I made a bells hopslam clone a couple of weeks ago. Tried a sample today and the flavor is pretty good but there is a strong rubbing alcohol smell. This is a problem that seems to pop up in a lot of my high gravity beers.
Here is the recipe:
14 pounds Marris Otter
1.5 pounds munich
1 pound aromatic
2 pounds honey
OG 1.092
Very long hop schedule… blah blah blah
I used WLP002. The recipe called for WLP001 but after two years of all grain brewing I have yet to make a great IIPA, and I decided to change the yeast I was using and see if that helped. I have a fermentation chamber and the temp on the fermometer was kept at 64-66 for the first five days. After that the krausen fell back into the beer and I let the temp on the fermometer raise to 68, where it has been sitting for the past 9 days. The sample was cloudy, and I am hoping that is a good sign since WLP002 is supposed to be high flocculating, maybe that means there is still plenty of yeast left in suspension to clean up the rubbing alcohol smell.
It still surprises me though that I read so many posts from experienced brewers saying that they can drink their IPA’s fresh right at FG. And even with a fermentation chamber I have issues.
Thoughts…Opinions?
Thanks
