The Elusive Aroma of Hops

I know, it seems like this slowly turning into a brewing blog, but whatever.

The Elusive Aroma of Hops is not my new band name, but one of my many brew difficulties. A sample of my IPA revealed an anemic hop aroma despite a generous late kettle addition of hops. Plus, I tasted a distinct non-hop bitterness and I noticed the fermentation itself had stalled.

Besides that ongoing semi-debacle, I recently brewed my second American pale ale. If it finishes properly, I think it'll be a big improvement over my first. Some changes: I used (nearly) all-grain, increased the aroma hops, increased the gravity a bit, and used a more accurate yeast pitch rate to deal with the heavy apple note in my first batch. We shall see.

Until then:

My American brown ale, this one came out pretty decent.