How to fix a bitter beer (if it is)

[cklages]

Okay I'm not a complete noob, only a partial noob, however after todays brew session, i realize that I don't know as much as I thought I did. I look forward to any and all suggestions

I tried to make my first pumpkin beer (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/samhain-pumpkin-ale-140674/). After sparging, I took a gravity reading, then converted for temperature, and it came out to 1.055 preboil. I ran that through a calulator and realized that I would be looking at 1.070 or so postboil, and figured that I just overshot my gravity by getting better efficiency than I had expected. I ran this through a calculator, and figured that I had better add some more hops to balance the alcohol and sweetness. I added 2 oz of willamette at 60 min (I didn't have any high alpha hops), but otherwise followed the recipe (although I used cinnamon sticks instead of powder and whole allspice instead of ground).

It never occurred to me that pumpkin might have worked its way through the mash tun and thown off the gravity readings. I took a gravity reading prior to putting it into primary after the cold break had settled, and I ended up with 1.054 after the boil(just like the recipe said I should). Now according to my calulations, I only boosted the IBU's by 30% but I tasted the wort prior to adding the yeast (notty from the suspect lot, yikes), oh my good crap is it ever bitter. I don't normally taste wort post boil, so I don't know if this is normal, but the bitterness was really suprising.

I'm going to let it run its course in primary, but if this doesn't fade, should I boil up a little water and a pound of DME and boost the alcohol to balance this? Would I be better off mail-ordering some lactose to try to balance it with sweetness? I'm not really looking for a sweet or a high alcohol beer, but I would really prefer that it was drinkable.

I know that I should just relax, worst case scenario is that this was a good learning experience, but I'm kind of curious what I should expect, and how one should deal with a bitter beer.

Thanks for reading

 

[shelly_belly]

30% of 22 is only 6.6 so I wouldn't worry about it or do anything to adjust. I sample all my wort post boil and always find it 'suprisingly' bitter.

 

[cklages]

Thanks for that, I really should be tasting post boil more often to try to get a sense of what is normal.

 

[pwndabear]

if it does end up more bitter than you would like, i dont see why you couldnt do the dme addition, however i personally wouldnt mess with it. To me, that's like poking an open wound with a stick: leave it alone and it'll heal with time.

Which is what I would do. Leave it alone, give it some extra time if you need to, and you'll be drinking it before you know it.

 

[Andy_LV]

I also sample worts, they taste extremely bitter compared to end product.

well, if you end up with IPA style and its too much, just wait - bitterness will fade out in time and beer will mellow considerably just in few months of room temp storage.

 

[wyzazz]

I also sample worts, they taste extremely bitter compared to end product.

well, if you end up with IPA style and its too much, just wait - bitterness will fade out in time and beer will mellow considerably just in few months of room temp storage.

+1, time will make the bitterness fade...

 

[sgillespie]

I agree, I've only done a handful of batches so far, and I notice that freshly boiled wort usually has a harsh bitterness. I always tell myself the best thing to do is relax, don't worry.

 

[cklages]

Thanks all for the responses. I knew that hop flavour would fade, but I was not aware that the bitterness would fade as well. That is very good news, I will definitely leave it. Worst case scenario now is that I will have a well balanced beer for next halloween