Options for Bittering an Under Bittered Beer?

[maltoftheearth]

A couple of weeks ago I put together an American Pale Ale recipe in BeerSmith and indicated additions of .8oz of EKG (5.8%AA, 60 minutes), .8oz Fuggles (4.2%AA, 5 minutes), and .8oz Columbus (13.3%AA, flameout.) Brewed the beer that morning. Great brew day, *thought* there were no problems.

I checked today and all the .8oz additions were actually .5oz additions. It messes me up to move from lbs to ozs I guess.

Anyway, I need some some increasing the bitterness of the beer AND knowing how to measure the IBU's (if possible.) I have some DME and .5 oz of each of the above hops. I would like to do some dry hopping so I was thinking maybe boiling some DME with the Columbus for 30 minutes, that would bring me back up to style.

Here are my questions:

1. How much water & DME do I boil?
2. After cooling I will be adding this to a 5% ABV beer (fermented 2 weeks now with Wyeast 1056) - should I shake up the carboy or do anything like I would do if this were fresh wort?

If anyone has other ideas for how to improve the bitterness of this beer please let me know! Thank you!

 

[NHBeerDude]

I would try using hop extract. I've never used it myself but I think it would be the easiest way to add more bitterness. Check out this link: http://www.hopunion.com/1020_IsomerizedHopExtract.cfm?p4=open

 

[permo]

I would make a hop tea and add it to the bottling bucket or keg after the beer is done. bitterness and hop flavor/aroma will be added.

 

[maltoftheearth]

Hop tea is mainly for dry hopping and not for additional bitterness, correct? I need a bump of about 10 IBU's to get where I need to be ...

 

[billl]

You brewed this a couple weeks ago, right? It's kinda late to be messing with it now. Have you actually tasted it or are you just guessing it needs help?

You could add some lemon peel with you dry hop to give it a little zesty something that imitates bitterness. Might be a nice "lawnmowing" beer.

 

[motobrewer]

i've used the hop tea approach in the past, and it certainly adds bitterness. it worked really well actually.

i'd try it first before messing with it.

 

[ludomonster]

APA's have a pretty wide range of acceptable bitterness. The first addition adds the most bitterness and since you used a hop that isn't going to make it very bitter to begin with, I wouldn't worry about it. I usually round my hop additions to the nearest 0.5 oz. This will probably be a very easy going summer beer.

 

[prrriiide]

I did exactly what you suggest a few weeks ago with an IPA that turned out way too sweet from a late-boil DME addition. In a 6 qt pasta pot, I boiled up 1 oz of simcoe for 60, 1 oz. of summits for 15 and 1.5 oz. cascades for 5. Cooled and added to secondary, then racked onto it. Looked, tasted and smelled promising before I dry-hopped it. Now it looks like it will turn out OK.

 

[permo]

Hop tea is mainly for dry hopping and not for additional bitterness, correct? I need a bump of about 10 IBU's to get where I need to be ...

Make a hop tea once and taste it. Its bitter. I know of at least one brewery that makes a beer with nothing but flameout additions of hops, and the beer is the 25 IBU range. We are all fooling ourselves if we think that our flameout and "post boil" , whirlpool and steeping additions do not add bitterness.

 

[maltoftheearth]

Part of why I said hop tea won't impart much bitterness is b/c BeerSmith indicates it is so. What I am hearing here is just to use my 1.5oz of hops in a tea, add it and se what happens. Hopefully the yeast attenuates the heck out of this beer and I get something dry and mildly hoppy. Cheers.

 

[ResumeMan]

I'd have to say +1 to the alpha acid extract idea. It'll be your most straightforward and controllable approach I think.

 

[ludomonster]

Make a hop tea once and taste it. Its bitter. I know of at least one brewery that makes a beer with nothing but flameout additions of hops, and the beer is the 25 IBU range. We are all fooling ourselves if we think that our flameout and "post boil" , whirlpool and steeping additions do not add bitterness.

This depends on how long it remains at high temperatures. If you chill the wort, you're quickly dropping the temperature to a point where AA isomerization is no longer occurring at a significant rate.

Furthermore, dry hopping may make your beer more bitter, but won't increase your IBU's.

 

[maltoftheearth]

Furthermore, dry hopping may make your beer more bitter, but won't increase your IBU's.

Could you explain this part of your comment to me. How does hop tea make your beer more bitter but not in a measurable way?

 

[billl]

There are lots of bitter tastes in the world that have nothing to do with AA.

 

[DPBISME]

Very helpful... I bought a keggerator and got some beer at the same time... I think the beer is a bit sweet, (maybe an infection since it has an odd taste also but I think it is the Palisades hops used) I am cheap and would rather risk 4 bucks of hops than toss out 15 gallons of beer... Hell.... I plan to give it away anyway to a party but something needs to be done to lighten and bitter it up.... Normally I would "blend" one of my beers into it but I have nothing dry and hoppy right now to use... Until this post I considered getting case or two of BUD and turning these three (3) Corney Kegs into four (4) drinkable beers... I figure the light, dry, fizzy stuff will work very well to turn this beer into a drinkable ale... Cheap? you say I'm Cheap? Well maybe buit it is about $80 worth of materials... that and I just don't believe in wasting beer unless you have no other choice....

 

[ludomonster]

Could you explain this part of your comment to me. How does hop tea make your beer more bitter but not in a measurable way?

Dry hopping generally doesn't involve boiling hops. You just dump them in (or put them in a bag). The alpha acids don't isomerize, so the IBU's don't go up.