Adding IBU's to cloying beer

[archthered]

Long story short I screwed up a batch of beer and it is too sweet, not undrinkable but cloyingly sweet. I had "brilliant" idea on how to fix it and just want to make sure there isn't some reason this is a bad idea.

I want to add about 5 IBU's, which will give me a bitterness ratio (IBU's/OG) of .330 which was my target. I am planning on pouring a pint of beer and boiling it with 0.3846 oz hops, AA 4.1%. for 30 minutes, straining the hop gunk, and then adding the beer back to my keg.

I've done all the math to figure out how many IBU's will be added with the classic hop utilization formula. The only potential problem I see with the math is my "wort" has a gravity that is lower than the chart goes so I may get a bit more than 5 IBU's out of it, though I think that will be fine.

The only effect I really see from this, other than making my beer more bitter, is that it will drive off some alcohol and maybe add a bit of carmalization but these will likely be negligable effects given the fact that I'm only using a pint. The only unknown I can think of is how the presence of alcohol may impact isomerization of the hops but I do not thinik it will be an issue especially since the concentration of alcohol will be low.

I'll appreacte any thoughts on this!

 

[jschein]

Keg hop it or use a hop Randall

 

[brewbama]

Go for it. Here’s some supporting info for your idea: https://beerandbrewing.com/use-hops-tea-to-enhance-flavors-in-your-beer/

 

[AzOr]

Is there a reason you want to boil a pint of beer, instead of using water?

I’ve done something similar with ginger in a porter recipe. Just made a really strong tea, then added to keg to taste.

 

[archthered]

Go for it. Here’s some supporting info for your idea: https://beerandbrewing.com/use-hops-tea-to-enhance-flavors-in-your-beer/

I will have to try that some time!

Is there a reason you want to boil a pint of beer, instead of using water?

I’ve done something similar with ginger in a porter recipe. Just made a really strong tea, then added to keg to taste.

The reason for using beer is, as I recall, you need sugar inorder to get isomerization and thus IBU's. If I just wanted more hop flavor water would be just fine, and I'm definitely going to try the tea thing some time, but my beer is cloying and I need more bitterness not just hop flavor. I'm concerned that if I don't use beer I'll just have a hoppy flavored cloying beer. I could use DME and boil that instead but adding more sugar, which won't ferment since it's kegged, seems like a bad idea since the problem is that it's too sweet.

 

[archthered]

Keg hop it or use a hop Randall

I'm concerned that won't add actual bitterness

 

[SanPancho]

Alphas isomerize in plain water. Try it and see.

 

[archthered]

Alphas isomerize in plain water. Try it and see.

Any chance you know the utilization rate so I know how much to add to hit my target?

 

[SanPancho]

I dont. But you can probably find it online somewhere. Although youre gonna have to do alot of math.

Might be easier to make a super bitter solution and add to taste.

 

[brewbama]

Might be easier to make a super bitter solution and add to taste.

As if it maters at all: That’s what I’d do if I was in your shoes.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Why not use hop extract? It's cheap, easy to work out how much to use (pour a glass, add until the taste is right, then calculate for the entire batch) and there's no need to boil beer or add water.

 

[GPP33]

5 IBU? You really think you can tell a difference of 5 IBU let alone fix a cloying beer with just 5 IBU? The commonly used IBU formulas have way more than 5 IBU error.

Do as Gnomebrewer said. It’ll be the most accurate way to tell what you need to add, that is if you can fix it by simply adding IBUs.

 

[archthered]

OK so I've decided what I'm going to do. I'm going to use water and boil for 30 min with the amount I calculated for using beer and add that to my keg, let it sit a bit and see if I want to add more.

I dont. But you can probably find it online somewhere. Although youre gonna have to do alot of math.

Might be easier to make a super bitter solution and add to taste.

I'm kind of doing this but in a stepwise fashion adding a bit at a time. I could not find a utilization rate in straight water but I will give it a try. I was initially kind of against this because without knowing the utilization rate it makes replicating this fix in the future harder, though hopefully I won't need it much.

Why not use hop extract? It's cheap, easy to work out how much to use (pour a glass, add until the taste is right, then calculate for the entire batch) and there's no need to boil beer or add water.

I really like this idea... but I really don't have access to that at the moment. I don't quite have a fully stocked LHBS and I was hoping to share this before I could get an order. The LHBS that is near has limited supplies and does not have any on hand, they could get it but I'd have to wait like if I was ordering it online. If I have this probolem again I think I will do this since it would give consistent results with predicable outcomes.

5 IBU? You really think you can tell a difference of 5 IBU let alone fix a cloying beer with just 5 IBU? The commonly used IBU formulas have way more than 5 IBU error.

Do as Gnomebrewer said. It’ll be the most accurate way to tell what you need to add, that is if you can fix it by simply adding IBUs.

I think you are simplifying the situation a bit. 5 IBU's in a porter, stout, or an IPA is probably completely undetectable, on the other hand 5 IBU's in a lager may be a world of difference, in some styles 5 IBUs can be the difference between a low hopped and highly hopped version of the style. This is a Marzen so it's supposed to be between 18 and 24 IBU's, 5 IBU's is a high percentage of the over all bitterness. But I think you are right about Gnomebrewer's suggestion.


Thank you all for your thoughts. I will follow up with results at some point.

 

[SanPancho]

Kelsec makes an isomerized alpha extract you can use to adjust bittering post ferment fyi.

 

[Beer666]

Boiling hops in water certainly adds bitterness. I do this when making raw beer. Calculated with this https://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator
I have used the pre isomerised oil and that was good and the easiest thing to use.

 

[archthered]

Follow up:

As previously stated I got a pint of water and boiled 0.3846 oz hops, AA 4.1%. for 30 minutes, straining the hop gunk, and then adding the beer back to my keg. This made a massive difference and by beer went from quite cloying to a little bit under hopped. Since it worked once I essentially did the same thing again after letting it all sit for a day and I am more or less satisfied with the result.

While I don't have a hop utilization rate for straigh water I think I have enough of an idea to make this recipie again but better since the math isn't that hard.

Should I, or you the reader, have this issue I would recommend adding hop extract as suggested above because it should allow fairly tight control over how much bitterness you are adding, so you can do it right the nest time, while also being quick and easy rather than spending time boiling hops.

Thanks to everyone that commented! Even if it looks like I don't care what you say, or don't follow your suggestion, it still helps me weight the options and lets me know how my idea fits in to the grand scheme of things. It's one thing to do something others have said it's a bad idea knowing it may blow up, it is something completely different to think that everyone thinks that same thing is a great idea!