'Greeny' hop taste

[ssashton]

I brewed 'Conflux' and just opened a bottle after 2 weeks conditioning (a little short, I know).

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/unity-brewing-co-conflux-pale-ale-includes-2-cans-of-beer/

It tastes and smells great :) This beer has about 200g of dry hop pellets in a 20L batch which I think is a lot.

If I could improve one thing I would like to reduce the slight after taste of green grass that comes from raw hops.

When added dry hops I split the 200g pellets across two hop socks. I know one sock can only hold about 100g before it gets kinda tight. As I wanted to get the most from the dry hops I also gave the FV a rock every 12 hours over the 48hr dry hop time. After the 48hr I pulled the socks, cold crashed and transferred. When I cleaned the FV I could clearly see some green hop powder in the trub which means it escaped the hop sock.

So I guess I want to ask two questions from you all!

Do you think it is a bad idea to rock the FV when dry hopping?
Would using whole hops reduce the green hop taste that gets left after removing the hop sock (because it's not a fine powder)?

 

[Arrakus]

One downside of using whole hops for dry hopping is that you’ll need to use more to get the same taste/aroma result that you get from pellets. They‘ll soak up more of the beer, so you’ll have less final product.

I often do a Two Hearted clone and use upto 200g for dry hopping, it occasionally tastes green. I tend to leave it an extra week before drinking, my taste buds tell me the grassy notes are far less. The wait time is a balance though - left too long and you’ll lose the oomph the dry hops provide. Maybe drop 50g off the dry hops amount next time?

I would never rock the fermenter, I’m no scientist but the idea of disturbing that true doesn’t feel right.

 

[ssashton]

Thanks for your considered reply! I had actually thought pellets would soak more beer because surface area, so that's a useful bit of information for me.

I wondered about adding some fining agent like gelatin. I'll see if I can 'Inject' it to the keg. (The bottle was overflow).

Another option I thought is next time I could replace maybe half of the Citra dry hop pellets with 'spectrum' hop extract. I'm not really sure how similar the result will be.

 

[Arrakus]

I’ve never used extract, would be interesting to see how it works out. I either brew bitters or pale/ipa styles with lots of dry hopping. Think I’ll get some extract for the next brew!

 

[AJA]

Just give it another week. I find the green taste usually fades in a week, occasionally can take more.
Take Verdant Putty for example. Hot off the press it's hot and grassy/oniony. A few weeks later it's more balanced.
Other question, is there any hop detritus in your glass?

 

[AJA]

Thanks for your considered reply! I had actually thought pellets would soak more beer because surface area, so that's a useful bit of information for me.

I wondered about adding some fining agent like gelatin. I'll see if I can 'Inject' it to the keg. (The bottle was overflow).

Another option I thought is next time I could replace maybe half of the Citra dry hop pellets with 'spectrum' hop extract. I'm not really sure how similar the result will be.

Spectrum adds a ton of aroma, but less flavour than the 'equivalent' amount of T90 pellets in my short experience of using it

 

[ssashton]

I’ve never used extract, would be interesting to see how it works out. I either brew bitters or pale/ipa styles with lots of dry hopping. Think I’ll get some extract for the next brew!

I actually enjoy adding a small dab (end of a chopstick) to cheap lagers. Recommended just for that! I'm unsure how much difference there is between 'Spectrum' hop extract and more pure hop aroma oils.

 

[ssashton]

Just give it another week. I find the green taste usually fades in a week, occasionally can take more.
Take Verdant Putty for example. Hot off the press it's hot and grassy/oniony. A few weeks later it's more balanced.
Other question, is there any hop detritus in your glass?

You mean in the glass after drinking? Not that I noticed, but there was a small layer of trub in the bottle.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Just give it another week. I find the green taste usually fades in a week, occasionally can take more.

I don't do über hoppy beers like NEIPAs, and I'd never experienced the "grassy" flavours that people had reported... Until one late last year that had 100g of citra/Simcoe blend as a dry hop. Out of the fermenter and in the first test at +7 days, I got a very definite grassy flavour in the beer. At the +14 day stage (after bottling) it had completely gone.

Definitely agree with AJA and leave it a week (from my one single experience)

 

[hoppyscotty]

I would never rock the fermenter, I’m no scientist but the idea of disturbing that true doesn’t feel right.

Actually ‘rousing’ the hops is a good idea and beneficial for more hop extraction. It’s usually done by blowing co2 from the bottom to get any settled hops back into suspension. This is why I tend to dump trub before dry hopping. I try never to have beer, trub and hops occupying the same space at the same time. Mainly because I don’t want the trub to soak up any of the hoppy goodness that should be in the beer. I’ve chucked too many litres of lovely hoppy trub down the drain! Just a waste of money.

On my smaller system I transfer the beer to a purged keg containing the hops then I can swirl the keg a couple of times a day. On my larger system I dump the trub and soft crash to 15 degrees before dry hopping and rouse a couple of times with a blast of co2.

I limit contact time to 3 days, not because of ‘grassy flavour extraction’, but because after 3 days the hops are spent, then get the beer off the hops by transferring to a serving keg in the case of my smaller system, or dumping the hops in the case of my larger system then cold crash once off the hops.

I just prefer to separate processes wherever possible so only one thing is happening at any one time. I feel I’ve got more control over things that way and if there is a problem then I have half a chance to quickly isolate it to a single process.

 

[Braufather]

Thanks for your considered reply! I had actually thought pellets would soak more beer because surface area, so that's a useful bit of information for me.

I wondered about adding some fining agent like gelatin. I'll see if I can 'Inject' it to the keg. (The bottle was overflow).

Another option I thought is next time I could replace maybe half of the Citra dry hop pellets with 'spectrum' hop extract. I'm not really sure how similar the result will be.

You should try Lupomax hops. You only need just over half the amount so less vegetable matter.