Forgot my bittering hops until late and low OG!

Hey all,

My first post so here goes! I just brewed my third batch today. I went with midwest's blonde ale, it got great reviews on the site. Despite having a homebrew in hand and relaxing, somehow I totally forgot to add my bittering hops until really late.

So what I did:

Steeped specialty grains in about 3.5 gallons at 155 degrees for 30 minutes
Added 5 lbs DME from kit
Brought to a boil
COMPLETELY FORGOT TO ADD HOPS!!
Added 1oz Willamette hops at about 50 minutes into boil, allowed to boil additional 30 minutes. (about 1.5 hrs total boil time)
Topped off to 5 gallons with about 2.5 gallons
Wort when I measured gravity was about 70 degrees

Given the fact that it's a blonde ale, and not supposed to be characteristically very hoppy, do you think the 30 minutes of boil time it got will be ok or do you think it'll end up way sweet?

Additionally, I had an OG of only like 1.020... supposed to be 1.045ish... I'm assuming I just didn't mix my wort enough and pulled more of the top off water than actual wort. Has anyone had any issues with using all DME and a low OG?

Hopefully this one isn't a wash. Thanks!

That's a low OG. If you finish at like1.008 you'll have in the vacinity of 2% alchohol.

What does it smell like. If you smell the hops - I'd say you're OK.

You could heat a little water with some corn sugar to amke a syrup and stir it in. In my limited experience that dries out a beer though.

It'll probably be quite brinkable if you just leave it. Just not as much kick. Good lawnmower beer.

Thanks Dynachrome - I could taste/smell the hops - it was the only thing I could taste from my wort sample. I'm really thinking I got the sample from the top of the wort and that it just wasn't mixed well... I should say I'm really hoping that's the case!

Ran 5lbs dme and 2.5gal boil with 1oz willamette for 40min in my brewing software. I get 10IBU,s. and a BU:GU ratio of .27

So I think you should be fine. Might be a little on the sweet side but I don't think it will be cloying.

Thanks nallanrex - somewhat reassuring! I'll let you guys know how it turns out in a few weeks.

For the future, you really don't have to start timing until you add your first bittering addition. In your case, I would have just added the hops and THEN boiled for 60 minutes after that, just following the original recipe. With extract that may make it a little darker than intended, but the hop character should be in line with what you want.

Your OG wasn't that low unless your volume was REALLY off; you just didn't get it mixed up properly. Your beer is going to be fine! Williamette hops don't have too strong of a flavor anyway, and boiling for 30 minutes should make it pretty subdued in my opinion.

1. wait for hot break
2. add first bittering hops
3. start timer


Also your OG is fine. You didn't mix the top off water into the boiled wort adequately. You CAN NOT miss your OG on an extract beer unless you add too much (or too little) top off water.
Fermentation will mix it up for though.

Thanks again for the replies. I just kegged it two days ago, and had my first glass last night. Overall I'm very pleased with it, especially given the mess-up while brewing!

Hi Fellas, I did the same thing today and didn't add my bittering hops until last 20 minutes. Added a total of 2 oz Kent Golding Hops over the last 20 minutes at 20, 15 and 5 minutes. The beer is a brown ale and wort tasted pretty sweet. OG was right where it needed to be, but worried about it being to sweet....A penny for your thoughts and any suggestions to add hops would be appreciated.

The yeast will remove some of the sweetness as it converts the sugar to alcohol and CO2.

Should be fine.

If you guys just try to remember that the timer doesn't start until the bittering hops go in it might help.
2 cents.

4ericweidner said:

Hi Fellas, I did the same thing today and didn't add my bittering hops until last 20 minutes. Added a total of 2 oz Kent Golding Hops over the last 20 minutes at 20, 15 and 5 minutes. The beer is a brown ale and wort tasted pretty sweet. OG was right where it needed to be, but worried about it being to sweet....A penny for your thoughts and any suggestions to add hops would be appreciated.

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