My ESB finishes too bitter!

I brewed this ESB on 8/4/07:

6.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Challenger [6.30%] (60 min) Hops 20.2 IBU
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50%] (30 min) Hops 5.5 IBU
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50%] (15 min) Hops 3.6 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

I bottled after two weeks, so it's been in the bottle for almost 4 weeks now and it starts nice and malty, but it finishes very, very bitter. And not bitter like a good IPA, but almost puckering and unpleasant.

Any thoughts as what's going on or if this will subside after a while? Should I let it mellow for a bit?

Thanks!

Just guessing, but my experience with really high alpha acid bittering hops, is that they tend to impart a harsh bitterness that I find distasteful, even in small quantities.

Cheers!

The IBU are at the low end for the style and both of those hops are low AA, "mild" hops. Astringent flavors are commonly the result of overly long or too hot steeps. Sometimes an infection can cause it as well. I'd give it some more time, 3-4 weeks.

I had a similar problem to a degree with my first AG (which was also an ESB) and it was from over sparging and the tannin extraction provided a harsh bitter iced tea like astringency. Very noticeable when the beer was green but mellowed out a bit after a few more weeks in the bottle.

yea, you may be tasting tannins/astringency rather than bitterness. Im no professional taster, but if you are puckering, its most likely astringency.

4 weeks is pretty young. I made a mild and was so bitter i almost punched myself in the face to draw attention away from the horrible taste in my mouth. I put the keg in the fridge and forgot about it for 8 weeks.
Thought, hmm, i wonder how this crap tastes now...........................freaking great!


Time cures most initial problems you will find with young beer.

Reverend JC said:

4 weeks is pretty young. I made a mild and was so bitter i almost punched myself in the face to draw attention away from the horrible taste in my mouth. I put the keg in the fridge and forgot about it for 8 weeks.
Thought, hmm, i wonder how this crap tastes now...........................freaking great!


Time cures most initial problems you will find with young beer.

Click to expand...

lol...that made me laugh.

you could service it ice freaking cold and that will take some of the bitterness away too, if you can't wait

Bigben, how is your yuengling lager? I tried one this past winter and it was good, but it was not anything like yuengling.

I would like to see your recipe if you don't mind.

I agree with the Reverend on this one. Same thing happened to me. I left a bitter in the primary for 3 weeks, then bottled. Tasted after one week in the bottle and was scared about tannins, etc... it was just too bitter or astringent or something. Waited an additional 2 weeks and voila!... it was wonderful.

Thanks for the reassurance, I'll let it mellow while I continue to brew and build up my surplus of homebrew!

I'm sampling a bottle of my Moktoberfest Ale which has been in the bottle for about a week now and it's coming along nicely, so I'll probably be able to drink the ESB along side of it in a few weeks.

Reverend JC said:

4 weeks is pretty young. I made a mild and was so bitter i almost punched myself in the face to draw attention away from the horrible taste in my mouth. I put the keg in the fridge and forgot about it for 8 weeks.
Thought, hmm, i wonder how this crap tastes now...........................freaking great!


Time cures most initial problems you will find with young beer.

Click to expand...

Say that to my IPA that fermented at 75 F. I'm drinking the last of it now to punish myself for my stupidity.

Thanks again for the replies... I pulled a warm bottle from the basement and threw it in the fridge for a bit to chill and while it has a week or two to go to fully mellow, this has come a long way!

The aroma is nice and floral with a similar flavour developing with a nice malty kick behind it. The harsh bitterness has defiantly gone away.

Any thoughts as to why this may have developed some odd qualities? I posted the recipe here for anyone that wants to take a stab at it... Road of the Righteous ESB.

Thanks!

As someone here commented, you probably extracted more tannins and polyphenols from the grain in sparging due to high pH in the water, over sparging or too hot of sparge water. Tannins in the beer will often slowly complex with the proteins causing haze and then a precipitate. Thus, the tannins are removed and the astringency is lowered as they precipitate.. This reaction can be enhanced at cooler temperatures, thus the comments about putting the beer in the frig for a few weeks. My suggestion is check your sparge water temperature, should be about 168 - 170 F and your water pH. If the water is basic (above about 7.5) you may need to make it more neutral.

Just me 2 cents.

Dr Malt

Water hardness and or temporary water hardness will kill a beer, my early AG beers were all harsh from tannins as well as harsh bitterness from the hops. My cure was pretty simple I use half distilled water and half filtered tap water treated with potassium metabisulfite to remove the chloramines.

Another thing that will help with harsh hop bitterness is to ditch the 30 minute hop additions, if you need more bitterness add to the 60 min addition, flavor hops fair much better when added at 15-20 minutes.