back sweetening a Pale Ale

[hopbrad]

I brewed 20 gallons of my hoppy pale ale. I screwed something up along the way and my efficiency SUCKED so i fixed it with more fermentables.
Recipe was 25lbs pils, 15lbs MO.
2.5 oz Columbus @ 90
2 oz centennial @ 15
2 oz cascade @ 15
2 oz simcoe @ 5
2 oz columbus @ 5
2 oz citra @ 0
2 oz galaxy @ 0
2 oz citra DH
2 oz Cascade DH

It came out to 1.046. usually comes out around 1.058-1.060.
I had some extract on hand so i added that, got it up to 1.050, then the rest with table sugar to get to 1.054. well i guess that was too much sugar and my gravity went all the way down to 1.005. usually ends up at 1.012-1.014 range.
tasted good (warm/flat) as i siphoned it into the keg.
fast forward 2-3 weeks:
all carbed up but way too dry and the hop bitterness overpowers it. also has a cardboard/tannic off flavor(maybe carbonic bite or oxygenated somehow). which i feel is accentuated from the dryness and bitterness.
on the positive side it has a great hop aroma and no alcohol burn from the low FG.
I hate messing with it but its all out of wack and I think it needs something to balance out the hop bitterness and cover the tannic/carboard flavor. I am serving it in kegs so i dont have to worry about bottle bombs.
I have the following on hand:
malt extract
table sugar
stevia
honey

Im thinking .25-.5lb of sugar per keg the day of the party so no chance of it fermenting out, even at cold temps.

 

[GCPHomebrew]

.5lb honey morning of party would taste awesome. I would boil it with a cup of water and then cool before adding it. Be aware adding to a carbed keg can lead to a gusher.

 

[GCPHomebrew]

As for your recipe I would change the hip schedule

2.0 Columbus @ 90

4oz anything(your choice) @ 0

The rest dry hop!
You will have perfect bitterness and huge hop aroma and flavor

 

[hopbrad]

As for your recipe I would change the hip schedule

2.0 Columbus @ 90

4oz anything(your choice) @ 0

The rest dry hop!
You will have perfect bitterness and huge hop aroma and flavor

Thanks! the honey is a great idea. i think i will go with that.

Its funny you mention that hop schedule. I have another 20 gallons fermenting and cut down the columbus to 2 oz and did my other additions at 4oz @ 5 and 4oz @ 0 and saving more for dry hop. My plate chiller and ground water temp take about 15 mins to chill. So i got to thinking some of that near boiling wort is in contact with the hops for an extra 15 minutes. May experiment with hop stands too. I hear they are great for flavor and aroma