Dreadfuly Bitter

Good day,

I just brewed a Pale ale that required 2oz of Fuggles and 1.5 of Haulertau. all of the fuggles for 60min and 1.5 at 30.
4.5lbs 2row and .5lb caramel .5lb brown sugar. 1lb liquid malt extract.

I just transferred it into the secondary and it was painfully bitter! Not the good citrus type bitter. I'm talking ear wax bitter. Is there a way to tone down this type of bitterness? How would I make my brew sweeter if it's already in the secondary?

Thanks for the info!

I would think there would be more malt extract in that recipe, at least 3.3 lb. What temp did you mash the grain at? It will taste that way if you steep at too high of a temp. I'm sure most around here will tell you to just give it plenty of time after you bottle. See if it mellows out after 3 months or so.

^agree. it's either a very low gravity 5g batch or a very hoppy 3g batch.

hops only at 60min and 30 min will give you pretty much all bittering with very little flavor. move the last addition from 30 to 5min and that should help.

Strange recipe. How many gallons of water? Looks like your ratio of hops to sugars is way too high. And, if that is in 5 gallons you have very little sugars. Your beer will have little flavor (except hops) and very little alcohol. You might be able to rescue it by adding some more LME (boiled with more water to sanitize) and letting the beer ferment again.

The bitterness should mellow over time.

I just had this same thing happen with the CYBI Terrapin Rye Pale Ale clone...nasty!

I did a Haus Pale Ale and first wort hopped with 1 oz. It turned out too bitter. The bitterness will fade a little with time but it happens very slowly. I added oak and vanilla soaked in bourbon for 2 weeks to it and a co-worker gladly took it all off of my hands. If you have time and the means, make another batch without the bittering hops and blend them together.

That's a large amount of hops for what seems to be a small batch.

it's a 5gal batch, started out at 1.050 and it has fermented down to 1.010. I was thinking of adding some LME but There's not much room in the carboy. It would have to be very concentrated.

My good beer to bad beer ratio is not doing so well lately..
my buddies are scared to try by brews LOL

1.050 is impossible even at 100% effeciency. Did you measure 1.050 or calculate? Check the recipe you gave us again...something isn't adding up.

Assuming fuggles at 5%aau and Hallertau at 3.8%aau:

at 1.050 you have about 50 IBU's
at 1.037 (more realistic to what that recipe would yeild) your at 56 IBUs.

Moral of the story...way to high!

I used the hydrometer to measure and came up with 1.050. Perhaps it was the sludge from the hops making it more dense?

How much DME would be recommended to sweeten it up to a more balanced level? I have about 1 kilo of Extra light extract for emergencies..

you would have had to add about 6lbs of LME to reach that gravity.

Just added 1lb of DME. that should sweeten things up a bit..

Should I be pitching new yeast also? It's in the secondary so most of the yeast stayed behind and went down the drain.

you should have enough residual yeast to ferment that.

How long has it been in primary?

I've found that my beers have a really harsh bitterness early on which mellows a LOT after 3-4 weeks. Give it time.

it's been in the primary for 2 weeks, I've tasted strong IPAs before but they didn't have this type of bitterness. they were more citrus like.
I'm not overly concerned anymore. I've added the 1lb DME and she's fermenting nicely again. I'll leave it in for another 2 weeks then dry hop with some Cascade for a week.

Ear Wax IPA is born!

Mobstar said:

it's been in the primary for 2 weeks, I've tasted strong IPAs before but they didn't have this type of bitterness. they were more citrus like.
I'm not overly concerned anymore. I've added the 1lb DME and she's fermenting nicely again. I'll leave it in for another 2 weeks then dry hop with some Cascade for a week.

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This answer doesn't make sense either. If the final volume was 5gal
and it's too bitter, you need to dilute with more water to make it less
bitter. The extra malt extract will only add some more flavor that *may*
take the edge off. Aging it will decrease the hop flavor and aroma, but
it will take a *long* age to decrease the bitterness. The first month it
may seem like it's getting more bitter, because it will still be attenuating
and there will be less sugar in solution to balance it.

Ray

diluting it will just cut all the flavors, not just the bitterness. Adding the extract will help boost the alcohol and add residual sweetness, both of which will help counteract the bitterness.

The main problem is that he has NO flavor or aroma hops in the beer anyways (only a 60 and 30min addition). so after aging to reduce the bitterness, a good dry hop will be in order. That's what I would do anyways.

Good luck Mob

Thanks BjornBrewer!!
It's already smelling amazing!

Thanks for the name idea JKNAPP..
I will baptize it as EarWax Special Bitter!

Wow!!
Just bottled the brew last night and it tasted/smelled so good!
I can't wait to see what it will be like once it's aged a bit. The extra pound of DME and some dry hopping with Fuggles really enhanced the flavors/aromas. This might be my best brew yet!!

with the added DME and dry hops, is this going to be an IPA now?

bdupree said:

with the added DME and dry hops, is this going to be an IPA now?

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hmmm
Looks like an IPA... tastes like an IPA... Must be an IPA!!

a little late, but I'm glad it worked out