I brewed my very first batch of Chinook IPA about 5 weeks ago. Christmas Eve will be 6 weeks total and 3 weeks in the bottles. I was going to wait until then but just couldn’t. Popped one last Saturday and I was very satisfied but wondering if time will change the taste a little. Very pretty color and nice cream colored head but the taste is a little bland. Has the bitterness I was wanting but not a real distinct taste. Kinda thinking Coors light with some bitterness. Could this be because I need to let it sit longer or could it possibly be that it is just a lower ABV than I have been drinking lately. It is good and will be consumed. Any thoughts?
Another week or two should give you the very distinctive flavor of the Chinook hops. I brew this one often. It is one of my favorite single hop IPAs.
Looks like you’re drinking it from a frosted glass. Nothing kills flavor and aroma better than drinking it too cold, and a frozen glass really chills it down more than you want. That might be a big factor why you’re only getting bitterness from it. With something that has a lot of hop or malt flavor, I prefer to drink them around cellar temperature, like 45-50°F. Save the frosted glass for macro lager, which you don’t really want to taste anyways. 
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Yes it is in a frosted mug. I am hoping that a little more time is the answer but I may try one this evening without the mug just because I want one anyway. Thanks
Let the frozen mug be saved for summer quaffing… 40-50 lets all the aroma and flavor out… There are also some tweaks the next time you brew that will improve this style… Sneezles61
Out in the shop my mind wandered to your question. The water used in brewing can impact flavors. What is the source of your brewing water? Any water treatment? What was your dry hop schedule?
Frank, we have an above average water supply. Community water but I really don’t know what kind of treatment. Dry hop was per instructions and from comments here on forum. 2 weeks in fermintor then add 1 oz of Hops and then bottled in 7 days. So total of 21 days in fermintor and then just over 2 weeks in bottles.
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Dry hop schedule is about the same as I do for an IPA.
Your water could be a problem though. All municipal water is treated with chlorine or chloramines to prevent bacterial growth in the supply lines. This water treatment can give a malty beer a band aid flavor/aroma or just say an off flavor since I’ve never chewed on a band aid. In an IPA the off flavor can be masked by the hops but not letting the hop flavor shine through when tasting.
Municipal water can be treated with a Campden tablet to remove chlorine and chloramines. One-quarter tablet will treat 5 gallons of water. The SO4 produced will clear the water within a minute of being dissolved.
Thanks again I will see what I can come up.with and report back.
Well I does seem to have more flavor when put in a glass straight out of the cabinet. It also seems to be better now that it has been in the bottle three whole weeks. I am brewing grapefruit pulpin today and looking forward to the taste test but it looks like I will be out of the Chinook before it’s ready. Guess I need to start brewing sooner. Bought a BMB with this kit so I can secondary and start a new one sooner. On a good note I now have what I believe will be enough bottles for a while. Thanks again for the help.
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I have the Chinook IPA (extract) on tap now. It’s a solid IPA; I prefer Dead Ringer, especially when I brew it all-grain. But I would definitely get this again if it were on sale. I think mine may be suffering from being not totally fresh extract; I got the kit during the IPA Day sale.
Wasn’t that like in August… 15?? That should be a reminder on the iPhone calendar!!! Sneezles61
It was August 3, I had to look it up. 6 different extract kits were on sale for $20 each + yeast. The catch was you had to buy 3 kits; i got 4.
Now while I love IPAs, I can’t brew JUST IPA’s so they had to get weaved into the schedule.
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You mentioned some tweaks for the Chinook IPA. I brewed the grapefruit pulpin for my wife after doing the Chinook because she wanted a pronounced grapefruit taste. She didn’t care for the grapefruit pulpin. I just received 2 Chinook kits today and am thinking about adding some grapefruit zest to one of them for her. Any thoughts on this and what were some of the tweaks you were referring to. I was wanting a more distinct taste on the first one. Thanks for the help
Let me ask, extract or all grain? I’ll go look at the kit(s) to see what they’ve to offer… Then we’ll talk tweaks. Sneezles61
Extract
Thanks for the help. I need to get to bed for now. Let me know if you come up with anything and we can talk tomorrow. Thanks again.
The extract has a pilsner base, while the all grain has a 2 row base. I’m not sure the 1/2 oz hops at 10 minutes and 1 minute are doing anything… So, I haven’t done an extract for… 16 years… I would get caramunich, 1/2 pound, crushed… While you are getting stuff set up, steep that in a gallon of water at 156… watch your temp… thats very important… This will be used to the tail end of the boil, so be sure to use less water with the base… We’ll discuss hops tomorrow… 4:30 am comes early for me too. Sneezles61
I brew the Chinook fairly often. I would suggest brewing the first one as is then deciding if it needs more grape fruit. I think you will be surprised by the dominance of grapefruit flavor and aroma from the Chinook hops.
You can add grape fruit zest to the primary after three days of dry hopping if you think it is still lacking.
Thanks Frank. I brewed Chinook as.my first brew back in November. Don’t get me wrong I liked it and all was consumed. Wife asked for one with a little more grapefruit taste so I did the grapefruit pulpin. She didn’t care for that. Said it had an after taste. She asked if the Chinook could be made with a.little zest so I ordered 2 thinking do one buy the book and add zest to the other to compare. Then I saw the other reply about tweaks and got to wonder about that.
