NE IPA - Primary and dry hopping

[gedburg101]

A few weeks ago I re breweed my NE IPA recipe.

My goal was to up the finished volume in the fermenter, improve the colour (it was a pretty grim grey brown colour) and smooth out the bitterness. I did the following;

- reduced the 60min hops from 40g magnum to 30.
- added an extra 5 litres of water, split between the strike water and sparge (this brought the gravity to 1050 compared to 1058 in my last attempt).
- In my first brew I was aiming for 19l in the FV. I got 14.5l but still dry hopped with 190g of hops. This time I dry hopped with 200g for 19l.
- I let the primary go for 10 days (dry hopping 100g on day 3 and 100g on 5) rather than 14 days.

All in all I'm really happy with the improvements. The colour is much more appealing and I'm not not too bothered about the drop in abv as it finished at 1010 (4ish abv)

What I have lost, is the aroma. The last batch was almost perfumed with galaxy and simcoe. This one is pleasant, but nearly as punchy.

So why? Is it quantity of hops? Duration of hops in the FV? Do lower abv beers have less aroma.

Going to brew once more to try and refine the recipe. Any imput would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[simon12]

Its definitely nothing to do with the ABV, it could be you added the dry hops to soon as if fermentation is still going when CO2 leaves by the airlock it takes aroma with it. This bit is a guess but maybe the less 60 min hops and the extra water lowered the bitterness which makes you perceive less aroma.

 

[6ToedCat]

Greetings, I would suggest never dry hopping in the primary fermentor vessel. Rack off beer after fermentation to a secondary vessel; place your hops in a clean mesh bag and place in the bottom of the secondary, rack from the primary ensuring the hops are soaked, place the lid on with an airlock for 5-10 days.. reduce temperature to help settle any yeast... bottle/keg as normal... if you're looking for a "west coast" IPA, bulk up on aromatic hops in the dry hopping. I recently completed an IPA with 170 g of dry hops .... very tasty ! Cheers

 

[6ToedCat]

A very nice west coast IPA (all grain):

 

[Razor]

A very nice west coast IPA (all grain):

Your first 2 pictures are broken.

 

[dan125]

For this style, as well as adding dry hops to the primary I'd save some back for a traditional dry hop just before packaging.
You might just need more as you've got a third more beer than last time, but only 10g more dry hops.

:

 

[gedburg101]

Yeah, good point. I thought it mught be the dry hop but it could be the whirlpool addition too! Second pair of eyes is always welcome...

I think I'll review and re brew...

Thanks for the insight too. I think I'm going to try and make a yeast starter this time too...

 

[markcc]

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