A remarkably bitter belgan ale?

[vidarien]

I was trying to knock this one around in my head and i cant quite figure it out, so i thought perhaps someone wiser than I might have a clue.


So, i brewed a midwest extract, the belgian grand cru (6 lbs light DME, 2 lbs honey, 8 oz steeping grains, 2 oz hallertau hops, 1 oz coriander, .5 oz orange peel, and a wyeast witbier yeast strain)

Well anyways, brewing went fine...and i gave it a 3 week primary basically (Boy was that beer a violent fermenter). And then i keg held it for 2 weeks or so and then i drank. Well, ill be darned if this is one of the most bitter beers ive had...when you drink youd think double-hopped IPA. No residual sweetness at all actually, which kind of stuns me given how much DME and honey went into it. Now, i enjoy bitter beers as opposed to sweet ones anyway, so i made due with the flavor...but it most definately wasnt what i was expecting. The only thing i can say for certain that i forgot about was i didnt crush the coriander seeds first, but everything else was by the book.


Perhaps i was expecting something all along i shouldnt have expected, or im right and something is off? Anyone have any ideas?



Edit: Another odd thing, was that allegedly it was supposed to be very blonde in color, and the color to me appears to be more of an irish red amber.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Honey will add dryness to a brew, not sweetness. That beer is still green; let it age at least another 2 weeks, if not more, then try again. Hallertau is won't add that many hbu's at all. Did you brew with hard water? That will accentuate bitterness.

 

[vidarien]

Well, ya know..ive been really researching on it and im really beginning to focus on one issue, that being tanning extraction through grain steeping.

I do full 5 gal volume boils and while i know the temperature was ok...im reflecting on the fact that im steeping basically a half a pound of grain in 5 gallons of water. As a result, im suspecting the PH of the water barely changed and there was a lot of tannin extraction. Ive been reviewing a lot of the water to grain ratio threads and it seems to me essentially having a 1 lb to 10 gallon ratio there couldve been the key failure.

What im planning on doing at the moment is to make another 5 gallon batch of the grand cru (I'm sure ill have this one finished in a few days, regardless of the bitterness) but do 3 things differently:

1.) Steep the grains in a smaller pot with 2 qts of water, and dump it in the main boil once its done.
2.) Make a yeast starter
3.) Remember to crush the coriander this time around.
4.) Let it sit for another 2 weeks in conditioning after attenuation.