bitter ale - what should I do now?

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calman

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My APA is bitter, very bitter! I deeped in grain while the water was too hot (170F), and that makes my beer bitter. What should I do now?
 
budbo said:
you should Drink it

The bitter aftertaste is too much for me and it stays there in my throak for couple minutes! I am thinking of making another no-hop or only aroma hop (finishing hop) and mix the two together. Recommend?
 
What was the hop schedule? Are you sure it was the grain? 170 isn't that high if you are steeping.
 
If that is the only flaw, be happy and let it age out. If you make beer too sweet it will always be sweet, but if it is too hoppy/bitter it has a limited time frame and will begin to diminish.
 
Gelatin finings reduce polyphenolic compounds (astringent or bitter husk and hop tannins).
 
calman said:
My APA is bitter, very bitter! I deeped in grain while the water was too hot (170F), and that makes my beer bitter. What should I do now?
How old is the beer? The bitterness mellows with age. You may want to give it some time before you do anything drastic.
 
glibbidy said:
Have you bottled it yet? You could brew a higher gravity beer with less hops, and blend the two at bottling time.

The beer is three weeks old. I forced carbonated it last week in a keg and is in my refrigerator now. The hop I used was 3/4 oz Targer @60 min and 1/2 oz East Kent Golding @15 min. For the total of 1.25 oz of hop is not that much to make that kind of bitter, unless the East Kent Golding is super bitter one (first time using it).

I am tempted to make a second batch with one oz hop, but only at 5 min boil, and mix the two.
 
calman said:
The beer is three weeks old. I forced carbonated it last week in a keg and is in my refrigerator now. The hop I used was 3/4 oz Targer @60 min and 1/2 oz East Kent Golding @15 min. For the total of 1.25 oz of hop is not that much to make that kind of bitter, unless the East Kent Golding is super bitter one (first time using it).

I am tempted to make a second batch with one oz hop, but only at 5 min boil, and mix the two.
If I remember correctly, Target can be pretty bitter but you didn't use that much. The ECG is more of a flavor hop and at 15 minutes it won't give your beer much bitterness at all. I wouldn't think that your beer should be all that bitter. Can you post the recipe and do you know the alpha acid percent of the hops?
 
Target is usually 11 AA and 3/4 ounce really isn't a huge amount... Of course it depends on the rest of your recipe though.

Do you mean 3 weeks from pitching or 3 weeks in the keg? Don't make a flavour only beer. You'll be left with a very sweet ale if the other one mellows out (which it will).
 
Two options:

1. Let it sit for about 3-4 months and try it again.

2. Mix it with another beer and drink it now.

I have had at least two batches of beer that I wasn't happy with at first, but drank anyway. Later, as I was down to less than one case left I was p*ssed to find out that my beer had suddenly transformed from the ugly ducking in to a swan. So there I was with some excellent brew but only a few bottles left.
 
I found out the culprit!!

I made a second batch last week with only aroma hop. Racked it to secondary last night, I took a glass and tasted it. Holly cr*p, it was the same bitterness level as the first batch. It's not the "soft" bitter of hop, it is a "sharp" bitter.

I took all my brewing equipment and place them on a table, I took my notes out and following the process as if I am brewing a new batch (you can guess how mad was I). Only hop or grain should gives bitter taste. Hop was fuggle whole leaf and added only at last minute. Grain soaked in 155F for 20 minutes, and my eyes were on the thermometer all the time making sure it didn't pass the 155 mark. I got the thermometer out and re-checked the scale :confused: , but wait, how come it showed 120F while it was 65F outside? Couple more tests and found out that it was a defected one. Put it in boiling water and it showed 160F, in freezer and it showed 100F :mad: How could it be? I think it was defected on a purpose of causing some damages. A closer looked at it and seemed like the inner tube got leak causing the wrong reading.

So on both batches, the grains got soaked in a too hot water, I am not sure what but I guess about ~200F! Well now, I'll go with david_42's advise, adding Gelatine to reduce the bitterness. I won't have enough keg to age the beer for long though. Hard lesson for me.

P.S. Anyone knows any good quality thermometer in $200 range?
 
calman said:
P.S. Anyone knows any good quality thermometer in $200 range?

Why spend that much. I got mine for $10 at Walmart. Just check it with ice water and boiling water before you use it.

Kai
 
calman said:
I got the thermometer out and re-checked the scale :confused: , but wait, how come it showed 120F while it was 65F outside? Couple more tests and found out that it was a defected one. Put it in boiling water and it showed 160F, in freezer and it showed 100F :mad: How could it be? I think it was defected on a purpose of causing some damages. A closer looked at it and seemed like the inner tube got leak causing the wrong reading.

Is this one of those probe thermometers? If you get the braided probe lead wet, it totally f's up the readings, much like you describe.

If this is the case for you , you can 'fix' it by baking it at the lowest temp setting of your oven for an hour or two. Test it in boiling water and in ice water to make sure it is reading correct. If not, bake it longer.

Just be sure to not get the braided lead wet and it should be OK.

-walker
 
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