Oops I added way too many hops to my brew. What now?

Brewed a Pale Ale using BM's Nierra Sevada recipe as a starting point. I made a Hop substitute for Perle to what I had on hand, and tinkered with the grain bill a little. I wanted something in the neighborhood of SNPA, but different.

8lb 2-row
1lb Carmel 60L
.5lb Carapils

.5oz Chinook (13.0)
1oz Cascade (7.4) @ 15m
1oz Cascade (7.4) @ 0m
Target OG - 1.046
Target IBUs - 35

Everything was perfect. After a few up and down AG batches, I finally hit my mash temps on the nose this time around, and even though the sparge was slightly stuck due to my SS braid getting bent around a flattened, it was easily corrected.

Problem, was that I had approx 1.5-1.75 oz of Chinook in a bag. I weighed out .5oz for the brew into a different baggie. Sure enough once my boil got rolling, I grabbed the wrong damn bag, and dumped at least an entire oz (maybe a little more) into the boil. By the time I realized it the damage was done. I went ahead and finished with the rest of my hop schedule as planned.

My OG ended up being 1.047 and my IBUs are now somewhere in the 55-65 range. I'd just call it an IPA and be happy with it, but I think the gravity is too low for that many IBUs.

What would you do?

A. Don't worry about it, You'll have a nice Hoppy IPA on your hands.

B. After a few months aging, the bitterness should calm down and be drinkable.

C. Brew another lower IBU batch and cut 50/50 before bottling. (I have enough ingredients left to do this)

Dude...option A

Just leave it and see and get brewing another batch to take your mind of it.

Stuff happens. You may like it. I think trying to blend may make things worse for you. It is hard to predict the outcome. Unless that is something you are interested in doing. It is a crap shoot. The beer may be just fine with a little age or a nice aggresive hoppy beer right away.

I'd be all for #A

I'd say A, then B, then C, and D...make Radlers...

homebrewer_99 said:

I'd say A, then B, then C, and D...make Radlers...

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I swear you just read my mind....Radlers damn it!

Why don't you go ahead and post your "my beer is bitter in the secondary....will it mellow out...?" thread.



No matter how much I prepare for a harsh taste when the beer is green, I'm still always a bit doubtful.


Oh yeah....Option A.

Option A - it actually sounds pretty good to me. I used 0.75oz Chinook 14.4% and 0.25oz Cascade 6.5% 60min, with a 0.75oz Cascade addit at 15 min, and a 0.25 Chinook and 1oz Cascade at flameout in a 1.056 wort. Aggressive, yes. Bad - I don't think it will be.:rockin:

BierMuncher said:

Why don't you go ahead and post your "my beer is bitter in the secondary....will it mellow out...?" thread.

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Because It's still in the Primary of course!

When I think of a hoppy IPA, I think of a OG in the 60's to counter all those IBU's. I know that bitterness will mellow, but I was just a little worried that that a 1.047 could never support an IBU in the 50 or 60s.

I'll probably just bottle as is. If it takes 3 months in the bottle to be drinkable, then so be it.

I would go ahead an go for option C. Brew another batch and mix em. See if you do that, you can mix half of the batch that you think will be too hoppy and you can just go ahead and bottle the other half like it is, you never know you might like it that way.

Plus that way you get a whole nother batch of beer.

Mutilated1 said:

mix half of the batch that you think will be too hoppy and you can just go ahead and bottle the other half like it is, you never know you might like it that way.

Plus that way you get a whole nother batch of beer.

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I had though of that. I'm not a huge hop head, but do like a hop bomb on occasion. I think I'll just leave it all as is and let it age. Crack open a bottle here and there and monitor/record the progress.

However I'll make my final decision after this batch has been in the secondary for 3-4 weeks. Then I'll make an educated guess as to how much more it can mellow in the bottle, and what it will taste like carbed.

Good choice. You'll love it.