Totally Tropical, not, well tropical

[Stephenj]

Brewed up the James Morton recipe 2 weeks ago without any hicups or concerned. Was really careful with sanitation etc and it's been fermenting away at 20c in the freezer with inkbird and heater nicely. Loads of activity etc as expected. Dry hopped last Saturday.

I've left it well alone to do its thing other than dry hopping and checking inkbird probe still attached. took a gravity reading yesterday which was 1.017 which is still a canny way off the book suggested - thoughts?

2 things I've noticed that I am a bit concerned about and want some advice/assurance on if you can. The dry hop is floating across the top; I've always bagged dry hops previously but had pellets this time and no bag available so tossed them in after some internet research says it's generally OK as they sink - not on this they don't!

Second thing is with taste. The trial jar did not in any way taste tropical or 'lilt' like. it is rather bitter and I get no hop aroma or taste - is this normal after 2 weeks in FV? Second is that there is a definite eggy/sulfur taste and smell. Not massive, but certainly the main and prominent taste in the beer.

Cheers in advance everyone!

 

[The Baron]

Hi
what yeast did you use and remind me what hops are in this recipe. Some yeasts especially lager types do give off a sulphur smell but I would not worry about this it will dissipate usually with a little time as regards 1.017 does seem a little high as I would have thought it should have dropped to 1.012 or lower by now

 

[Stephenj]

US05 pitched at about 20c.

20g Citra at 15 and 10min
30g Citra at 5mins
30g Citra flameout
100g Mosaic flameout
50g Amarillo dry hop (7 days as I was away)

 

[Slid]

I don't do this style of beer, but do use US 05 a lot. I have had 1.005 in a number of beers and 1.012 for a 9.7% Barley Wine, so 1.017 is totally outside my experience with this yeast.
Only advise I have is "negative" - do not bottle this yet!

 

[Slid]

Actually, since you have temp control, try jiggling the FV a bit to get the yeast moving and try upping the temp by 1C every other day and see what it is like in a week's time. 24C is fine for this yeast.

 

[The Baron]

would agree with Slid if it does not drop to a reasonable FG you may have to do the stuck ferment process plenty of tips on tinternet and this forum also would have thought with that amount and type of hops it should be well strong in flavour.Some people get more Grapefruit off these hops than tropical a lot of the times its a bit hit and miss hence the bitter taste but that usually mellows out a little after conditioning.
Regards hops not dropping I too have never had much success with hops thrown and and always use a bag but they do say that they will drop out with a cold crash??

 

[Stephenj]

Ok I'll ramp up the temp and leave a few days before doing another FG reading.

With the taste, if it is tropical, it is being over powered by the ester type taste as I got nothing but a sharp burning chemical taste at the back of the tongue and mouth. Would this be linked to the fermentation not being done?

 

[Slid]

Ok I'll ramp up the temp and leave a few days before doing another FG reading.

With the taste, if it is tropical, it is being over powered by the ester type taste as I got nothing but a sharp burning chemical taste at the back of the tongue and mouth. Would this be linked to the fermentation not being done?

This would be consistent with pitching at too high a temperature, which would not be in line with your OP in which you state 20C.

I expect patience is, one again, your only friend on this one!

 

[The Baron]

That maybe Co2 in the fermentation process or just the bitterness with large amounts of hops maybe but do as Slid says and give it time it is unusual for US 05 to stall but it can happen to any yeast. All is not lost time is the cure on this one in fermentation and mellowing once conditioned. I have always struggled to get tropical tastes from the hops that they say do it I nearly always get a stronger grapefruit taste than tropical it could be my taste buds as some people do detect taste differently.
It should work out ok especially if you can get the ferment to drop a little lower
Ps do you keg or bottle?

 

[Stephenj]

Thank for help so far. I checked the temp when i pitched and defo 20c.

There seems to be a little contradiction in advice about the temp to do now. Should I raise to 22ish as some suggest to see if yeast start up again, or drop it down?

I bottle

Thanks

 

[The Baron]

Raise it in temp you could even stir it to try and get some oxygen into it and hopefully it will start up again

 

[Stephenj]

So think I'll raise to 22c for couple of days and see how that fairs for FG. Then gradually drop to see if hops drop down.

 

[The Baron]

Dont drop until ferment as started again I would also stir to oxygenate and rouse the yeast

 

[Stephenj]

:thumb:

 

[The Baron]

:thumb:

Good luck let us know in a few days

 

[AdeDunn]

US05 pitched at about 20c.

20g Citra at 15 and 10min
30g Citra at 5mins
30g Citra flameout
100g Mosaic flameout
50g Amarillo dry hop (7 days as I was away)

Just a quick query really. I just checked and those amounts are EXACTLY the ones from the book. Thing is, did you make any adjustments to account for the different alpha acids in the hops you used vs the ones James Morton used when designing the recipe?

Another thing, you say you added 30g of Citra and 100g Mosaic at flameout. The book says these are added as an aroma steep. This would mean adding the hops once the wort has been cooled to 80 degrees C, so that no more bitterness is added by the hops. If you added them before cooling to this temperature, the hops would continue to add bitterness until it reached 80 degrees C, which could give you higher IBUs than planned too, especially with 100g of Mosaic going in.

Lastly, the high SG. How many packets of yeast did you use? I'd say for a beer with an OG as high as this one, you'd do best using 2 packets rather than 1. I'd also recommend re-hydrating the yeast. I'm going to just assume that you mashed at 64.5 degrees C as you've stuck to the book from what you say.

As to pellets sinking, the time I tried using them loose to dry hop they didn't all sink either, just enough to make it a pain come bottling time. lol I absolutely hate pellet hops these days. I tend to prefer the flavour I get from whole hops too, tends to seem more rounded to me. That's just personal preference though.

Good luck! His description of it make my mouth water... But then so did the description of Proper Job, and that stuff was just nasty when I tried a bottle of it.... lol

 

[Stephenj]

Didn't adjust, totally forgot.

Was flameout when added so that would potentially account for the extra bitterness.

2 packets of yeast, not dehydrate.

The main concern for me was the minging drainlike smell/taste. It wasn't completely overpowering to the extent you'd throw up, but was the prominent taste burning on back of tongue.

 

[AdeDunn]

Might be worth leaving it to condition for a couple more weeks, see if those off flavours condition out.

 

[Stephenj]

Might be worth leaving it to condition for a couple more weeks, see if those off flavours condition out.

Leave it in primary, or rack off into a secondary?

 

[AdeDunn]

I'd rack it to secondary to be honest, get it away from the dry hop as it's had more than long enough already. This is just my opinion though.

I've used all 3 of those hops though, and the smell has always been lush. Never used US-05 yeast though, as read some very mixed opinions on it. Some raving about it, some not so much. This might be useful to you perhaps: https://www.morebeer.com/content/homebrew-off-flavors. It certainly should give you hope regarding that sulphur smell.