what does too much hops taste like?

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Gallinazorey

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Hello eveyone, I live in Spain and have decided to start homebrewing and went for the all grain as my first experience! A friend of mine just opened a restaurant (he is a pro chef) and a dream for him come true, and he wants to start a micro brewery with me to start making our own beer in a year from now after lots of practice...who knows!

Anyway, so I buy an all grain kit for 5 gallons but decide to make only 2 to test it (and my carboy will only hold 2 gallons) of some nafty Pilsener from Bavaria Beer. Its cold here so it will be easier to make a lager at cold temepratures (imposible in Spain in the summer).

So I go to you tube and make a pretty neat mash tun out of a small cooler...works great! did the Iodine test for sugar and all went well.

Now for the hops (and my question)...I weiged the original amount at 100 grams(3.5 oz).
Since the recepie calls for using all the ingridients that came with it, I take out my calculator and throw in 35 grams (1.23 oz) in the mix to make 2 gallons (8 liters).
Remember I am doing this from what I have read or seen on you tube so dont know what to expect, or taiste!! The whole house smells to hops before I knew it and after 1 hour and 15 minutes of boiling (the recepie called for 90 minutes) I succesfully cooled the wart within 15 minutes. When I tasted it I almos fainted! WHOOOA! That is BITTER! My mouth went almost dry! Like I said I dont know what to expect but I am looking at pilsener recepies here in the net and NONE use this much hops!!

Did I screw it up? Its now fermenting at 10 dedrees C (50 F) for a few weeks, but if I am waisting my time please tell me!

I must say when I weighed the hops they were in original packaging airtight...maybe when I opened it it should have weighed less (?) though this makes no sense. Just weighed what I have left and its 71 grams (2.45 oz). Unfortunatly the packaging does not say what kind of hops it is...

Thanks a million guys, I apreciate all your kind feedback.

Kind regards
 
Too much hops???? I suppose that's possible with bittering hops, hard to imagine with flavor or aroma hops! Might be too much for the style, but not too much for good beer.

Back to your question. You should be fine.
I've made experimental beer that when it was done was way too bitter to be pleasant. A combination of lots of hops and some coffee.
Given time it became great. If your beer is more bitter than you like, time will take care of it.
As for your hops, if the numbers don't add up I would guess that they didn't weigh the hops well OR the alpha acid was different than the hops the recipe was based on.
Higher alpha acid ( bittering part of the hop ), the less you need. The lower the bitterness of the hops, the more you need.

Welcome to homebrewing! You will learn a few important things.
1) If you mess your beer up, it's still fine most the time. Maybe different but fine.
2) Patients. Time can make a bad beer good and a good beer great. Not all beer is improved with time, but many of them are.
3) Sanitize with starsan or another product specifically designed for the job and you will eliminate many of the actual ways that you can ruin beer.
 
I sampled some of my wort this past week and it was really sweet and terribly bitter at the same time. Once it ferments the sweetness will be subdued as the yeast eat the fermentable sugars and the bitterness will be much less. When it is carbonated the sweetness, carbonation and bitterness will be much more balanced. You're good!
 
Even for a bigger batch, adding the 3.5 oz for the full boil seems wrong. Was it supposed to be divided up for multiple additions?
 
Look online for one of the several brewing calculators.

Plug in the numbers for all the ingredients you used and this will give you an idea of the color, sweetness, hoppiness and alcohol content you can expect.

You will have to know what hops you used, when you added them to the boil and the amounts you used.
You can also expect some of the hops flavors and aromas to calm down and smooth out over a period of time.

Hope that helps.

bosco
 
More than an oz for bittering hops boiled for 90 minutes in a 2 gallon beer is a lot of bittering hops. Considering the style is a pilsner, that seems like a crazy amount of hops. Too much? I've yet to try a beer that actually had too many hops in it.

The hops will fade tho, so if you dont like it, just give it a few months and try again.

Your other option is to try and balance it out by adding more wort. You would need a bigger fermenter, but you need that anyway as a 2 gallon brew is pretty small. That is a lot of effort for about 15 pints.

Either way, I bet you will be happy with the finished product.
 
Thats some great advice, thanks!


Too much hops???? I suppose that's possible with bittering hops, hard to imagine with flavor or aroma hops! Might be too much for the style, but not too much for good beer.

Back to your question. You should be fine.
I've made experimental beer that when it was done was way too bitter to be pleasant. A combination of lots of hops and some coffee.
Given time it became great. If your beer is more bitter than you like, time will take care of it.
As for your hops, if the numbers don't add up I would guess that they didn't weigh the hops well OR the alpha acid was different than the hops the recipe was based on.
Higher alpha acid ( bittering part of the hop ), the less you need. The lower the bitterness of the hops, the more you need.

Welcome to homebrewing! You will learn a few important things.
1) If you mess your beer up, it's still fine most the time. Maybe different but fine.
2) Patients. Time can make a bad beer good and a good beer great. Not all beer is improved with time, but many of them are.
3) Sanitize with starsan or another product specifically designed for the job and you will eliminate many of the actual ways that you can ruin beer.
 
Nope! This is the typical kit to make 23 liters and you use all that comes with it!But like you said (and looking back) 3.5 oz does seem very high...like other here have said I will wait and see! I guess we learn from stuff like this!

Even for a bigger batch, adding the 3.5 oz for the full boil seems wrong. Was it supposed to be divided up for multiple additions?
 
When you say give it a few months and try it again...I imagine you mean once it has been bottles correct?



More than an oz for bittering hops boiled for 90 minutes in a 2 gallon beer is a lot of bittering hops. Considering the style is a pilsner, that seems like a crazy amount of hops. Too much? I've yet to try a beer that actually had too many hops in it.

The hops will fade tho, so if you dont like it, just give it a few months and try again.

Your other option is to try and balance it out by adding more wort. You would need a bigger fermenter, but you need that anyway as a 2 gallon brew is pretty small. That is a lot of effort for about 15 pints.

Either way, I bet you will be happy with the finished product.
 
When you say give it a few months and try it again...I imagine you mean once it has been bottles correct?

Yes, that is correct. Flavors will change as the beer sits in the bottles and continues to age. Sample your beer at regular intervals after it has been bottled and is properly carbonated. Make very detailed tasting notes each time you sample and you will begin to see for yourself how the flavor profile changes with time.
 
sounds like you should let that beer set for a bout two months, i always let my beers set at least two months before i keg them lagars could take even longer depending on the taste you desire.
 
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