American Pale Ale amateur mistake need help

[ChrisHansen]

So I started my first brew a few days ago and made a totally amateur mistake. I made the American Pale Ale recipe using malt liquid extract along with 1 1/2 pounds of grains which I steeped. My main concern was with hop part. It calls for 2 oz. of perle for 60 min. and 1 oz. of cascade for 1 min. then dry hop the last 1 oz. of cascade toward the end of fermentation which I have yet to do.

The entire process went well with the exception of the fact that me and my girl friend all ready had a few beers and were hop happy so we accidently boiled the cascade with the perle for 60 minutes instead of adding the cascade at the last minute. Does anyone know how this will effect the beer? And is there anything I can or should do to help it? Currently at 3 days in fermentation. Any help or info would be greatly appreciated! thanks

 

[veritas524]

It will make it a bit more bitter and take away some aroma/flavor of the cascade. Not a huge deal since you're dry hopping, but it will be bitter.

 

[Revvy]

Sounds like you need a bit of an overview of what hops do, and when so you will know what's going on.

I'll start with a basic discussion of hops, to give you an idea, and go from there.

Each hop addition that we traditionally do in brewing serves roughly a different purpose...the longer additions (usually your 60-30 minute additions) provide bitterness. Not necessarily a 'taste" of bitterness but the release of certain chemicals (isomerized alpha acids and other things) which "cut" the intense sweetness of the wort (which is pretty much just sugar water) down to a more drinkable level. It's also in these chemicals is where the preservatives of the beer

The next range from approx. 30 to the last 15 is where you get your
"hop flavor" the actual really nice taste of the distincive hops impart (which if you're a hophead, and brew for awhile, you'll be able to start identifying the flavors of certain ones, if you are skillfull or have a good sense of taste, maybe all of them.)

And then there is the last 15 minutes of the typical boil, from the last 15 to what we call "flameout." This is where the aroma of the hops is usually imparted. And that also includes dryhopping in a primary or secondary, or added to a keg, or dispensed through a randall.

The chemicals for bittering, taste and aroma are very volitile, especially the last two, they boil away quite rapidly, that's why we pretty much will separate the flavor and the aroma additions, and get the aroma ones as late in the boil (or after) as possible, to trap those in.

Hope this helps.

So what you did was shifted some hops meant for aroma, where little bittering happens (because they aren't being boiled long enough to release those compounds) to the beginning of the boil, where those oils are extracted by boiling (the longer the boil the more extracted) so like others have said your beer will be bitterer than the recipe was setup for.. It may be way bittery or you might like it, but it all depends on the rest of the recipe.....good recipes are all about balance, so altering one thing will throw off the rest.

One of the ways to tell how this will end up is by typing the recipe as is into a brewing calculator like beer calculus. First as is, then change it to what you actually did, then you can see how much more bitter the beer will be.

It really depends on how much of the bittering chemicals (alpha acids) the hops that you moved had.

But if you like hop bombs, you more than likely will still like the beer. It may need some mellowing time though. But you still made beer.

 

[two_hearted]

If it comes out too bitter for your taste you could always blend it with another beer when you're drinking it. Go halfsies with an amber or something!

I think you'll be just fine if you dry hop after primary.

 

[ChrisHansen]

Thanks for the replies and advice. Now my question is, does anyone have any advice on dry hopping to compensate for this mistake or should I just dry hop the 1oz of cascade like the recipe says too? Thanks again

 

[swampdonkeybrew]

i would just dry hop it like normal, if it's too bitter, you can just send it to me and i will dispose of it in a humane, ethical manner.

 

[Frodo]

It'll be bitter, but it'll be fine. Just stick with the 1 oz dry hop and chalk it up to lesson learned... I did that almost verbatim once, and it was really bitter, but fine, and I wasn't drinking when I did it. Regardless, I really try to refrain from drinking much while brewing, as awful as that sounds, at least until the day is nearing completion anyway.

 

[ChrisHansen]

hahaha sounds good! I'll just go through with the recipe and cross my fingers. I like bitter beer, I was just hoping for that nice balance.

 

[inthedeep2]

Chris
funny thing i have the same recipe in the fermenter now for 2 weeks. did you get it at homebrew mart???

 

[ChrisHansen]

Chris
funny thing i have the same recipe in the fermenter now for 2 weeks. did you get it at homebrew mart???

Sure did, we should trade a bottle after I get finished. I've been fermenting for 6 days now and am going to let it sit another 2 weeks, then bottle after dry hopping for 7 days.