Help, too much hop, what to do now?

[Ohnee]

Hey brewers! Ugh, after reading so much here and on other pages, I finally started my first brew two days ago.
Something went wrong in translation though, and I basically added 4x as much hops as I planned (1 oz apparently is 28gram, not 100gram, MY BADDD!!)

So I used Coopers Brew A (hopped LME) and their light dry malt extract, made 23L (5gallon?) according to their instructions (I believe it is 1,7kg LME and 1,5kg DME)
I did a hop boil of 20min:
50g (so about 2oz) of Cascade 20min
25g of Citra 20min
50g of Citra at 5min

and then 50g and 25g of Citra at flameout

now, the schedule might be crap as well, but I'm mostly worried about the flavour (for now) and what could I do?

I have half a mind of just letting it be, bottle, taste and learn. The other half thinks I can add more water and DME to 28L to at least "dilute" it somewhat more.

Any advice (and friendly banter) welcome

 

[davidabcd]

It sounds like a double IPA without the high alcohol content. I've seen a lot heavier hop schedule done on purpose. Plus you only boiled them for twenty minutes. I would let it ride.

 

[cubalz]

With you only boiling them for 20 mins, I would not worry about it.

 

[Pkrd]

and then 50g and 25g of Citra at flameout

What do you mean by this?

Beer will be fine. You need to dry hop though. What have you got left?

 

[BrewAgain]

I would let it ride. Shouldn't be too bitter. Worst case, serve it to your no so close friends. Enjoy it. Brewing is not just about drinking, it's about learning. This is a multi discipline science study. The best part is you are not graded unless you want to be.

Brew on

 

[Ohnee]

What do you mean by this?

Beer will be fine. You need to dry hop though. What have you got left?

I mean I added it (50g cascade, 25g citra) when I turned off the stove, so 0min boil, but it's in there.

I planned dry hopping with 1oz each (which in my mind WAS 100g), but I think I will skip that now though. I have nothing left atm.

 

[RM-MN]

A chemist once wrote, "The solution to pollution is dilution" so you could dilute the beer to get less bitter beer but...you also could just go with what you have and call it a learning experience.

I will guess that this is a 5 gallon (20 liter) batch and you don't have a 12 gallon fermenter so making the batch bigger is more difficult. I don't think that making it a 28 liter batch instead of 20 will be enough change to make it worth your while.

 

[goodolarchie]

You could always add a couple grams of calcium chloride to a bit of boiled water (sanitary), let it cool, and add it to your keg/bottling bucket. It will add a bit more "roundedness" and take the edge off the hop bitterness You can get a sense for the effect it has by adding a couple granules to your glass with the beer before you commit to it. Your other best friend is time, which will slowly blunt the edge of hop bitterness...

 

[Ohnee]

I actually took a SG/FG measurement (1.020, so probably not there yet) and tasted my beer, and it was not too bitter! Now, I have 0 experience tasting these young beers, so I don't know how it will turn out in a week/month. It now had very rich, "hoppy", sweet aroma on the nose, and taste was quite bitter (and not sweet at all), but definitely not too bitter. I'm so curious for the final result. Thanks for your support above, I did myself a scare

 

[Pappers_]

Add me to the 'let it be' category.

 

[Ohnee]

For those interested; I think this beer turned out very nice, quite balanced (a tad too sweet as well as too bitter for my liking) in the end. Great hop aroma and flavor! It has remained "cloudy". I'm not at all disappointed for a first try at beer brewing!

 

[Transamguy77]

Glad to hear it!

 

[Ohnee]

Another update;
the whole batch has gone! My final thoughts on it: I should've been more patient and let the beer age a bit more, it just got better (more smooth I would say) every week. The very last bottles were used with a tasting with some friends where we also had 3 local commercial IPAs from the shop and we all liked the coopers one better. It remained cloudy by the way.

The next batches (Coopers Real ale kit and a partial mash Belgian blonde, both made with S-04) will soon be ready, but the Coopers IPA with these hops will make a return in the future for sure!