Partial Boil vs Full Boil

[smoothlarryhughes]

I've tasted my first 2 homebrews so far..the first was an extract brown ale with specialty grains (http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/CaribouSlobber.pdf)...the 2nd a ryi ipa partial mash (http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/PM-RyePA.pdf).

Both were recipes from Northern Brewer for partial boils. I did full boils, and used all of the hops. Both beers have a bitter after taste. RypPA is only 1 week bottled...so maybe its just too young. Do you think this is caused by the better hop utilization of doing a full boil? I have 2 all grain batches fermenting right now and I'm hoping they won't have this bitter after taste to them. Thoughts?

 

[Yooper]

My experience has been that doing a full boil (or adding the extract later in the boil) DID give me more bittering, even though new research shows that isn't the case.

One thing to think about when you talk about bitterness, though- especially in an aftertaste, is water chemistry. What kind of water do you use?

 

[smoothlarryhughes]

I have only been using my tap water...which in my opinion has no off flavors to it. Although my IPA does have a bitter aftertaste...it is only bottled a week, and most commercial ipa's i've tasted also have a bitter aftertaste. these beers are quite good...i'm just just curious about this slightly bitter aftertaste.

my 2 beers in the fermenter are an English pale ale all grain, and i just did a bev hefeweizen today. i'm hoping they turn out to be good.

 

[smoothlarryhughes]

another quick question...my Bavarian hefeweizen i brewed today...batch sparge had an original gravity of 1.050 at 5.25 gallons into the fermenter. this was at about 68 degrees. i put this into hopville.com and its calculating that i got 86% efficiency...this is only my 2nd all grain batch and that seems a bit high to me...but hey...maybe i got lucky. is this calculation accurate...here is the link to my recipe.

http://hopville.com/recipe/478158/weizen-weissbier-recipes/bavarian-hefeweizen---all-grain

 

[jonmohno]

bitter is good if its balanced.Maybe your not use to ipa's? I remember my first Two Hearted Ale(ipa) I actually didnt like it at first then had another a week later, since then it became one of my favorite beers.I think pale ales are bitter,and have not found one i liked until i tried two brothers pale ale,maybe because it was a malty pale.
Ive found the wort is pretty bitter in my higher alpha beers but with time im shure it will balance with the right recipe.If your talking about wort taste too.
you might want to check the ibu's on those kits too, the american brown ales tend to be higher in hops,Im guessing its a little over 30 IBU's? And a rye ipa- well it is an ipa! Cheers. 3 oz of hops is a good amount for a brown-so that ale is on the hoppy side for a brown.I dont really think you did anything wrong -just maybe didnt check the ibu's on the kit?
Then again more water= more hop utilalization?

 

[ajf]

another quick question...my Bavarian hefeweizen i brewed today...batch sparge had an original gravity of 1.050 at 5.25 gallons into the fermenter. this was at about 68 degrees. i put this into hopville.com and its calculating that i got 86% efficiency...this is only my 2nd all grain batch and that seems a bit high to me...but hey...maybe i got lucky. is this calculation accurate...here is the link to my recipe.

http://hopville.com/recipe/478158/weizen-weissbier-recipes/bavarian-hefeweizen---all-grain

I put the recipe into Promash.
With 5.25g in the fermenter, it came up with 75% efficiency.
To get 86% efficiency, you would need to have 6g at 1.051

-a.