All my brews turn out bitter?

I just got into home brewing this past winter instantly became addicted. I brewed 4 different beers so far and all of them turned out bitter. With all of the brews I primary one week, secondary two weeks, and bottle condition or keg for 3 weeks or longer.

No matter how long they sit, the beer is still bitter and almost loses all of its malty taste. I can still taste hops and some malt but the after taste of the beer is just bitter no matter what recipe I try.

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?

well i know for one thing most the recipes around here are for hop heads.. i cut the hops in half usually because i'm not quite a hop head yet.. if your putting over 4oz of hops in its going to be bitter!!

Let your beers warm up a little. There are proper drinking temps for each style but drinking them just above 40* is a good rule of thumb. At the colder temps the flavors of the beer can be extremely hidden and that may be why you can only taste the bitter.

Well I love hoppy beers as well and IPA's are one of my favorites but compared to real IPA beers I get at the local microbrews and other small breweries around, my beer is just much, much different. I can taste the hops in the beer but it does not seem to even out with the sweetness of the malt. It tastes like beer and after my first glass I seem to get used to it, but consistently the beer is bitter no matter what.

Also my most recent beer was a wheat hybrid with low hops additions and still turned out with a bitter after taste.

Are these all-grain, extract? We need a little more information. Bitterness can come from other places besides hops. It could be an astrigency from grain your sensing as bitterness.

I do extract kits, mostly from northern brewer. I also use bottled spring water rather than tap water.

Stove top boils with small brew pot and cool the wort with a wort chiller before transferring to primary.

I'll assume extract since this is where you've posted.

I too had a major issue with this and assumed it was extract. It wasn't.

I was using municipal water with a high sulfate level. Switching water solved my issues after exhaustive troubleshooting. YRMV.

I might try a different water source. I just figured rather than using tap water, id just buy spring water from the store. (Giant Acadia brand)

Any suggestions for water or other suggestions on how to tame the bitterness?

Do you steep any grains? Have you tried other water sources?

I do steep the grains and am very careful not to exceed the max temp.

I usually bring the water up to temp, steep grain for 20 mins, then remove grain and full boil.

Should I be doing something differently, I try to follow the instructions exactly.

you may just like english style beer.
A lot of kits and internet recipes try to turn everything into an IPA.

It can hard to balance hops with some liquid extract, especially the darker ones.

try experimenting with using all light DME (.8lbs = 1lb LME) as your primary fermentable, getting your color with the steeping grains and using less acid hops.

it can't hurt.

This is all just conjecture until you post a recipe you've brewed.

I'm in the same boat right now (all grain though). All of my dark beers come out great, but my light beers are way too bitter. I just sent my water of to Ward, I'm curious if that is the cause.

Could the type of hop be adding to the percieved bitterness? By that I mean if you are using alot of "C" hops that tend to be citrusy, are you percieving the citrus flavor as bitterness? They become much more prominent in lighter brews.

DrinkNoH2O said:

This is all just conjecture until you post a recipe you've brewed.

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Agreed, a recipe might be helpful.

I dont have the recipes right in front of me at the moment (ill try to post them later) but the beers I have brewed are as follows.

Also I do enjoy bitter beers, and IPA is my favorite by far. Extra hoppy beers I love, but the bitter I am getting is completely different. I can still taste hops, but the after taste is sharp on the back of the tongue bitter.

Northren Brewer:
Chinook IPA extract kit
T-Can and Bearcat wheaten beatdown

LHBS:
Falconer's flight extra IPA
Single IPA
Imperial Blonde ale

Thanks for all the help!

Fermentation Temps....I had a similar problem with every beer I brewed last spring. They all had a harsh bitter after taste, kinda alcoholish bitter. At what temps are you fermenting? I started fermenting in the low 60's and leaving my beer in the primary for 3 weeks or more and it has changed my perspective. Have not had that problem since!

Hot fermentation puts off some bad stuff from the yeasties. Cooler temps reduces that and longer in the primary lets the little buggers clean up after themselves.

Thats another possibility but I ferment in my basement where the temp is a constant 62-64 degrees.

I also secondary ferment, which prevents me from leaving the beer in the primary for longer than a week. Should I just skip secondary and leave it in the primary?

I am also going to try a different water source for my next batch, any suggestions for spring or bottled water?

Meatfoot said:

Thats another possibility but I ferment in my basement where the temp is a constant 62-64 degrees.

I also secondary ferment, which prevents me from leaving the beer in the primary for longer than a week. Should I just skip secondary and leave it in the primary?

I am also going to try a different water source for my next batch, any suggestions for spring or bottled water?

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Can you get reverse osmosis water? usually they have ro water in those big "water machines" in grocery stores and in places like Wal-mart for a good price. That's what I'd dry.

You can try primary-only for one batch, and leave it sit for two weeks before bottling.

Sometimes alkaline or high sulfate water can enhance hops bitterness, but too much may make it a very harsh bitterness, so I'm inclined to think it is your water since those are solid recipes.

Meatfoot said:

Thats another possibility but I ferment in my basement where the temp is a constant 62-64 degrees.

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Anything other than sitting in basement? Like sitting in tub of water in the basement? I ask because the initial thermal activity of the yeast may well push it 10F hotter for the first 3-5 days. So you may be at 74F... depending on your yeast choices, this may be okay, or it may be too warm.

Good suggestion, but I currently don't have anywhere else to ferment that will keep it cool. I also keep an eye on it the fermometer which is fixed to the bucket. It stays pretty constant but I am not sure if that's reading the air or the beer.

I may need to look into getting some kind of fridge for fermenting.

Ill also try getting the reverse osmosis water for my next batch and see if that makes a difference. Also, would it help to test the pH of the water and beer to see if maybe something is off or do I have the wrong idea about that?

Another question, Im going to purchase my next brew tonight. Any suggestions for a good summer beer extract kit?

How much yeast are you pitching and what kind dry or liquid?

Many of the recipes you list are ipas or hybrid ipas... I think a 1 week primary, 2 week secondary schedule is a little quick for this style of beer, especially the 1 week primary.

Try a 30-40 day primary, skip the secondary and then bottle or keg and see if that softens it out some. Also most of these ipas are probably asking for yeast starters for best results.

Summer Beer Suggestion....

Check out my post on Raspberry Wheat.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/raspberry-wheat-volcano-319308/

I used a secondary here only because I put the beer on the fruit. After not using a secondary for so long, it feels kinda odd. Im of the school that longer in the primary and skip the secondary altogether is best. It works for me!

I had a similar problem. Most kit are designed for partial boils. Full boil will cause better hop utilization. After checkin out a few calculators, I cut my bittering hop addition by about 1/3 while keeping the other hop additions the same. Seemed to make a huge difference for me.

Any chance you are unintentionally using hopped malt extract? Those are not meant to be boiled, and adding additional hops might be causing problems.

Water. Its been said, but since its been mentioned and you are already buying bottled water, try distilled water. They sell it right next to the spring water in the market. Many spring waters are high in minerals and will accentuate the bitterness of the early hop additions. Is your bitter also minerally? That would be it.

And dont pull IPA's off the yeast in 7 days if you can help it. Try three weeks primary, two weeks secondary if you are dry hopping, and then bottle.

I use dry yeast in all of the beers I brewed, and all except one were just thrown straight in to the wort and mixed.

As for the primary, Ill try my next batch with no secondary and a 3 week primary if I am not dry hopping. If I am dry hopping or transferring to a secondary, are you supposed to transfer before fermentation stops? I was under the impression that if fermentation stopped I wouldn't get a solid C02 blanket and the beer would go bad during secondary?

And after all the great responses, I think im going to try distilled water, less hop additions, and longer primary with no secondary.

As for my next batch, the raspberry wheat looks very tempting but the summer cucumber brew has my interest peaked.

Thanks again for all the help. As a new brewer I don't know where I would be without HBT!!!

I tried distilled water and it tasted slightly off. I have good luck using the ice mountain spring water bottled. I use the empty 1 gallon plastic bottles to make ice blocks for my ice bath the following time I brew. Trying to waste nothing.

So..... I have the same probem, almost exactly as u described. A year later, I would love to know how many more brews you completed, what they were, what your water choice was and most importantly, how did they turn out?mi just got my equipment for my first AG but everything up to this point was extract. I am into my third batch with a forth in a secondary - lagering. I just kegged the 3rd batch and of course, I tasted it. Bitter on the back of the tongue. The lager tasted like ass but that is a post for another forum...... I would love to hear back! Cheers!