Beer very bitter after fermentation

[blisterman]

Brewing a Session NEIPA, with 35 IBUs. OG 1.035
Wort was fine, not all that bitter when I added it to the fermenter. Added a liquid yeast slurry at the same time as a heavy leaf dry-hop to facilitate bio transformation.
The fermentation has been very slow, taking over a week to get below 1.020.
The beer, however has beecome extremely bitter. Mouth puckeringly so. More bitter than any DIPA I've had. Could the dry hops have caused this? Or could it be an infection?

 

[mongoose33]

What was the rest of the recipe, i.e., bittering hops, intermediate additions, and what were the Alpha Acid percentages for those additions?

 

[BrewInspector]

Of course you are aware that going into the fermenter, the wort had plenty of sugar to counter the bitterness. Then after fermenting, much of the sugar was removed being consumed to produce alcohol.

Your projected IBU should not produce such an extreme bitterness but I am also unaware of any infection that produces a strong bitterness.

Could it just be the yeast in suspension that seem bitter to you?

Is it sour rather than "mouth puckeringly" bitter?

The recipe, hop schedule and yeast along with procedures may help determine what if anything happened.

 

[Andre3000]

What kind of water are you using? If you didn't treat your water for chlorine / chloramine, I've found chlorophenols can cause a "side of the tongue" bitterness.

 

[DatsyukianDeke]

Chlorine in the water gives me a band-aid kind of flavor. Mouth-puckering could be astringency. Without more info we're really just guessing, though.

 

[sicktght311]

Recipe and hop addition numbers are important in diagnosing this. Plus keep in mind, extended periods of contact with large dry hop doses can extract perceived bitterness and vegetal flavors. Hop bite as well can be rough if theres still hop particles suspended

 

[ChaosB]

I know whirlpool and steeping hop additions are popular in NEIPAs, if you added any of these, were they immediately at flameout or did you wait for temp to drop a bit? That could contribute more bitterness than intended but I wouldn't say mouth puckering.

 

[Lefou]

Brewers sometimes ignore the bitterness-to-gravity ratio (BU:GU) which is simply a measure of perceived IBU's to sweetness.
Looking at the low starting gravity and the comparatively high bittering level the beer has, it stands to reason once the sugars get metabolized there's going to be definite hop perception left behind.
The starting ratio is practically 1:1 and will be more once the fermentation is done. Normal IPA usually has a bu/gu of around .5 to .7 and will be very hoppy early on, especially with higher alpha hops.

 

[don_bran321]

I've noticed that if I heavily dry hop my beers that they are overly bitter in the fermenter but once I transfer them off the hops into the keg the bitterness starts to fade. Give it some time

 

[Lefou]

The sulfate to chloride mix in the water also influences the bitterness perception. If there's a higher level of sulfates to chloride and the mash pH wasn't in the right range, a dry hop can compound the bitterness. Giving it some time will help.