Something funny happened on the way to the fermentor.... (recipe critique)

[yeoitsmatt]

So my dad is new to homebrewing and loves IPA's. He is convinced more hops is always better hence this recipe/ hop schedule:

3lbs Pilsner Malt (30mins @ 152F)
6.6lbs LME Pils Light

1oz. Simcoe --60
1oz. Simcoe -- 45
0.5 oz. Citra -- 30
0.5oz. Citra -- 20
0.5oz. Amarillo --10
0.5oz. Amarillo -- 5

Dry Hop; 7 days 1.oz citra, 1oz. Amarillo
.... after the boil

So after it was all done, he took a hydro reading which came in around1.050; anyway. For some reason there was this white-ish looking goo swirling around in the cylander. I tasted it and it was sweet. The wort was sweet. Given the hop schedule it should be bitter as all hell.... now today after a month he bottled it. I tasted it and its not that bad at all... but my question is why the heck isnt this bitter as all hell given the hop schedule? He had to of screwed up somewhere for that goo to appear and the wort to not be bitter.... the whole time i was telling him to roll back that hop schedule and now its as if i was wrong... and he thinks he's some sort of genius brewer with a vision.... but i think he's careless and made a few mistakes... has this happened to anyone ever? do the laws of physics cease to exist on my stove?

 

[Majafoo]

The white goo is probably just coagulated protein (hot break and cold break?) The hops you used have pretty low alpha acids, they're typically used for just aroma and flavor, you should use high alpha acid ( bittering) hops like Columbus or galena. Not to mention that isn't really a huge amount of hops

 

[terrapinj]

simcoe is usually in the 12% ballpark, def not too low to get a present bitterness. citra is usually around 12%+ as well

do you know what his FG was? depending how much attenuation he got that could impact the residual sweetness of the beer

water chemistry plays a big role in perception of bitterness.

also carbonation will impact the final flavor as well

did he do a full or partial boil with top off? when you top off you are cutting your IBU down so it is harder to get above 50IBU with partial boil depending on how much water was added after the boil

he didn't use too many hops for an ipa. i prefer to put most hops in after 20min to focus more on flavor/aroma than bitterness. in general the 45min and 30min additions are a little wasteful because you don't get much flavor and don't get the full potential of the bitterness

 

[yeoitsmatt]

simcoe 13%, citra 13%, amarillo 10.4%............ he did a 4 gal boil, then when the wort was pulled off the stove he just dumped 2 gallons of cold water into it....

 

[yeoitsmatt]

yea... idk what that other guy was talking about when he said simcoe is in the low alpha acids.... maybe in canada?

 

[terrapinj]

the top off diluted some of the bitterness but it still looks like quite a tasty beer

if your pops wants really bitter ipas he should switch to full boils when he can

also my personal suggestion would be to invest in some neutral high AA hops like magnum or warrior to use for bittering and save the scarce hops to use as flavor and aroma additions

my usual ipa additions go something like:
60min bittering addition
20-10min flavor
5-flameout aroma
heavy dry hop

 

[Dirty25]

What type of yeast did he use? The clean American strain us-05/1056/wlp-001 would let the hops come through more while a btittish strain could have dulled the bitterness.

 

[yeoitsmatt]

white labs cali... also... the hop schedule according to beer calculus is 140IBU.......... i never usually use beer calc but i also never use that amount of hops.... I'm just trying to explain the lack of bitterness given the hop schedule........................