Bitter back end ruined my beer

[Brew4UBrew4Me]

I brewed a Chinook IPA extract recipe that turned out more like a Pale Ale, both in flavor and ABV. Beer would be solid (great carbonation, color is on point, smooth on the front end) but leaves a bitter, unpleasant taste on the back end. Not sure if there is a typical cause for this or if it could've been any number of things, but I don't want to drink more than 1 at a time unfortunately.

 

[mashpaddled]

Bitterness like...an IPA?

 

[Spivey24]

Could be infection, could be how you hopped, could be a few other things. But you didn’t really give enough detail. leave it sit for another week or so and see if it gets better or worse.

 

[Brew4UBrew4Me]

Lol I'm new to brewing, not new to IPAs. I wouldn't consider this a hop-bitter

 

[PberBob]

... But you didn’t really give enough detail. leave it sit for another week or so and see if it gets better or worse.

Without more details, I would second this advice to wait a while. Earthy/bitter flavors could be from tannins. Fortunately, they will transform and drop out with about 4 weeks in the bottle.

A rule of thumb for bottle conditioning: 2 weeks at room temp + 2 weeks in the fridge

 

[Snuffy]

Just drank the last of an all-grain batch of this. Chinook has an edge to it. Kind of a vegetal bitterness rather than pine. It mellows a little bit but you just have to make faces and get used to it. Astringent. Dry. Slightly medicinal finish. Not my favorite IPA.

 

[mattdee1]

It's not easy to say for sure with such limited info, but my bet would be that you're simply tasting the hops that you put into the beer. If the recipe called for dry hop additions, then this is almost certainly the explanation. In my experience, dry hops almost always have a detrimental effect on beers unless the following conditions are met:

- the hops are fresh
- oxygen is avoided like the plague on the cold side

Chinook - again, in my experience - would be particularly "sharp" tasting if it were stale or oxidized.

 

[Snuffy]

Chinook - again, in my experience - would be particularly "sharp" tasting if it were stale or oxidized.

"sharp" is a good word for it. I can see where it could be a good hop for use with others that complement, but all alone for both bittering and flavor... oxidized or not... meh.
NB is actually giving away the Chinook IPA kits as a promotion.
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...things that make ya go hmmmm...

 

[mattdee1]

"sharp" is a good word for it. I can see where it could be a good hop for use with others that complement, but all alone for both bittering and flavor... oxidized or not... meh.

Yeah, agreed. I've had Chinook mixed in with others and it was fine but once I did a SMaSH with Chinook, including lots of late hops, and I thought the beer was pretty terrible.

 

[mashpaddled]

Lol I'm new to brewing, not new to IPAs. I wouldn't consider this a hop-bitter

I didn't mean to be demeaning but with the prevalence of hazy, low bitterness IPAs it's hard to know what people expect when they brew an IPA in the west coast mold.

It's hard to guess at what the problem is without tasting it or knowing more about the recipe or process. It could be a water issue or letting the wort sit for too long at hot temperatures and extracting too much bitterness. Ph issues could cause excessive tannin extraction from the hops which would be a cause of lingering bitterness on the back end of the beer.