I recently made the Oakland Explosion Double IPA from the Brewing TV episode on Double IPA’s, and I slightly messed up the 15 min addition by adding at 20 min. The beer used columbus for bittering and flavor, and centennial and simcoe for flavor and aroma. This was my first time using columbus and more than one oz. of simcoe. After kegging the beer, it had a strong sulfury smell and spicy, metallic bitterness taste. The sulfury aroma was more powerful than the double dry-hop technique I used based on the recipe. It has sinced mellowed but is still detectable in the aroma and flavor.
Recently I was reading Mitch Steele’s Brewing IPA’s book and he mentioned Columbus hops can get sulfury.
I would like to use columbus hops again but now I am worried about ruining another batch. Would using them solely as a bittering addition help avoid the sulfury taste?
[quote=“Shenanigans”]I recently made the Oakland Explosion Double IPA from the Brewing TV episode on Double IPA’s, and I slightly messed up the 15 min addition by adding at 20 min. The beer used columbus for bittering and flavor, and centennial and simcoe for flavor and aroma. This was my first time using columbus and more than one oz. of simcoe. After kegging the beer, it had a strong sulfury smell and spicy, metallic bitterness taste. The sulfury aroma was more powerful than the double dry-hop technique I used based on the recipe. It has sinced mellowed but is still detectable in the aroma and flavor.
Recently I was reading Mitch Steele’s Brewing IPA’s book and he mentioned Columbus hops can get sulfury.
I would like to use columbus hops again but now I am worried about ruining another batch. Would using them solely as a bittering addition help avoid the sulfury taste?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated; thanks![/quote]
I luuuurve using CTZ as a FWH and/or mash hop addition in big IPAs. I really love the SLIGHTLY dank/onion/weed (I think it’s referred to as an ‘elian’ character?) aroma that comes from the hop, but only at those intervals, maybe as well as a late, late or dry hop addition.
I tend to use clean bittering (magnum or warrior) @ 60, haven’t had a flavor like you are describing.
Are you sure it couldn’t be from something else other than the hops?
Meh, I’m not a fan of CTZ. I don’t get sulfur but definitely metallic. Aroma is okay for me when blended but not my first choice. It’s just too dominant to me even at low levels, with something of a tongue-coating, rough bitterness.
Pietro, I am not positive exactly where the sulfur flavor/aroma came from but simcoe and columbus were the only ingredients I used which I had not used before. I am just trying to figure out where it may have come from to avoid it in the future. Perhaps it was not from the columbus hops…
I did add gypsum to increase my water profile to 118ppm of sulfate and I recently found out my chloride levels are really low, so maybe it was just a strong water imbalance which created a stronger harsh bitterness flavor.
[quote=“Shenanigans”]Pietro, I am not positive exactly where the sulfur flavor/aroma came from but simcoe and columbus were the only ingredients I used which I had not used before. I am just trying to figure out where it may have come from to avoid it in the future. Perhaps it was not from the columbus hops…
I did add gypsum to increase my water profile to 118ppm of sulfate and I recently found out my chloride levels are really low, so maybe it was just a strong water imbalance which created a stronger harsh bitterness flavor.
Thanks to all for the information; much obliged![/quote]
hmm. I’m stumped, but admittedly not much of a water expert. My entire brewing life has been spent in an area with pretty balanced water, so I’m only just starting to pay attention to it.
How about your yeast? 1st gen? 2nd gen? starter? stored in fridge?
The yeast was rinsed, second generation 1056 which was only stored in my fridge for under two weeks which I put into a starter. At least I have not noticed the flavor in any other batch so I will have to give columbus hops another try because it seems many people have great success with these hops, and no issues.
To me, a sulfury smell (i.e., H2S) almost always points to yeast. Some hops can definitely give an onion/garlic flavor/aroma, and CTZ is supposedly one of these (never noticed it myself), but this is a bit different. Maybe to some the aromas are close enough to be confused with each other, but I find them to be distinctly different.
H2S is volatile and will condition out with time, especially at warmer temps. The onion/garlic/parmesan flavor/aroma doesn’t generally condition out. Supposedly, contact with copper will help pull both of these compounds out of solution.
