Hop Aroma fade, any solutions?

[SteveH]

I stopped brewing heavily hopped IPAs for a while, since I had some bad experiences with the dreaded oxidation after a couple of weeks in the keg.

I made some changes to my process to improve that (ferment in a corny keg, purge when adding dry hop, push sanitizer out of dispense keg with Co2 to purge, closed transfer), so decided to try again.

Last two batches were heavily hopped IPA/DIPA, and the aroma was good for about a week in the keg, but now it's gone - taste is still good but hardly any of the aroma which was evident initially

I know hops fade fast, etc - but does anyone have any suggestions on how to preserve the aroma for a little longer?

I'm wondering if using one of the hop-aroma enzyme products or dry-hopping with hop oil instead of pellets would help?

 

[Didge]

I can't comment on the various hop aroma products but I'm curious to read other members experiences.

In terms of the dry hopping, have you tried adding the dry hops to your kegs and leaving them in there?

Hundreds of years ago the original IPA's were sailed half way around the world in wooden barrels containing hops, although I'm not quite old enough to remember if the beer tasted grassy.

Failing that, I would suggest drinking faster

 

[Clint]

I'm no expert on such stuff but in my limited experience I have found flame out additions working better...or like said drink faster or brew smaller batches...I bet you could shift 15 litres in a couple of weeks.

 

[Galena]

I gather you can add hop tea to re-invigorate if the hop aroma is fading

 

[Braufather]

I stopped brewing heavily hopped IPAs for a while, since I had some bad experiences with the dreaded oxidation after a couple of weeks in the keg.

I made some changes to my process to improve that (ferment in a corny keg, purge when adding dry hop, push sanitizer out of dispense keg with Co2 to purge, closed transfer), so decided to try again.

Last two batches were heavily hopped IPA/DIPA, and the aroma was good for about a week in the keg, but now it's gone - taste is still good but hardly any of the aroma which was evident initially

I know hops fade fast, etc - but does anyone have any suggestions on how to preserve the aroma for a little longer?

I'm wondering if using one of the hop-aroma enzyme products or dry-hopping with hop oil instead of pellets would help?

whst was you dry hop schedule? I’ve had similar issue myself and go in cycles of dry hopping all brews then Dry hopping nothing. I used to dryhop towards end of after 3 weeks in primary thinking the later the better, but now I’m trying dry hopping after 6 days For 3 days and kegging earlier. Then letting the keg sit at room temps for a few days to finish conditioning.

 

[SteveH]

whst was you dry hop schedule? I’ve had similar issue myself and go in cycles of dry hopping all brews then Dry hopping nothing. I used to dryhop towards end of after 3 weeks in primary thinking the later the better, but now I’m trying dry hopping after 6 days For 3 days and kegging earlier. Then letting the keg sit at room temps for a few days to finish conditioning.

First batch was a Heady Topper clone with lots of whirlpool hops, fermented for 2 weeks then dry-hopped with 100g of T90 pellets cool (outdoors ambient) for 4 days - this was without any pressure/spunding.

Second batch was a similar recipe but with a bigger 200g dry hop after 10 days, this was at fermentation temperature and left for 6 days since it'd not quite hit FG (didn't take a sample until dry-hopping) - I spunded this at 15psi after the dry hop for the remaining 3-4 points in an attempt to maintain aroma.

In both cases the aroma was great initially, but faded after about a week

 

[SteveH]

I'm no expert on such stuff but in my limited experience I have found flame out additions working better...or like said drink faster or brew smaller batches...I bet you could shift 15 litres in a couple of weeks.

Have we met?

But yeah, after starting to ferment in a keg the batch size is already reduced to about 16 litres, I probably can shift that in 2-3 weeks (particularly with some help from friends), but the aroma seems to be pretty much gone in more like 7-10 days despite huge whirlpool and dry hop additions.

 

[SteveH]

In terms of the dry hopping, have you tried adding the dry hops to your kegs and leaving them in there?

I've not yet tried this, mainly because I've been purging the dispense keg by pushing sanitizer out - I've not yet figured out a way to add hops to the keg while also being sure it's completely purged of o2.

 

[Moe]

I have found with mine the aroma fades fast, but big flameout additions mean it keeps the juicy flavour for the whole keg.

My last IPA I made smelled like fruit juice coming out of the fermentor, and had a great fruity aroma at first but then it was massively muted after a week in the keg.

I have also found that serving temperature has made a huge difference to the flavour of my IPAs. I was originally drinking them very cold and the flavour was quite bland. I turned the kegerator up a couple of degrees and the difference in flavour was night and day (on the same keg)

 

[Braufather]

I have also found that serving temperature has made a huge difference to the flavour of my IPAs. I was originally drinking them very cold and the flavour was quite bland. I turned the kegerator up a couple of degrees and the difference in flavour was night and day (on the same keg)

ive just recently had the same epiphany! Was set at around 4c hitorically but 7 or 8c really hits the sweet spot.

 

[Braufather]

First batch was a Heady Topper clone with lots of whirlpool hops, fermented for 2 weeks then dry-hopped with 100g of T90 pellets cool (outdoors ambient) for 4 days - this was without any pressure/spunding.

Second batch was a similar recipe but with a bigger 200g dry hop after 10 days, this was at fermentation temperature and left for 6 days since it'd not quite hit FG (didn't take a sample until dry-hopping) - I spunded this at 15psi after the dry hop for the remaining 3-4 points in an attempt to maintain aroma.

In both cases the aroma was great initially, but faded after about a week

im hoping someone has the answers too. Will follow with interest!

 

[Galena]

Which is why a beer often tastes better towards the end of the glass

 

[Didge]

I believe human taste buds are most sensitive to flavours at 12 degrees celcius, and surprisingly, drinking from a curved glass also increases the apparent fruitiness of a drink.