[homoeccentricus]

Another newbie question: I made a simple IPA with light dry extract, melanoiden malt, and S-04 to try out Falconer's Flight (no other hops). Now the finished beer appears to have a soapy flavor. Not bad, but still: soapy. Did I mess something up, or is this what FF tastes like?

[morticaixavier]

AHHH THE RETURN OF THE SOAPY IPA!!!!!

sorry, there was a very long and involved post about this a couple years back and I don't think we ever figured out what was going on.

seems like some folks have had success clearing up soapy off flavors in hoppy beers by upping the sulfate level. you could try dosing a sample with some gypsum in a glass and see if that clears it up.

[HoosierBrew]

I've used FF many times and not gotten any soapy character. It's a good hop.

[morticaixavier]

one of the possible causes I saw referenced was oxidized lipids. hops have lipids and they do oxidize. given that falconers is grown, processes and distributed from the pacific northwest and homoeccentricus is on the other side of the atlantic could mean there was some mishandling along the way.

[HoosierBrew]

one of the possible causes I saw referenced was oxidized lipids. hops have lipids and they do oxidize. given that falconers is grown, processes and distributed from the pacific northwest and homoeccentricus is on the other side of the atlantic could mean there was some mishandling along the way.

Yeah, forgot about his location. There could definitely be some handling /age issues.

[morticaixavier]

it's also a blend of hops so it could be a seasonal or batch variation in any one of the 5-7 (or whatever) varieties of hops used.

[denny]

Another newbie question: I made a simple IPA with light dry extract, melanoiden malt, and S-04 to try out Falconer's Flight (no other hops). Now the finished beer appears to have a soapy flavor. Not bad, but still: soapy. Did I mess something up, or is this what FF tastes like?

I'd bet on the S04

[Wort-H.O.G.]

Another newbie question: I made a simple IPA with light dry extract, melanoiden malt, and S-04 to try out Falconer's Flight (no other hops). Now the finished beer appears to have a soapy flavor. Not bad, but still: soapy. Did I mess something up, or is this what FF tastes like?

I'd bet on the S04

really? bad yeast?? , because I never got soapy using it.

[denny]

really? bad yeast?? , because I never got soapy using it.

I got all kinds of off flavors with it...bready, soapy, yeasty....

[Wort-H.O.G.]

really? bad yeast?? , because I never got soapy using it.

I got all kinds of off flavors with it...bready, soapy, yeasty....

interesting. i never made a hoppy beer with it though.

[jeffy]

Almost every time I've ever tasted soapiness in a beer it was an IPA or DIPA.  I vote for hops, too, but I don't really know what causes it.

[Frankenbrew]

I've had this happen in a couple of my beers, once in a ordinary bitter with Kent Goldings and another time in a SMASH pale ale with Cascade. I always suspected the hops, but now Denny got me thinking, so I looked in BeerSmith to see what kind of yeast I used. In the SMASH I used 04, but in the better I used WY1318.

But my water is low in sulphates, and at the time of those batches I wasn't paying attention to water. So...two unrelated hops...two unrelated yeasts...could be low sulphates???

[HoosierBrew]

I'm not a big S04 fan, but who knows what condition or age the hops were  by the time they got to his LHBS (or wherever) in Belgium. I remember using hops that were sold @ room temp back when I started and getting all kinds of off flavors and aromas.

[denny]

I've had this happen in a couple of my beers, once in a ordinary bitter with Kent Goldings and another time in a SMASH pale ale with Cascade. I always suspected the hops, but now Denny got me thinking, so I looked in BeerSmith to see what kind of yeast I used. In the SMASH I used 04, but in the better I used WY1318.

But my water is low in sulphates, and at the time of those batches I wasn't paying attention to water. So...two unrelated hops...two unrelated yeasts...could be low sulphates???

Could be.  You can add sulfate to the finished beer to see if it helps.

[homoeccentricus]

Did a triangular test. Two glasses without and one with gypsum. An innocent mouth was able to detect the difference, and described the beer with gypsum as more hoppy. But not fundamentally different in taste.

But then afterwards, she did not agree with my description of the beer as being soapy :-(

BTW, I did add gypsum when I brewed the beer...