Way too many hops by mistake.

[caesius]

I've started trying to do things a bit more "by hand", I used to buy a kit and sugar but then I migrated to hopped extract and using a good yeast.

My next step was to buy unhopped extract and do my own hop additions.

What a mistake.

I didn't read up about AAUs or anything else to do with hops for that matter. So now due to my own laziness I have really really bitter beer.

Please don't laugh but I've been adding the whole 100g (~3.57 oz) vacuum bag at 60 minutes. I sampled the beer after bottling and it is very nice and malty up front then you're hit with this unbelievable bitterness that lasts for about 30 seconds after you spit the beer out.

Will time do anything to smooth this out? I've learned from my mistake I promise...

Cheers.

tl;dr version
1. started adding own hops
2. didn't read anything about hop addition, added way to much at boil
3. will anything save this super-bitter-but-in-the-wrong-way beer?

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Time will help, how much is unsure. Thats not terribly hoppy though, ive done worse on purpose. Give it 3 weeks and try it again. maybe it will balance. Post your whole recipe and we will run it through and see what you have.

 

[caesius]

Sure,

1 can light LME - 1.5kg/3.3lb
2 bags of light DME, unhopped - total: 1kg/2.2lb
100g NZ green bullet, Alpha 11.7
Saflager S-23 yeast

Partial boil, final volume 20 litres (5.28 gallons)

Cheers.

 

[davesrose]

3.5 oz of hops isn't necessarily a terrible bitterness in hops....if you balance it out. I'm always making sure that if I'm winging a hop addition, I always try to have an equal amount of AA present for boiling hops and then aroma hops (so within 15 minutes of flameout). You can get a surprisingly high IBU that way. PAs also tend to have a higher gravity then some other ales to help balance out the hops.

As for your current batch....sure, after several months that bitterness in your bottles will start to mellow out. Afterall, hoppy IPAs were first made to be able to withstand long sea voyages and still taste like ale after months of being in transit. Looks like you're saying you've learned your lesson about hop additions for future batches, but are wondering about what's in your bottles now. Give it time or find some friends who like the hop bite (but not necessarily, American "citrus aroma" of a typical hoppy beer).

 

[sunblock]

It will mellow some over time like all have said. I have never used that particular hop so I cant be any help as to how fast though. Let sit for at least a week cold conditioning once it is ready and who knows you may start to like it. I have turned into quite a hop head myself

 

[pkpdogg]

It will mellow some over time like all have said. I have never used that particular hop so I cant be any help as to how fast though. Let sit for at least a week cold conditioning once it is ready and who knows you may start to like it. I have turned into quite a hop head myself

+1 to this. Don't sweat it! The bitterness will certainly mellow over time, but keep tasting as you can. You just may grow to love the hoppy characteristics of the beer and become quite a hop head. A few pints of Pliny, a Green Flash Imperial IPA, and Dogfish 90min IPA are what did me in!

 

[Darkstashcrashes]

Way too many hops

*Looks around for problem*

?

 

[nealf]

Another option would be to brew a 5 gallon batch with a very light bitterness (.5 oz of hops?)... but using the same aroma/flavor hops and then blending the two batches...

edit: I see you have already bottled the batch... try one again in a few months and see if there is any decrease in hop bitterness, i suppose.

 

[caesius]

Thanks for all replies, to those saying you can never have too many hops I guarantee this brew would have you spitting it right out.

It's not a nice kind of bitterness, but rather a harsh back of the throat feeling, kinda like munching back on a whole lot of orange peel. The weird this is the taste is great up front, really full and malty. Then this bitterness hits like a truck. It really is a disgusting taste - and I enjoy bitter beer.

Maybe I'm wrong and it's not the hops, maybe I messed something else up.

 

[Darkstashcrashes]

Thanks for all replies, to those saying you can never have too many hops I guarantee this brew would have you spitting it right out.

That's a challenge right there!

 

[Reedwalker]

That's a challenge right there!

I'm your Huckleberry!

Malty delicious up front, orange peel in the back.

I think I have my next recipe.

 

[Trubadour]

...So it gives you bitter beer face??

 

[nealf]

That's a challenge right there!

I threw it into beersmith to see what the numbers should come out to... I believe these should be right:

OG: 1.039
IBU: 170 (rager)

 

[Darkstashcrashes]

Alright let's do this thing!

 

[slomo]

Wait... Im confused, is there suppose to be a problem in this thread!

 

[beerkrump]

Yeah, he forgot to dry hop.

 

[MrShake]

Wait wait wait!!

Woah Woah

Wait wait wait!!

Woah Woah

Wait wait wait!!

Woah Woah

Wait wait wait!!

Woah Woah

Please don't laugh but I've been adding the whole 100g (~3.57 oz) vacuum bag at 60 minutes. I sampled the beer after bottling and it is very nice and malty up front then you're hit with this unbelievable bitterness that lasts for about 30 seconds after you spit the beer out.

You spit the beer out?

 

[caesius]

Wait wait wait!!

Woah Woah

Wait wait wait!!

Woah Woah

Wait wait wait!!

Woah Woah

Wait wait wait!!

Woah Woah





You spit the beer out?

Lol. Yeah only because of the bitterness that hits though. Thanks to whoever put the numbers through that program, 120 IBUs looks ridiculously high from what I read at International Bitterness Units scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Killer_Robot]

Another option would be to brew a 5 gallon batch with a very light bitterness (.5 oz of hops?)... but using the same aroma/flavor hops and then blending the two batches...

edit: I see you have already bottled the batch... try one again in a few months and see if there is any decrease in hop bitterness, i suppose.

That had come to mind for me even so. Is there any reason you can't take a ready to bottle beer in the bottling bucket, carefully empty the too-hoppy bottled beer in, stir out the excess CO2, reprime, and bottle to make a blend. I'd imagine the CO2 foaming off the bottled stuff would displace oxygen and make oxidizing the beer in the process less likely.

If it's that bitter, I might suggest making the other beer entirely without bittering and just add some aroma hops at flameout.

 

[isleofman]

assuming you added all the extract at the beginning of the boil and that you did a 3 gallon boil, i calculated an IBU of ~135-140. I believe the human palate can only detect differences in bitterness upwards of 100 IBUs.

do yourself a favor and read How to Brew - By John Palmer - Introduction.

IBU stuff:
How to Brew - By John Palmer - Hop Bittering Calculations

 

[hopsoda]

Man up and drink it. ... er --- wo-man up and drink it , you made it now drink up.
It's a good mistake , it's still beer

I'm sure we have all made something less than what we were going for I have a few cases of beer sitting waiting for them to come around ... but they still taste off. but ill wait and drink one every month to see if they got any better ... then i cringe and finish the bottle wait another month and do it again.

Don't spit it out! the harsh stuff is what grows hair on you chest .. er wait this isn't helping.

 

[Clayton]

i think most of you are missing that all 100g (~3.57 oz) of that high AA hop %11.7
where boiled for 60 min
so its all bitter no hop flavor or aroma

 

[barracudamagoo]

i think most of you are missing that all 100g (~3.57 oz) of that high AA hop %11.7
where boiled for 60 min
so its all bitter no hop flavor or aroma

Where'd ya dig that fancy graph up from? I to say let it set and see what happens? Worse comes to worse, make another batch, get your buddies good and schnockered, then bust out the bitter beer....they will probably never notice

 

[weirdboy]

I say make another batch with extremely low hops, blend it with the first one, and then dry hop it.

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Heracy!!!! heracy i say!!! I hop my hopsferatu dark alot harder than that using warrior(2oz 60min) columbus(1oz 30 min) and cascacdes(1oz 15 min) Dryhop with cascade leaf(2oz 2 weeks in secondary). Send it to me. I'll love it, sounds like a ballzy brew.

 

[caesius]

Heracy!!!! heracy i say!!! I hop my hopsferatu dark alot harder than that using warrior(2oz 60min) columbus(1oz 30 min) and cascacdes(1oz 15 min) Dryhop with cascade leaf(2oz 2 weeks in secondary). Send it to me. I'll love it, sounds like a ballzy brew.

I assume you mean heresy right? I get that people hop more than what I have, but as was mentioned by Clayton, it was 3 oz in for the whole 60 boil, nothing more. So it's not the quantity that's the problem, rather the AA utilization (from what I read).

So thanks all, I'm just gonna move it to the back of the garage and see what happens!

 

[Nurmey]

I'm not a hop head so I would make up a under hopped batch of beer and blend them into something I to fit my liking.

 

[Joos]

3.5 OZ. of 11.5 AA hops!? Awesome!

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

I assume you mean heresy right? I get that people hop more than what I have, but as was mentioned by Clayton, it was 3 oz in for the whole 60 boil, nothing more. So it's not the quantity that's the problem, rather the AA utilization (from what I read).

So thanks all, I'm just gonna move it to the back of the garage and see what happens!

Spelling correction? Duuuuuude! Look at my name, (Hillbilly deluxe). Do i really need to spell check on HBT?

Seriously though, have you bottled yet? If not follow these instructions:

1oz cascade hops(leaf is best but any will do), boil in a quart of water for about 15 min. Makes whats called Hop tea. Add that to whatever your flavor preferance is, i reccomend about 1/2 for a 5 gal batch. This will water your brew down a bit but unless your an ABV stickler might help.
With the other 1/2, save it and you can use it to fine tune each bottle as you open.

I know a guy that did this to a batch(Using the after bottle method). He used an eye dropper, oppened the bottle, put a few drops in the glass and it really helped his underhopped beer. He used only 1/2 oz halleratu for aroma, it was overpoweringly malty.

Whatcha thin?

Ahhhh hell! i spelled "what do you" wrong diddnt i teacher?