Huge aroma/flavor loss

[TJC]

Hi All,

Just wanted to post an issue I had with my IPA on the most recent batch and see if anyone has any insight.
The beer is a pretty straight forward beer: 15 P, 60 ibu, 6 srm, hopped with a little over 1 lb/bbl in kettle with 75% going in last 10 min, dry hopped with about 1.3 lb/bbl 3 days @68 then crashed to 34 for 3 days. Hops are CTZ, F.F., Simcoe, and Cascade.

I know my hopping rate is pretty low compared to most, but I've been steadily increasing the late additions since starting at this new brewery. I don't get a great WP so I've been trying to take baby steps to find out its threshold. Anyway, the last batch I was most happy with just after transferring. Big citrus hop aroma and flavor, with a decent amount of bitterness and just enough malt to support it (pale, wheat malt, c-60, and flaked wheat). Well after sitting in the serving tank for two weeks, the beer has dropped clear and with it lost a huge amount of aroma and flavor. This is the first time I've ever experienced this amount of fading, much less this quickly. Nothing else in my process changed (tank cip, SV sani, purge etc). I'm not picking up any oxidation or signs of infections and my lines are clean. Any ideas? Its really got me stumped and took the wind out of my sails.

Any input appreciated.

Thanks!

[beerguy1]

Couple of thoughts, oxidized hops that have lost some of the aroma,not sure how you dry hop but we take the PRV off and go thru there. I always turn the CO2 on just a little so its very lightly blowing out the PRV opening to stop any O2 from getting in. What about carbonating we try not to blow any CO2 off as this will quickly scrub aroma. Did you transfer into a warmed serving tank that will also buble out aroma.

Just a few things to think about. If nothing changed I would lean toward bad hops

[TJC]

Dry hop through PRV but no positive pressure with c02. That never seemed to be an issue. Hops aren't the freshest that is for sure. One difference in this batch was I added CTZ bought through Country Malt in the DH but they were from a new bag. I did have to aggressively carbonate this batch through the stone as I did not have time for it to absorb naturally in the FV. This tank has an old carbstone that is alot smaller the newer ones I've been replacing them with. It does seem to create alot more "big" bubbles during carbonation that causes alot of foaming in the serving tank. I do vent some but not the entire time like some do. This might be the culprit but I didn't think because after carbing it tasted great. Guess its time to replace that stone and see if it helps.

[tjc27]

Try dropping the temp to 60F prior to dry hop to drop out as much yeast as possible. Let the temp come back up to 68 F while dry hopping. The yeast dropping will actually take hops compounds with it so try to drop as much as possible prior to adding hops. That may explain why after 2 weeks it loses aroma and flavor.

[Junkyard]

agree with above, yeast and proteins in suspension will become coated with hop oils during dry hopping, when they fall out of suspension so does your flavor. I think that's part of the reason why were seeing this resurgence in cloudy IPA's on the east coast. I'm sure the end goal for you is to have a clear IPA, so try crashing the yeast and protein out first and then dry hopping. making sure your at around 50-60 degrees while dry hopping

[jebzter]

Have you been serving from the tank as well during this time? One of the big issues with serving tanks and aromatic IPA's is that as the head space increases, the concentration of the volatile compounds decreases which causes more of the aroma to leave the beer and enter the head space. If you can't kill the tank in two weeks or less, I would recommend serving from kegs. You will find that your aromas last longer that way.

[TJC]

thanks for the replies everyone. Pretty much each situation applies (dry hopping while still cloudy, serving tanks, and considerably noticeable difference when beer dropped clear). If time allows I'll try letting the beer clear as much as I can before dry hopping.

Thanks!