Saturday 2 November 2013

Tasting : Russian River Pliny the Younger clone

Well, I'm finally posting a review of my clone attempt of one of the most highly-rated, sought-after beers on the planet. And I approach the keyboard with my tail tucked between my legs... it's a disappointment. One of my most-disappointing attempts at homebrewing I've made in a long while.

Sure, we're all our own worst critics. But this isn't a case of false modesty, here. No, I've never had the real Pliny the Younger, and I probably never will. But I know that a DIPA with that many hops isn't supposed to taste like this! I read the detailed tasting notes over at Bertus Brewery, where I got the recipe from (only a few very minor changes were made on my end). Scott describes his clone as having a huge hop aroma and flavor, and I didn't get that with my beer. Not to say the beer isn't hoppy; it is. But with THAT many hops, even with a beer as high as 9.7% ABV, I would expect the hops to come through more.

So, what went wrong? I'm pretty much flabbergasted. The brew day went well. I pitched two rehydrated packs of US-05, more than necessary for this beer. I aerated with pure oxygen, for 90 seconds... and then aerated AGAIN 18 hours later (at the recommendation of several sources when brewing bigger beers). The beer fermented out well, getting down to my target FG of 1.010. And it fermented under controlled temperatures, starting at 64 F in my fermentation chamber, with gradual increases over the week to 68 F.

As for the hopping... well, I transferred to secondary and made four dry-hop additions every 4 days. As mentioned in the original post, this would be more ideal if I had a way of purging the secondary headspace with CO2, which I wasn't able to do. However, I used this same approach (albeit every 3 days) for my Kern River Citra DIPA clone, and it turned out great.

So, in a nutshell... the beer isn't hoppy enough at all, considering the amount of hops added to it. Luckily, it doesn't really TASTE like hot alcohol; the 9.7% is actually hidden pretty well in the flavor. I don't want to discourage anyone from brewing the recipe, however... I think it should really turn out great. If you keg, and can thus dry-hop in the keg and purge with CO2, I think you should have a real winner of a DIPA on your hands.

Hopefully.

Appearance: Pours with a medium-sized, off-white head that's fairly thick and fluffy... eventually fades to 1/2-finger. Body is dark golden in color, with surprisingly very good clarity.

Aroma: Citrusy and piney hops. Maybe not as strong as I would have thought, but a bit of time has helped them come through. There's a bit of alcohol in there, too, but the hops dominate.

Taste: The hops come through, flavor-wise, both citrusy and piney, but again, maybe not as much as I expected. A bit of sweetness, surprisingly, but ultimately the beer finishes quite dry and strongly bitter. 

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, with moderate carbonation. Some alcohol warmth, but it's not hot or solvent-like.

Overall: In the end, not nearly as hoppy as I was expecting. The hops are there, and it's a nice beer, but I wanted more from it. Sneakily drinkable at 9.7% ABV... but I'm disappointed.

Side-note: Just thought I should also include that several people (beer geeks) have tried this beer and really enjoyed it... re-reading the post, I come across as a little harsh. It IS a good DIPA, but like I said before, when you add that many hops, I just feel like they should have come across more than they are.

10 comments:

  1. I think one of those beer geeks was me, and I do think it reads harsher than how the beer drinks. But I also understand your frustration at putting in a ton of hops and it not translating to the final product.

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    1. No, it's not as I need a cigarette and I don't smoke, over the top amazing as your ordinariest kind but still a very good ipa!!

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  2. I know this feeling from past experiences. All the jokers who say it's so easy to over-hop a beer have no idea what they're talking about... it can be damn hard to get them to come through as clearly as you want. I'm betting your brew is still better than most DIPAs out there though.

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    1. Not sure, but thanks, Derek! Maybe if it holds up a while longer I can get a bottle out to you...

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  3. besides the co2 purging issue, what do you think went wrong?

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    1. Not so sure, otherwise. Looking back, I think I may have added the flameout hops in a mesh bag to cut down on hop sludge; but, if I did, they weren't packaged tightly or anything. They still should have come in plenty contact with the wort. Other than that, I can' think of why the hop flavor/aroma wasn't as strong as I thought.

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    2. As much as this is going to kill my efficiency I think I am going to brew this without any mesh bags or hop spider. I am doing a 10 gallon batch so if I lose a couple gallons to hops I don't think its a huge deal.

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    3. I think that's a good idea... if you don't mind using a bit more grain, you could even make your recipe for an extra couple of gallons to account for what you'll likely lose from all the trub/hop sludge.

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  4. Are you pretty confident about the origin of your hops and hop package?

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    1. From what I recall, the hops were all vacuum-sealed and stored in my freezer. I believe they were all from the 2012 crop, based on the time of year I brewed the beer. I therefore wouldn't say the hops were OLD; were they super-fresh? No, but less than a year old, at proper storage conditions (as proper as I could keep them at, anyway!).

      Either way, could be an issue, yes. I need to do this again now that I'm kegging.

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