Highly Overhopped Batch! Can I fix it?

[spaceyaquarius]

Partial grain recipe (used 6 lbs. DME) of Belgian Wheat Hoegaarden Clone:

My local home brew store looked at my recipe and sold me 1.5 oz. East Kent Goldings AA 7.2% hops when the recipe calls for East Kent Goldings AA 4.3%. (also 1 oz Chezk Saas hop). They were pellet hops too.

Placed in primary fermenter 2.5 weeks (kept at 62-75 F), then transferrred to the keg with a siphon (no sediment transferred). Boiled 2 cups of water and added 3.3 oz of corn sugar to the keg and then I let sit at 60-70 F for 2.5 weeks. Made sure to purge the keg of oxygen.

The batch was completely over-hopped. I mixed 1 tablespoon of gelatin finings into 5 oz. of water at 165 F and stirred into the kegged batch. Purged the tank of oxygen and waited 2 days. The over hopped taste didn't go away (bitterness on the back of the tongue), but was a little less hopped. Repeated the 1 tbps every 2 days (total of 8 tbps gelatin finings), and now the beer is clear (the yeast has settled out) but the hops taste never really went away. It tastes nothing like Hoegaarden, but is there ANY WAY to get rid of the hops taste, because it tastes horrible, not even acceptable as an IPA.

I'm about to pour it down the drain as I only have one keg. The gelatin finings aren't settling anything else in the keg, the beer just comes out the same after additional gelatin.

 

[Klutz]

Throw a party, invite your friends over to drink it!
Most people don't complain much about free beer!

 

[NivekD]

Bottle it...leave it alone for a couple months...then give it a try.

 

[flars]

Yes, go to the bottle and let it age for a couple months.

 

[Queequeg]

Is it the bitterness or the aroma/flavour that is the proble? Age will fix the aroma/flavour, I'm not so sure about the IBU's.

 

[jro238]

Gelatin won't really do much to hoppyness (but, like you said, you have nice, clear beer now). Age will help it some but you could also try to blend it with another batch since bitterness won't decrease that much with age.

This being said: are you sure this is just overhopped? Assuming all 1.5oz was added at 60 minutes in a full boil, you're looking at something like a 17ibu difference between the 7.2% and 4.3%. This will definitely make a difference in flavor, but it doesn't seem so great as to turn a good beer undrinkable.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

Did you say overhopped? Is that even possible? just say its a take on a gumballhead or 80 acre clone...

 

[SHBSJon]

I don't think 1.5 oz of hops at 7.2aa could make for a beer that needs dumped. Could it be astringency instead?

 

[sikkingj]

The easiest answer is to let it sit in the keg for a month or two. Use this opportunity to buy another corney, so you can develop your pipeline - you even get to blame this on your LHBS to your SWMBO.

 

[Tim_Kreitz]

It sounds like something else may've gone wrong. Are you sure the bad flavor is from the hops? I've had lots of overly hopped homebrew beers over the years from a variety of brewers, a few intentionally brewed to theoretic maximum IBU, and none of them I can remember were "undrinkable" due to hop utilization. In fact, many of them kicked ass.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

It was definitely a bitter, over-hopped taste (back of the tongue after 1-2 seconds). Not astrigent at all.

I think I'm just being picky about wanting the perfect tasting beer. Other people tasted it and thought it was fine, definitely drinkable, but a little hoppy, and even they thought it tastes nothing like a wheat beer.

The "undrinkable" part I am thinking now, was from undercarbonation + hoppiness (and I don't like strong hop flavor). Pouring it out was an overreaction...

It still tastes nothing like Hoegaarden, but live and learn.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!

 

[troy2000]

My first foray into brewing was a Mr. Beer extract kit labeled 'classic American Light Beer,' or something like that; I picked it up for half-price at Kmart. Let's just say I drank what I made... waste not, want not.

For my second attempt I bought a two-gallon Mr. Beer saison kit, consisting of a can of HME and a packet of dry Belle Saison yeast. I decided to combine it with a two-gallon BIAB, and took advice from the owner of my LHBS on what hops to use and how many. I don't think it sank in on him that half of my batch was going to be HME, which is already hopped.... he recommended 2 oz of Mt. Hood: half at the beginning of the boil, and half the last ten minutes.

It's been in bottles for the last five weeks, and the hops show no sign of going away. At first I was upset. Now I realize that hey... I don't have a bad beer; I just have a hoppy beer. And some people love hops. I gave one of my coworkers a bottle because he likes Arrogant Bastard and IPA's, and he came back and told me he'll take as much of the batch as I'm willing to let go of.

Lesson learned: not hitting your target doesn't necessarily mean you made a bad beer. Chances are pretty good it just means you made a good beer that isn't the beer you were trying to make...

 

[Tim_Kreitz]

Lesson learned: not hitting your target doesn't necessarily mean you made a bad beer. Chances are pretty good it just means you made a good beer that isn't the beer you were trying to make...

Exactly. Plus, there is so much style-creep going on right now that no matter what you end up with, so long as it tastes good you can probably find a category for it.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

I drank one batch very slowly. I have another batch that is just sitting in the primary fermenter bucket for 2 months now. The gelatin finings did make a difference in the taste, and it was drinkable, but still pretty bitter. Should waiting another 4 months allow some of the hops to settle? I guess it's probably too late to add honey? Hmmm.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

About 2 months now after brewing and the batch is on the CO2 now, after checking a test pour, the bitterness has really lowered! 100% drinkable. The sediment (trub) clogged up my diptube on the 1st pour, but I just cleaned it out with a beer line brush.

THANKS!!!

 

[Zepth]

Good to hear things worked out. I tried adding some extra hops to a canned kit and the sample bottle a few days ago had a little more bite than expected. I've been planning to leave it for exactly "a while" before trying again. Your experience has given me more hope for the future.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

Good to hear things worked out. I tried adding some extra hops to a canned kit and the sample bottle a few days ago had a little more bite than expected. I've been planning to leave it for exactly "a while" before trying again. Your experience has given me more hope for the future.

Good. I've also read that people who really love strong bitter IPA's will check the "best before date" on the 6-packs from the liquor store because shipping time and shelf time lowers the bitterness of the hops. The longer a hoppy beer sits around, the less hoppy it gets.

I used to just drink my badly flavored beers only because I had 1 primary fermenter and 1 secondary fermenter. I've also read on HBT that most batches can be fixed (except for chemical or bacterial contamination), so you don't pour out your batch.
:rockin: