Slutty Queen (Easy Jack clone)

[Inkleg]

I've put this one in my BeerSmith file too though the Citra may be a wee much.

Bela's IPA that you enjoyed (I think) when you were here was quick carbed. The beer had been cold crashed when I kegged it Saturday. After sealing and bleeding the keg I hooked co2 to the out side at 30 psi and shook in snot out of it. I'd shake it every no and then while doing things in the brew room.....maybe 5 times over the course of a half hour. I then tossed it in the keezer at 20 psi for......more than 12, but less than 24 hours before turning it back down to serving pressure (sorry sometimes I don't keep exact notes). Poured you a glass that Tuesday so 3 days from keg to carbed in a glass.

[BlackDuck]

I finally brewed this one yesterday. I did a regular infusion mash instead of the step mash. My mash temp came in at 150 instead of 152. And my OG came in at 1044 instead of 1046. Close enough for me!! I also used S-05 instead of an english strain.

[Kealia]

I tried a short pour test tonight of this one, and getting right to it: I've never been so disappointed with something I've brewed before.

It's a little hazy, which I didn't expect since used ClarityFerm on it and the last time I used it I had a crystal clear Kolsch-like beer. But, this was a lot of late hops in the whirlpool and dry hop so I expected a little haze. There is very little aroma and this has 4oz of dry hops - - WTF? The taste.....meh. It's a bit weak overall and there's very little hop presence. I just don't get it.

I thought maybe my taste buds were off since allergies are affecting my throat a bit, so I poured an IPA I bought the other day. It was a single and it tasted "off", too. I then found a bottle of 3-month "old" Simply Simarillo Session IPA I had so I poured that. It was fantastic.

I'm not even sure how to describe the taste because the upfront is just....weak. And the late hops seem to have brought nothing to the party except an odd finish. Almost champagne-like in the taste. I'll give it a few more days, but then I'm starting a 2-week no-carb 'fast' so it will have time to pull its head out of its ass and taste better. If not,

I just met a new neighbor down the street who brews a few times a year and told him I would bring him a growler of this when it was ready to welcome him to the neighborhood. I won't be doing that.

Chris, don;t let this discourage you. I'm just not sure what's going on with this one right now...

[BlackDuck]

Uh oh. Wonder what's going on. It is a bit discouraging, but there's nothing I can do about it now. Mine is in the fermenter.


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[Beer-lord]

I hope this one turns around but as a 'hit and miss' guy myself, I often scratch my head and wonder how perfect turns to mediocre.

[BlackDuck]

Ron, just curious, where did you get the water profile from? Is that a profile you've used before?


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[Beer-lord]

I can't see that the step mash would have made any difference in taste or aroma. But, I don't step mash.
Let it condition then ask your neighbor to give you his thoughts.

[Kealia]

The water profile is basically what I use for most of my brews at this point since they are all generally APAs or IPAs. Even Levitation is a bit hoppy for an Amber so it's rare that I change that.

I've never used that yeast before - so that is a variable. As are the large amounts of Mandarina Bavaria and Huell Melon.
The step mash should have just made it more fermentable. This one is a head-scratcher for now.

[Beer-lord]

Is that yeast the same as the recipe calls for? I would think you'd want a cleaner yeast than that and it could be a part of why the hops are muted but wouldn't or shouldn't make it weak.
I've only used it once long ago and it put out more esters than I wanted so I only use it for occasional stouts.

[BlackDuck]

We'll see if the yeast is part of the problem. I used S-05 so we can compare when mine is done.

[Kealia]

That yeast is the what the recipe calls for and is pretty much their house strain. If I'm not mistaken, it's also what they use in Luponic, Union Jack, Double Barrel Ale, etc.

[mashani]

So FWIW, I've used WLP013 a lot of times, and I really like that yeast a lot in both malty beers and also in British ESBs and IPAs.

It is not highly flocculent (that might account for some of the cloudy, and if so it will go away with time), but in my experience it doesn't really diminish hop flavor/aroma. It does leave a bit more malt flavor behind, and it has some smokey/oaky esters, but I like them a lot when combined with British hops. I'd just not go overboard with crystal when using it in a really hoppy beer, but your recipe by no way was overboard.

Anyways, I don't think it was the "problem".

Maybe you just had hops that were "a dud" as such (a bit old and/or stored poorly before you got them or something).

[Kealia]

I don't know. The hops came from MoreBeer (I picked them up) and they, like the LME you buy from them, are stored in those same silver bags that are flushed with nitrogen I've never had bad hops, but I don;t even get anything from the earlier additions. I swear I put them in!!

I'm going to just let this ride for a few weeks then come back to it. I planned on going carb free from 9/1 - 9/14 so this will just sit for a few weeks. If it is no better at that point I'll drop some hops into the keg to try to salvage it. I'm really scratching my head on this one.

[BlackDuck]

Hey Ron, I was thinking last night, remember during our research, I made a comment that I thought both the Mandarina and the Huell Melon were somewhat mild hops. In that it seemed you needed more of them to achieve the result when compared to other hops? I wonder if that's what's going on here. And that we didn't put enough of the other hops in in during the boil portions to accommodate for that.

[Beer-lord]

What's the alpha on those hops? My Mandarina is 9.5, which isn't how but isn't low and my Huell Melon is 7.5% but I think these are both related to Noble hops so you make a good point as these are best used for Aroma and not bittering. Ron's idea of keg hopping should give it some life unless the backbone is also weak.