Newbie flavor question, hop bitterness not what expected

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phorensic

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I finally stepped it up and brewed a full size 5 gallon Belgian Pale Ale recently. It's only my 3rd brew. It's been in the keg 3 days and I have had two samples. I have a question about what it tastes like.

I screwed up and threw in the aroma hops at the beginning of the boil instead of at the end. So for a ~65min boil I had 2oz total of bittering and aroma hops in the kettle. When I taste the beer it has my usual off-taste that I keep getting. However, this one is SUPER bitter compared to my last 2 batches.

It's not the usual bitterness I get from IPA's, it's a strictly bitter bitterness if that makes sense. I get no citrus, pine, etc at all. It doesn't taste fresh. It tastes like yeast, a bit of cardboard, and super bitter. I accidentally turned my Belgian Pale Ale into a Belgian IPA without all the hoppy goodness. I think it's oxidized more than anything else. Thoughts? And yes I know I'm supposed to let it sit for 2-3 weeks in the keg.
 
A. It sounds like it is still young and needs some time to mellow out.

B. You threw in 2oz of hops in at the beginning of the boil...boiling them for 65 minutes drove off most of the oils that would contribute to flavor and aroma and left you with bitter. That is why flavor and aroma hops are added later in the boil, the later you add the hops, the less flavor and aroma are driven off by boiling so you ended up with a beer that is twice as bitter.
 
It is totally unbalanced. You have put ALL of your hops for bittering and none for flavor and aroma. As to the cardboard that is probably another issue and you will need to provide more information on your process for that.
 
A. It sounds like it is still young and needs some time to mellow out.

B. You threw in 2oz of hops in at the beginning of the boil...boiling them for 65 minutes drove off most of the oils that would contribute to flavor and aroma and left you with bitter. That is why flavor and aroma hops are added later in the boil, the later you add the hops, the less flavor and aroma are driven off by boiling so you ended up with a beer that is twice as bitter.
Thank you, that makes sense. Recipe was to add 1oz bittering hops at beginning of 60min boil, 1oz aroma hops at last 5mins. Now I begin to understand my other recipes that had me stagger adding hops every 15mins.

I was thinking about dry hopping in the keg with hops that are predominantly citrusy. For my 3rd batch I don't think it's worth the effort and possible contamination. I'm just going to let it sit in the keg for as long as I can before I steal too much from the tap.
 
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