why are my beers so bitter

my all the beer I brew turns out kind of bitter some more than others. for example witbiers turn out really bitter and they barely have any hops in them. I brew with filtered r.o. water,. extract brew kits from northern brewer, I don't exceed any temps when brewing, I use weast yeasts, I set the temp on my ferm fridge to 62degree for ales, I primary for 1 and a half weeks, secoundary for at least a week or more and still I get bitter after taste..sometimes more than others don't know what it can be im starting to think maybe its extract brewing all together so im starting to all grain now to see if it changes but the all grain I have is still in the ferm, so Ill see the results in a couple of weeks anybody got any sugestions please

What are your hop additions? Maybe you could post a couple recipes?

witbier
FERMENTABLES
-- 6.3 lbs Wheat malt syrup
HOPS & FLAVORINGS
-- 2 oz Hersbrucker (60 min)
-- 1 oz Coriander Seed (10 min)
-- .5 oz Bitter Orange Peel (1 min)

cream beer
-- 0.75 lbs Gambrinus Honey Malt
-- 0.25 lbs Belgian Biscuit
FERMENTABLES
-- 6 lbs Pilsen malt syrup
HOPS & FLAVORINGS
-- 1 oz Cluster (60 min)

aa% of hops and was it a full or partial boil

Sometimes if your beer still has not cleared (yeast in suspension), you will get some extra bite that is not pleasant. Letting it clear prior to packaging or letting it clear in the bottle can really improve the beer. More time in primary might be needed.

I don't think this would have anything to do with extract vs all grain.

If the beer is less than 6 weeks since brew day it could just still be a little green. If so give it another few weeks to round itself out

What cleaners and sanitizers are you using?

Also, what is your source for the RO water? Same one every brewday?

if that is indeed a Hallertau type hops.....it's an aroma variety not a bittering variety. what exactly is filtered r.o. water?

So is it bitter like a double IPA?

Maybe you're using the word bitter to describe some other off-flavor?

everyone here is asking about hops, how is your temp control when you steep the grains? if you get the wort too hot (above 160-165) the grain can release various things you doing want in your beer including tannins and bitter oils.

cageybee said:

if that is indeed a Hallertau type hops.....it's an aroma variety not a bittering variety. what exactly is filtered r.o. water?

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R.O. is reverse osmosis, where pressurized water is forced through a semi-permeable membrane that filters out certain impurities. A lot of desalinization plants are based off of it. I have a water softener in my house and it came with a r.o. unit under the kitchen sink to filter out the salts used by the water softener.

Sounds to me like yeast bite or maybe an excess of hop pellet flakes making it into the finished beer. Before I started using paint strainer bags over my auto-siphon, I'd sometimes have too much hop sludge getting transferred into the bottles (especially the last few of the batch) and they'd have a harsh bitterness to them.

Are you doing any late malt additions or is everything going in at 60? This can alter utilization

I have also read that steeping grains in too much water can result in astringent / bitter compounds being released from the grains. On BYO they suggest no more than 3 quarts per pound of grain during the steep. And of course, as others have mentioned, watch your water temps.