High hopped beer info

[Nick Good]

been brewing an Emersons Bookbinder clone and it is REALLY delicious if you like that type of beer. It has approx. 192 grams of hops o/a in it and takes a long time to mature (in winter ).

The beer seems to be quite volatile even after 6-8 weeks bottle conditioning and I have to chill it way down to what you would call very cold to get it into the jug after which it pours great with a beautiful head and clear amber colour. The flavour gets better as it warms in the glass.

So I was wondering if there is a nack to brewing these things, as in a lot of hops, or is it just me.

ABV is below 4% so its not a big one.

AG BIAB Nottingham yeast rehydrated temp control all the way bulk prime @2.3 vols Riwaka and fuggles. Full volume boil.

Got recipe from this forum.

[oliver]

Love this beer. At a guess I'd say you've either picked up an infection or the yeast gave up during fermentation and picked up again in the bottle. Pretty easy for an infection to show in a 4% beer after a couple of months at room temperature. 
Do you mean it takes a long time to carbonate in winter? I've used an electric blanket or hot water cupboard in the past to speed things up if that helps. 190grams isn't that much, I've never noticed hops inhibiting yeast performance too much for what it's worth, but that's just anecdotal. Keep brewing it, it's a great beer :)

[Peter Church]

what temp do you use for your bulk priming calcs... if you temp control all the way then I assume you are bottling at a low temp after crash chilling and there will be a high residual co2 level already, so you may have 1 vol co2 already before priming

As oliver said, this isn't that high in terms of hopping levels

what was you final gravity before bottling

[Peter Smith]

for a beer like this I would probably use 55-60g of table sugar to bottle a 19L (2 doz botts)  batch if bulk priming, maybe a touch more if I expected them all to be consumed inside 2 months

[Crusader-Rob]

It may not be an infection, I've had a couple of beers, when bottle conditioned, after 6-8 weeks, have increased carbonation. Like Oli said, it could be to do with yeast fermentation givings up.

this is my experience, if you end up 1 point shy of target then add sugar, the yeast restarts, and takes the point alongwith the additional sugar content - leaving yor beer overcarbed.

the way i combat this..... a small fridge - once conditioned, i chill them and leave them there, this slows the aging process and also keeps your beer carbed the way it should, along with keeping them cold.

[Nick Good]

Thanks for the replies. I mean it takes a long time for the flavour to round out and cold is a bit of a problem in winter. the temp Iuse is the same as ferment temp @ 19c and I don't crash chill. FG usually around 1012. I do carb at 2.3 vols though and this is a little higher than recipe suggested, 1.8 vols from memory. I have been wondering about a bottle problem though but I am very careful with sanitization.

[Nick Good]

P.S. I would like to raise the abv a little. I am coming in at around 3.5% and 4ish would be better. Would increasing the base malt, Golden Promise, change the taste? Already mashing @69.5c for 60m plus 10m @72 and 5m mash out @ 78c.

[Ben Dean]

What temp did you mash at? I have had batches over carb when mashing at higher temps, seems the yeast start going to work on the previously unfermented residual sugars once it's chomped through the priming sugar. I keep my mash temps at the lower end these days to avoid this problem.

Happens to the pros too http://www.weirdbeardbrewco.com/weirdbeardbrewing/2015/01/little-th...

[Nick Good]

Isn't that interesting!

I have been aiming for 70c but keep getting 69.5  it seems to need the sweetness but I tried much lower mash temps to start with. It has been a work in progress but the flavour is just so good at high mash temps it wont work lower.

To Crusader-Rob, chilling them right down is what I am ending up doing and is really why I asked the question but it is a big help getting this input from other brewers.

All replies are helpful thanks.

[Crusader-Rob]

Easiest way to chill the beer down..... Keg it!

[Ben Dean]

Yeah you're right, there is a certain sweet maltiness that comes with mashing at higher temps. One of the main reasons I would love a keg set up but I don't have the space for another fridge. Or the money.