Hi All, below will be bottled on Sunday, I’m looking for some feedback on my design. My goal was to make a simple yet tasty APA, not overly hoppy or bitter, but I wanted it’s presence known. I also wanted to create my own baseline for future home spun concoctions, a platform to build on. I checked my gravity yesterday and saved that bit of beer covered in the fridge for my return from work. The aroma is mildly earthy and very pleasant. The taste was crisp and clean and just enough hops to my liking, however it didn’t seem to pop in any particular fashion. Sort of boring and short of particular taste. No ‘wow’ factor, no sweetness. So what do I have here in your opinion and is there anything that can be added at this time to create that pop? I guess if I was looking for a baseline, I did manage to make one with an overwhelming round of indifference… Thanks, Mike
OG 1.055, current 1.011,
1 pound Briess Carmel 20L – steep 30min to 150deg.
3 pound NB Gold LME-60min
3 pound NB Gold LME-30min
1 pound Briess Golden Light DME-15min
1 ounce Liberty-60min
1 ounce Liberty-30min
1 ounce Liberty-15min
1 ounce Liberty-5min
WY American Ale II (1272)
WY Nutrient 15-min
Irish Moss 15-min
Boil Volume 3 gallon
Total Volume 5 gallon
Hopvilles profile on this was approx 5.6abv, 9srm, 55bu:gu
I have no suggestions on what you may or may not have added, but, wait until it has finished bottle conditioning to say that it is bland. A couple of mine have changed taste significantly between bottling day and after bottle conditioning.
You have time for a short dry-hop - could use something aggressive like Cascade or Centennial. Also, you could add a teaspoon of gypsum to your priming syrup (made with either corn or cane sugar, doesn’t matter) to make the hops “brighter”. Next time, you might want to use more than one type of hop to get some depth and you could move the 30-min addition to 20-min, then do a flameout and a dryhop to get more hop character.
Thanks Shadetree, I was hoping you might respond. I chose one hop variety in order to understand its flavor impact, again my goal was to generate sort of a baseline. Hop content seems to be pretty spot on for what I originally wanted. I’m simply looking for a nice even taste, like a Session etc. Will priming sugar actually ‘evolve’ the taste?
In my limited experience, I believe the gypsum would be to help soft water? My south Florida water is anything but soft. So I cannot see the bene anyway.
The sulfate in gypsum accentuates the hop character. You could also use Epsom salt, but you need to watch the sodium concentration if you do. They both are used to lower the pH in the mash, but the sulfate is what you want in the final beer.
