Can a slow cold break kill my hop aroma?

[Frostbrewer]

I have been using an aluminum kettle for boiling and an ice bath for chilling.

I'm only 4 batches in but as I'm reading more about brewing I wonder if maybe the slow chilling of my wort is destroying the aroma for my finished beer? or at least what it has the potential to be.


case in point: last brew was the Dead Ringer IPA extract kit. It is supposed to have abundant and obvious citrus hop taste from the centennial hops used. I really am not getting any of that. my friends seem to enjoy the beer a lot, it's going very fast. But nobody really thinks of it as an IPA. It has the bitterness at the end but just doesn't hit you in the nose as you are drinking it.

I'm still honing my techniques and I'm sure its also possible I "overboiled" or added my hops too early during the boil, but just curious if anyone has any knowledge in this particular instance.

[BDawg]

Welcome=

No, slow cooling isn't going to kill hop aroma.

Can you post the recipe? Are you adjusting late hop additions because of %AA levels?
Generally speaking, you leave the weights of the late (20 min and later) alone then adjust your 60 minute addition up or down to compensate for the actual %AA levels of the hops you buy compared to the hops the recipe calls for. Otherwise, if its your own recipe, then try to add half again as much the late hops additions, particularly those after 10 mins (ie, if it calls for 1 oz at 10, try it at 1.5 or even 2 oz).

Where do you live? Water chemistry can play into hop flavor in the finished product too. Where I live in WA state, the mineral content is very low. I have to add minerals to the water or else I have problems and the beers come out terrible.
I see newbies submit beers in competitions [edit - around here where the water lacks it] all the time that need gypsum . They taste grassy but not hoppy.

[Frostbrewer]

SPECIALTY GRAIN
- 1 lbs Briess Caramel 40
FERMENTABLES
- 9.15 lbs Gold malt syrup
HOPS & FLAVORINGS
- 1 oz Centennial (60 min)
- 1 oz Centennial (20 min)
- 2 oz Centennial (5 min)
- 1 oz Centennial (Dry hop)


recipe from NorthernBrewer

Live in Tulsa but I'm using the spring water in gallon jug form from Walmart (it comes from Missouri). Our tap water tastes awful so I don't really want to use it.

[MJB]

I'm having a similar problem with getting hop aroma and flavor to translate into my beer. On the last batch, the majority of the hops were late addition ( 10 min left in the boil, or dry hop), and all I ended up with is a grassy taste and bitterness. I only have this problem with the pale ales that I'm attempting. Now I'm thinking adding a little gypsum. Also, I've notice that I get a lot of trub in the fermenter. How much does trub effect the flavor of the beer? Should I be racking out of the kettle instead of pouring the wort through a screen and funnel? Any advice would be great. I'm calling on the collective wisdom of the BN Army.

[brewinhard]

Racking out of the kettle is an effective way to minimize lots of trub transferring into the fermenter. You can even try to stir your chilled wort with a sanitized spoon rapidly to achieve a whirlpool which can help the cold break to settle in somewhat of a cone or at least closer to the center of the kettle. Then simply rack the clear wort from the sides into the fermenter.

[Stinkfist]

I guess it would depend on how long it is taking you to cool... If it takes you 10 minutes to get down below say 140 then your 5 minute edition basically becomes a 15 minute addition and you will lose some hop aroma..

[Effingbeer]

Thing is, most of those kits use the minimum amount of hops so they can stay below sticker shock prices. My advice: add more hops. 1oz per addition just isn't going to do it.

[Afterlab]

1oz per addition just isn't going to do it.

Yeah if you're not getting enough of the aroma you want then add another 1-2 oz of Centennial in the dry hop.

Other factors could include...
1. Not having the proper level of carbonation
2. Having too cold of a serving temperature
3. Having other off flavors that are distracting your palate from the hop aroma
4. Having too much residual yeast in suspension when consuming the beer
5. Post fermentation oxidation
6. Using O2 adsorbing bottling caps (if you're bottling)
7. Ineffective dry hopping process