IPA beers I brew taste great with good hop aroma and taste, but after being in the bottle 4-6 weeks the flavor profile changes. Loses a bunch of hop aroma and taste,two row base malt malt and sweet flavor take over. Using 90-95% base malt with a little car40 and carapils. Is this what oxidation does over time to a IPA?
How to prevent?? Don’t notice the big flavor/aroma shift on my dark beers or other ales. Thanks
Becoming sweeter and maltier could be a function of oxidation rather than just the the hop contributions fading. I brew two IPAs. The aroma emanating from the glass will fade first with both. The IPA with caramel 40 will also begin losing some of the bright hop flavor. The other with Cara 8 and a bit of caramel 120 keeps the flavor longer. Bitterness of both seems to last. This is over a period of 3 to 4 months. When this is happening in 4 to 6 weeks suggests it is oxidation. If the flavor starts changing to some sherry notes and then wet card board it is oxidation.
I brewed a simple pale ale. The last three bottles were oxidized by an accident with the bottling bucket. The oxidation changed the beer drastically but I liked the resulting taste. The beer was maltier and sweeter. Drank them right away before they became too bad enjoy.
I agree with @flars that oxidation is your most likely culprit. Your beer is being exposed to oxygen after fermentation. Most likely during a transfer, ie, primary to secondary, primary(or secondary) to bottling bucket, stirring in the bottling bucket or during the siphon while bottling.
Adding the dry hops could also add O2. IPA should be drank fresh. Even commercial IPA lose some flavor as they get older.
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We have some breweries around here that make awesome IPA’s and APA’s up here… If its been in a can, bottle or growler for a while… it sure seems to be mediocre… To me, the closer to the kettle, the better it is… And in that statement I’m talking time wise… not distance… O2 really helps it to change drastically too, and not for the better… There are ideas on the web that will help you reduce O2… Sneezles61
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Hop aroma fades. That’s just the way it is. Drink them and make more.
