American IPA wort too bitter?

[kye77]

Hey fellow home brewers! This is my first post here at Home Brew Talk.
I recently brewed my first partial mash American IPA last week. It has only been 5 days in primary. I decided to take a gravity reading to see where it was at. it went from OG 1.060 to 1.016. I took a sip just to see how it tasted and it was REALLY BITTER. I usually love overly hoppy beers but that was a bit much for me.
Can you tell how bitter the beer is going to be from fermented wort?
the IBU calculator said at most it would be 55 ibu's... which is mild compared to what I am used to.
Heres the recipe:

Batch size 2.5 gal (cut a 5 gal recipe in half but used more hops)
mashed at 160 fahrenheit for 60 min (no I didn't squeeze the grain bag)
.5 lb crystal grain
.25 lb victory grain
.125 lb munich grain
3.3 lb cbw sparking amber pure malt extract
1.25 oz citra 60 min
0.65 oz amarillo 0 min
Yeast - White labs California ale
fermenting at 72 degrees
OG - 1.060
planning on dry hopping in a week.

Thanks guys!

 

[jjeffers09]

160F is higher than normal 148F-158F is the only range I have seen/used. I am sure 160F isn't going to be awful, but crystal ? and victory/munich have some potential there for astringent bitterness vs hop bitterness. Also did you use a chiller? or a no chill? that can be a difference. HSA is a source of tannic-like flavors too, imo. Cali Ale 001? 051? And 72F Ambient or actual? I think 72F is the high end for a wlp001/051. You will get sulfate flavors and sour apple skin like bitterness too.

 

[dwhite60]

Give it some time. I don't even touch mine until two weeks in primary.

RDWHAHB.

If it does turn out too bitter you can make another less well hopped batch and blend them.


All the Best,
D. White

 

[emcfarden]

Give it some time. I don't even touch mine until two weeks in primary.

I second this, its way to soon to be worrying about the taste of your beer. The yeast still hasn't cleaned up the fusel alcohols in the beer, which may be contributing to the harsh bitterness.

When your beer is a couple weeks old and still has very harsh bitterness I would check you water for high sodium if you haven't already. I think Palmer recommends no more than 150ppm.

 

[kye77]

Thanks guys!
It was wlp001 and it is actual temp I am assuming. Im using a stick on thermometer.
The instructions said to mash at 160F so I guess thats their bad >_>
Kind of annoying the recipe lead me astray.
Hopefully it'll mellow down in the next few weeks

 

[Shawn0522]

Hey fellow home brewers! This is my first post here at Home Brew Talk.
I recently brewed my first partial mash American IPA last week. It has only been 5 days in primary. I decided to take a gravity reading to see where it was at. it went from OG 1.060 to 1.016. I took a sip just to see how it tasted and it was REALLY BITTER. I usually love overly hoppy beers but that was a bit much for me.
Can you tell how bitter the beer is going to be from fermented wort?
the IBU calculator said at most it would be 55 ibu's... which is mild compared to what I am used to.
Heres the recipe:

Batch size 2.5 gal (cut a 5 gal recipe in half but used more hops)
mashed at 160 fahrenheit for 60 min (no I didn't squeeze the grain bag)
.5 lb crystal grain
.25 lb victory grain
.125 lb munich grain
3.3 lb cbw sparking amber pure malt extract
1.25 oz citra 60 min
0.65 oz amarillo 0 min
Yeast - White labs California ale
fermenting at 72 degrees
OG - 1.060
planning on dry hopping in a week.

Thanks guys!

I dont do BIAB or use extract so I am no expert here but 1.25oz of citra at 60 min in 2.5 gallon batch is probably over 100 IBUs. This being said I have had several worts taste more bitter than expected only to finish and be great. I agree with the RDWHAHB if for no other reason than there is nothing you can do now anyway. Cheers!

 

[kye77]

I cut my boil size in half since i cut everything else in half. I boiled at 1 gallon which should bring the ibu's down (was that a bad idea?)
Is there any IBU calculator that you guys recommend? A lot of them are giving me different answers.

 

[Shawn0522]

I cut my boil size in half since i cut everything else in half. I boiled at 1 gallon which should bring the ibu's down (was that a bad idea?)
Is there any IBU calculator that you guys recommend? A lot of them are giving me different answers.

You boiled 1 gal and then added water to get to 2.5? Seems like a really small boil size but I am so far outside my comfort zone i should not be commenting at all. With such a small boil I doubt any of the calculators will be acurate (not that it matters). As far as IBU calculators go I think they are all probably pretty bad at getting actual IBUs. I have seen lab results posted from really good long time home brewers where actual tested IBUs were almost half of calculated. That being said you gotta use something. I use brewersfriend and really like the recipe calculator and the fact that i can keep inventory. Please update us how it turns out. I am really hopeing the final post from the OP will be something like.

"...and the beer ended up being the best I have made!"

 

[wilserbrewer]

Tasting at 5 days is a crude representation of the finished beer at best. RDWHAHB big time friend.