Losing hop flavour after time.

[Beer soup]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience or an explanation.

I brewed a Mangrove Jack American IPA with dry hops. No issues with the brew, and added it to my pressure barrel and waited a couple of weeks for secondary.

First taste was lovely and had a great hoppy flavour, and continued to do so for about a week.

But after that the hoppy flavour seemed to go, and it tasted a bit bland.

Anyone have anything similar happen, or did my tongue just adjust to the flavour? Not had this with a brew before.

 

[The Baron]

Standard with a lot of hoppy beers they need to be drunk young or the hoppiness dissipates with time so you have done nothing wrong. It is a sufferance of hoppy beers

 

[Beer soup]

Thank you. Guess I'll just have to drink it all within a week next time then.

 

[The Baron]

Each beer will be slightly better at lasting I have some hoppy beers that have lost a little in the first 3/4 weeks but then kept the rest of the hoppiness for a while after that. I think it depends on how hoppy you like them if you are a severe hophead in other words if you make extreme hoppy beers with loads of hops in you will notice the drop off of taste more than most and that can be because you have burnt your taste receptors(the more hoppiness you want the more you will need it becomes never ending).
Good luck
Ps you could try adding hop oils into each pint you pull to add some fresh hoppiness they come in small bottles for this purpose. I have tried them the only fault is IMO they do not taste like the hops they are meant to but it could be a halfway house to help the issue if you really need that hop buzz

 

[NotSure]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had a similar experience or an explanation.

I brewed a Mangrove Jack American IPA with dry hops. No issues with the brew, and added it to my pressure barrel and waited a couple of weeks for secondary.

First taste was lovely and had a great hoppy flavour, and continued to do so for about a week.

But after that the hoppy flavour seemed to go, and it tasted a bit bland.

Anyone have anything similar happen, or did my tongue just adjust to the flavour? Not had this with a brew before.

Since it's from a kit, I'm guessing one of the reasons for the disappearing hoppiness is that the hops have sat in a box for a while since they were originally dried. My suggestion is to move on from kits to making your own recipes and using fresher hops. There are a lot of smart and experienced people on this forum to help.

 

[Sandimas]

I've noticed this too. I don't make that many hoppy brews but do the occasional IPA and don't drink them very quick, the last bottles have usually lost most of the hoppiness.

How do commercial brewers get round this? They have no idea how long bottles will be left on supermarket shelves.

 

[NotSure]

I've noticed this too. I don't make that many hoppy brews but do the occasional IPA and don't drink them very quick, the last bottles have usually lost most of the hoppiness.

How do commercial brewers get round this? They have no idea how long bottles will be left on supermarket shelves.

They don't use kits! However, I'm sure they know that hop bitterness will wear off in time.

 

[Hanglow]

It's mainly oxidation. Unless you are doing O2 free transfers, not leaving you beer in a bucket for more than is necessary, and also spunding/minimising O2 during bottling, your beers will lose a lot of hop aroma and flavour very quickly unfortunately.


Good breweries should be employing professional brewers with the appropriate kit to make beers that are not oxidised. A lot of them don't unfortunately and the vast majority of homebrews don't either

 

[Beer soup]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to experiment with the differences in flavour degradation between bottles, keg and barrel to see which holds it longest.

Basically just an excuse to brew more, but in the name of science. Haha.

 

[NotSure]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to experiment with the differences in flavour degradation between bottles, keg and barrel to see which holds it longest.

Basically just an excuse to brew more, but in the name of science. Haha.

Always a good excuse!

 

[AlBrew]

Have you had a Covid test? (half joke/half serious!)

 

[The Baron]

Have you had a Covid test? (half joke/half serious!)

Tis Possible

 

[Beer soup]

Tis Possible

Ha, yes I have, but not in a while. No other symptoms so I don't think its that.

 

[dwhite60]

You could try adding some potassium metabisulphite before bottling. I've read a campden tablet in 19 liters will help preserve the hop flavor. It acts as an anti-oxidant.

Dissolve the tablet in some water then add before bottling or putting in your pressure barrel. If bottling you can use a syringe and hit each bottle before filling.