Bitter taste

[poppalarge]

Here's one that's not really an issue but more just something that has piqued my interest. The last couple of batches I have brewed have used Wyeast American Ale II, (smack pack, no starter) when they're finished fermenting and have been in the bottle for a couple of weeks I get this really bitter flavour. It tastes like extreme hop bitterness but I'd usually put it down to yeast bite. Both batches have been hop forward. After 3-4 weeks in the bottle the bitterness dissipates somewhat and the beer tastes great. Wired thing is, when I was using Safale,05 I never had these issues. I am using exact and topping off, so in Beersmith my recipe is accounting for the smaller volume and I'm having to use more hops. I've seen this disputed before on these forums. So, my question is...What is causing it? Is it yeast bite? Am I over using the bittering hops and the bitterness is dropping out eventually? Is it just young beer? Or something else?

 

[Magic8Ball]

Try brewing a low IBU beer. If you still get the "bite" then you could eliminate hop usage angle. Have you changed anything else in your process?

 

[poppalarge]

Try brewing a low IBU beer. If you still get the "bite" then you could eliminate hop usage angle. Have you changed anything else in your process?

It's no real comparison, but I brewed a hefeweizen in between these batches and it was pretty great, so it could be hop utilisation.

But how quickly does bittering, or over bittering dissipate. I assumed it would be longer than 3-4 weeks?

 

[duboman]

Curious but what hops are you using for bittering, some can be harsh, I've never really heard of "Yeast bite".....HOw are your handling your yeast, pitch rate, aeration, temperature control? I've used these yeasts many times and have never experienced what you describe. Especially after good conditioning time

 

[jro238]

While hop flavor and especially aroma will dissipate in a relatively short period, I believe that hop bitterness pretty stays with the beer much better.