Rubber Flavor

[PunkIwishIwere]

I attempted a 90 minute IPA clone for the first time. I followed the recipe below, fermented at ~65, and dry hopped in the keg with nylon stockings hanging from dental floss. I decided to keep the hops in the keg for the entire serving life of the beer.

The finished beer is very cloudy, full of hop aroma, and tastes like rubber or even solvent. OG was 1.084 and FG was 1.017 for an ABV of 8.7. To me it isn't hot like alcohol; it just tastes a lot like rubber. Could this be caused by cheap stockings or maybe too many hops left in for too long?


Recipe: Shubham's System Shock 2
Brewer: Tim
Asst Brewer:
Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.087 SG
Estimated Color: 11.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 67.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 100 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 16.22 %
14.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 75.68 %
1.50 lb My Amber (35.0 SRM) Grain 8.11 %
0.50 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (Dry Hop 14 days) Hops -
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (90 min) Hops 6.3 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 14 days) Hops -
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (90 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (82 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (82 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (74 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (74 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (66 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (66 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (58 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (58 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (50 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (50 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (42 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (42 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (34 min) Hops 1.0 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (34 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (26 min) Hops 0.8 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (26 min) Hops 4.2 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (18 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (18 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
0.27 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90 %] (10 min) Hops 2.1 IBU
0.04 oz Nugget [12.10 %] (10 min) Hops 0.4 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 15.50 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 20.00 qt of water at 159.9 F 149.0 F


Notes:
------
Hopping Rate: 9 grams every 8 minutes, final addition with 10 minutes left in boil.
Infusion temp was ~148

[Bugeater]

Wow! Weighing out all those hops probably added an hour to your brew day. If you beer is really cloudy, you are probably just tasting the hop junk in suspension. Once it clears, the taste should change quite a bit. With a beer of this gravity, it's going to be a good 3 or 4 months minimum before its ready to drink anyway so there is plenty of time for the hops to settle.

In spite of the impressive hop schedule, it looks a little underhopped to me. You BU:GU ratio is only 0.77. I usually go for about 1:1 for an imperial IPA. From the times I have had DFH 90, I remember it being more hop forward than what your recipe suggests. But who knows, this may come out great. If the recipe was written this way, there must be a good reason. Keep us informed on the progess.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[J.Brew]

It's common with really hoppy beers to have a polyphenol/tannin haze from the amount of vegative matter it takes to reach the desired bitterness. Time and low temperature will pull them out of solution.

[PunkIwishIwere]

The original recipe came from BYO's classic clone recipes. It calls for 2.0 oz of Amarillo, 0.62 oz of Simcoe, and 0.53 oz of Warrior for bittering. They suggest a bittering rate of 0.25 oz of hops every 7.5 minutes. I didn't use the Warrior or Simcoe and replaced them with Nugget because of availability.

The original recipe claims that the IBU's should be ~90. However, as you can see that after I split the additions and entered them that way in Beersmith I only got an IBU of 67. You are correct Bug, the bitterness is too low for what I was going for.