Blending to save an overly bitter Extract Beer

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Hi All,

Just after some advice - I brewed a 12L Batch of this beer using a Coopers Australian Pale Ale Can (that's the 1.7k LME in brewers friend) + 500g of Flaked rye. I was following a friends recipe and trying to halve it - however did the wrong thing and used the same hop bill for a full batch. Now the beer is super bitter. I've had a few of them, after 4 weeks, and given some away. I've left them for nearly 3 months now and although the bitterness has somewhat subsided it's a marginal drop and it's still far too bitter to drink a 330ml bottle.

Here's the thing, I've got around 15 bottles of the stuff left totally around 5L, and I'd rather not dump it. I was thinking of opening all 15 bottles, pouring them into my clean fermenter, adding a can of LME and yeast and letting it ferment again.


Here are some thoughts - but would appreciate input as I don't want to waste money to trying to save a bad beer, but if it's worthwhile will give it a go.

Pro's:

The hop armoma is amazing
Lovely colour
Got a fair bit of it left
I hate dumping beer

Con's:

Not balanced by the malt - overpoweringly bitter
Not got less bitter with time
Will I ruin a beer by blending it this way?
Sanitation issues?

brewers friend.JPG
 
I think you'll just oxidize the remaining beer really quickly. What if you just brew and bottle a small batch with very low bitterness, and mix them in the glass?
 
Mixing in the glass is far better ideA. I had a toucan stout that was way too overkill. I mixed with a lighter lager and voila! Beauty in a glass
 
I think you'll just oxidize the remaining beer really quickly. What if you just brew and bottle a small batch with very low bitterness, and mix them in the glass?

I was afraid that might be the case - I think mixing in the glass is the way to go. Heck I could test that now with another beer and see how it goes.
The only downside is that I have to drink two beers, which won't make my wife too happy.
 
Ok so here's what I did:

1 x Coopers Australian pale ale kit
100g Belgian Blonde candi sugar
50g dextrose
4 liters of super bitter fully brewed and bottled beer - as above.
Made it up to a little over 10L in the fermenter.
Pitched the kit yeast at 24C or thereabouts.

The OG reading on my "beer" hydrometer said it would be around 7% - somewhere around the 1.060 mark. Samples tasted really nice!

Who knows - this may work - if it does it will be the strangest brew I've done.
I'll give an update in a few weeks once I've bottled and conditioned.
 
Ok so after some digging - http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9932&start=20#p99360

Found that the Australian Pale ale kit would be around 58 IBU at 10L - 25 IBU at 23L if you used an enhancer or brewing sugar.

Any idea how to account for 4L of already brewed beer at 116 IBU added to the fermenter?

I'm hoping this will be around half the IBUs of the previous beer, but also a lot more balanced in terms of sweetness from the malt in the can - I've also heard that alcohol will add a "sweetness" that should help balance out the bitterness - however provided it doesn't dry it out to 1.002 or something like that!
 
Some more quick maths. I read recently on beer smith.com that there is a ratio for BU:GU - so for my first beer including the Ibu of the kit at 25 + the hops at 116 = total of 141 Ibu. So the ratio 141:46 (46 from 1.046 OG) which means in real terms a bitterness ratio of 3.5 nearly 4.5 times over what an English IPA should be to be in style at 0.8 to 1.0 or so.

My new beer at at 90 Ibu allowing for the kit Ibu of 58 and 33 for the blended beer means a ratio of 91:70 or 1.28 so not overly bitter but in real terms what I've done is reduce this beer to a third as bitter as it was previously. Now I'm hoping I haven't let any wild yeast get in there and cause any infections. It's currently fermenting like crazy!

Hope someone is reading this feel like I'm talking to myself
 
I'm still reading. It sounds more like an English IPA now. I run my numbers through Brewer's Friend, it matches styles. But if it's close to something I like, I don't worry.
 
Yeah I was a bit worried by the 90IBU tag, but given that in real terms its reduced to a 3rd of the bitterness it was previously, plus its now 7% ABV instead around 4, it's probably going to be a really nice beer. I'm the same with styles - as long as it's close and within range i don't worry.
 
Had a taste of the samples at 1.016/7 and it tastes really nice. Got a lovely citrusy hop bite, and a solid malt backbone, but not too sweet.
You wouldn't know it was a 7% beer - low alcohol taste.

Dry hopped it yesterday with 13g of Columbus (15% AA) - all I had left, so hopefully will add some more good Hop aroma - it was the primary bittering hop used in the first batch.

No sour taste, or sign of infection so it's all looking good. Can't wait to bottle it!
 
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