Did I save CheeseFoods Ale??

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Chip

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
89
Reaction score
0
Location
Puyalup WA
I sure I made a save today. Please let me know if this made sense. :confused:

I was brewing two batches of this ale this weekend and picked up all of the ingredients last week to make a single batch at my local brew shop. When I brewed the first batch today I followed the recipe and added hops just as I should. Got it in the primary and it tasted horrible, way to bitter. Not sure if it was right since I never made it before.

I headed out to the store and picked up the stuff for the second batch and to my discovery the shop sells hops in one once packages - so I over-hopped the first batch significantly. Here is what it should have had, so you can see I had double the Saaz and Tettnang needed.

Hops
1oz Cascade for bittering (60 minutes)
.5oz Saaz for flavor (20 minutes)
.5 oz Tettnang for aroma (end of boil)

So I made the second batch without those two hops. I stirred both well and transferred half of each into a carboy and then split it between the two back into the primaries. This way I got an even a mix as I could between the two and got good aeration.

Both tasted much better and the gravity for both was 1.048; right in the target range.

With crossed fingers, I learned a great lesson---ask how much of each I am getting and WRITE it down. This is a great shop and I am sure they told me last week to split the hops, but I sure did not remember it today.
 
I don't think 1 ounce of Cascade for bittering is too much for that batch (based on original gravity). The reason I say that is because Cascade typically goes around 4.5% acid, which isn't that much, especially considering that you are only boiling for 60 minutes. The Saaz and Tettnang really won't add that much in terms of bitterness, hence the late additions. I'm guessing that at most this will get you to around 25 IBU's for a 5 gallon batch, which isn't that bitter.
 
Back
Top