Can't make a hoppy beer

[Blinky]

I have been trying for ages to make a real hoppy pale ale type of thing, last time I thought I would go with one of the brewdog recipes, 5am Saint, since I love the real thing...
It's got over 200g of dry hop in it for 7 days in the 20l batch, it's still young, only been in the fridge after carbing up for a couple of days but I really expected it to be hitting you in the face hoppy with that much but nope! Do the hop flavours take time to come through?
Recipe: https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/471345/5am-sinner
I have checked every part of my brewing, our water is pretty much pure on checking the local report, I'm just outside Edinburgh in Scotland. I add 2 teaspoons of burton salts to the mash water, check my Ph, it was 5.6. I have replaced my plastic fermenters, tried to really minimise any splashing etc when bottling but still.......
I have Punk IPA in the brew fridge, going to bottle this today, been dry hopping for 6 days at 20 degrees. This time I am not cold crashing in case that is dropping out the hop oils? I just don't know what else to change and feel with 200 odd grans of dry hop I should get something that's pretty darn hoppy!!
Any ideas?

 

[Martybhoy]

Are you using good hops? 2016 crop?

Also, how do you store them and where do you buy them from?

With 200g dry hops, plus whatever you had in the boil, you should definitely smell and taste hops.

Are you possibly drinking too cold? I find that can kill flavour sometimes. I usually let my bottles sit at room temp for 20 mins or so before opening.

Haven't had 5am Saint for a while, but never saw it as a hop bomb. Could you post the recipe?

 

[chuffer]

Agree with the post above about the dry hop amounts, they seem pretty good and aroma should come out. Re flavour, perhaps add more to your 10- flameout timeframe and ditch the 15mins. There's plenty of posts on here about making a hop tea (at 65oC) too which you may wish to try

 

[Blinky]

The recipe is on the first post, I got it from diy dog pdf. The hops are 2016 pellet and most were straight out of a new packet from crossmyloof brewing who seem to get good reviews. Do you think it maybe needs a bit more time for the beer to mature?

 

[MyQul]

I've never had a brewdog beer but as Martyboy say I think 5am saint may be one of the more tamer brews. Next time try one of the Punk IPA recipes as I think this may be more towards what your looking for

 

[chuffer]

The recipe is on the first post, I got it from diy dog pdf. The hops are 2016 pellet and most were straight out of a new packet from crossmyloof brewing who seem to get good reviews. Do you think it maybe needs a bit more time for the beer to mature?

If anything, the hoppy punch tends to diminish with time

 

[chuffer]

I've never had a brewdog beer

Really? You never been tempted to see what all the fuss is about?

The Elvis juice and the jet black heart are worth trying if you happen to pass some on a supermarket shelf

 

[MyQul]

Really? You never been tempted to see what all the fuss is about?

The Elvis juice and the jet black heart are worth trying if you happen to pass some on a supermarket shelf

Not really. Basically because I'm too tight. I'm not keen on buying beer when I know I can make it for a few pence and am doubly tight at the thought of buyng a 330ml bottle of beer for the same price as a 500ml bottle of beer

 

[Blinky]

That's what I thought! So how is it not hitting me in the face? Cannot see where I am going wrong. Punk is getting bottled today so will see how that goes

 

[chuffer]

Not really. Basically because I'm too tight. I'm not keen on buying beer when I know I can make it for a few pence and am doubly tight at the thought of buyng a 330ml bottle of beer for the same price as a 500ml bottle of beer

Understand, my problem is that I'm not tight enough. This home brew malarkey was supposed to stop me buying beer but I still do, so there's no real cost savings at the moment, probably the opposite!

 

[MyQul]

Understand, my problem is that I'm not tight enough. This home brew malarkey was supposed to stop me buying beer but I still do, so there's no real cost savings at the moment, probably the opposite!

Nothing wrong with a bit of research :lol:

 

[DoctorMick]

Understand, my problem is that I'm not tight enough. This home brew malarkey was supposed to stop me buying beer but I still do, so there's no real cost savings at the moment, probably the opposite!

I'm exactly the same, brewing got me much more interested in beer so I buy less beer than I used to but the stuff I buy tends to be quite a bit more expensive.

 

[MickDundee]

I'm exactly the same, brewing got me much more interested in beer so I buy less beer than I used to but the stuff I buy tends to be quite a bit more expensive.

Same here. I tend to buy things I haven't tried before, or a style I'm planning on brewing soon, rather than the same beers I know I like a lot as I did pre-Homebrew

 

[Covrich]

Yeast choice isn't ideal if you want a hop punch in the face

Try US05 or MJ44, these are hop forward yeasts

 

[BeerCat]

Are you using leaf or pellets? I found dry hopping with loads of leaf did not do that much apart from soak up a ton of beer. I use pellets now and its in your face. Dunno about burton salts but if your water is pure you should be adding gypsum for hoppy beers. Check this thread out its excellent > http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64822
Also you could try making a hop tea before bottling.

 

[Dads_Ale]

What was your dry hopping method. Direct in FV or did you use a bag/metal ball etc.

 

[Blinky]

I'm using pellets and I placed the whole lot into my biab bag along with a bag of marbles to weight it down.

 

[Dads_Ale]

I'm using pellets and I placed the whole lot into my biab bag along with a bag of marbles to weight it down.

The thing I have found is that when contained they clump together and the ones in the middle are still pretty dry meaning much less utilisation than expected.

I am currently experimenting with some high hop APAs and have noticed from the latest recipe that they put 99% of the hops in at flame out and whirlpool the wort for about 40 mins (plus dry hop at 2 days and 4 days fermentation). Will be giving this a go next week to see how it turns out.

 

[trueblue]

I would look at your water treatment. For a hoppy beer you need a sulphate/chloride ratio of 3:1 really. Using Burton salts may help with alkalinty but won't really help customize your water for a specific style.

 

[chuffer]

I would look at your water treatment. For a hoppy beer you need a sulphate/chloride ratio of 1:3 really. Using Burton salts may help with alkalinty but won't really help customize your water for a specific style.

Am I reading that wrong ? 3:1 surely? Anyhoo, presume you mean that your water needs more sulphates than chloride?