least it carbonated, so I had surpassed the Sarge’s carbonation issue.
The good half of the story ends right about there.
The flavor moved from a bitter flavor to…indescribably bubbly-breadiness. The hops were barely detectable over the champagne-like bubbly texture and this odd bready flavor.
My brothers in brewing, I beg for both your help and intercessions (both holy and secular). Please help me answer these questions:
- Am I worrying unnecessarily? It’s been six days for a beer which takes 4-6 weeks of bottle conditioning.
- Could this entire batch of beer be bad? If the end of secondary fermentation (pre-bottling) tasted OK, presumably there would be enough alcohol in the brew at this point to kill off any other bacteria.
- Could just this bottle be off? Should I try another at the expense of careening deeper into listless worry?
- Why would the flavor change so much from the beginning of bottling to a week later? Have any of you experienced such a dramatic shift in flavor of a young brew?
Thanks for your help. Yours in Brewing,
Gen. German
I’m surprised that your beer is so fizzy after just six days. Could be bad news. Or it could just be zealous yeast. Bubbly-breadiness…what about the aroma? Any funkiness or sour aspects to it?
FWIW, 4-6 weeks is intolerably long for me to wait for any brew I’ve ever made. Once it’s fizzy, I’m digging in head first.
It could just be a problem with the one bottle. It depends on how rigorous your quality control standards are on cleaning and sanitizing your empty bottles.
Just try another bottle in a few days. It might be the same, or it might be different. I’ve made plenty of…um…unexpected tasting batches, and I normally get pretty used to them after a week or two of drinking them. After all, they are always essentially beer, and they always contain alcohol. But you might want to get another batch fermenting in case this one is not working for you.
Keith Brainard | Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
give it two weeks, cross your fingers and open three bottles. chances are you’ll be good, but i think that extra-breadiness is likely a result of a little bit too little bittering and or aroma hops as we discussed on the beerphone (cellphone…). ideally as the braus condition a bit more, and any live yeast eats up any left over malt or grain o be consumed, it’ll get better, but if not, Keith is right on. it’s still beer. live and learn and, hey! it’s beer!
Captain Beer | Mar 9, 2008 | Reply
Actually, I tried this again last night, and ANOTHER week makes a HUGE difference. Like night and day. It’s quite drinkable…the two things I would have changed (so far):
1) Reduce the Columbus Hops by a half ounce (recipe secret).
2) Dry hop with Simcoe and keep them in the fermenter for the entire duration of the fermentation. It hasn’t as much aroma as I would like.
Thanks, Keith and Cap’n, for your concern and prayers
General German | Mar 15, 2008 | Reply