Bitter IPA

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Frostymug

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Hello, I brewed an IPA a few weeks ago. I transferred to the secondary a week ago. I tasted it today and it’s over the top bitter. I have read it will even out but I have never tasted anything like it. My question is if this is normal or is the batch a bust . Beer is really clear and the aroma is decent. I used the recipe below. Any suggestions is appreciated. Thanks


The penciled in hops is what I used. Brew store didn’t have what I wanted .

IMG_1073.jpg
 
Well there the reason! 3oz of total hops is all I like and mag hops are strong strong. You can save it by aging it, it will be fine after time, lord knows it won’t spoil [emoji12]
 
I see. Should have asked here before taking the beer store advice. Should I age it in the secondary another week or 2 -3. Thanks
 
I would bottle it with carbing sugar and age it in the bottle. Secondaries in general are not a good idea if you don't have a specific reason for it.
 
Secondary is fine if conditions are right. But you may be looking at 3 to 5 weeks or more.
 
Thanks for the advice I appreciate it. To be clear I have had it in the primary 1 week moved to the secondary and dry hopped 1 week. So bottle now and wait 5 or so weeks? Sorry for all the questions. I am taking notes. Thanks.
 
Secondary is fine if conditions are right. But you may be looking at 3 to 5 weeks or more.
That is true. However, there are always risks involved when transferring to another vessel. So why take them if not necessary?

Edit : if it sits already in secondary and the secondary is air tight, let it sit in there till you measure that it is definitely done and then bottle. For future beers you might consider skipping secondary because it really is just unnecessary risk of oxidation and infection that you are taking when doing a secondary.

Just let it sit in primary till it is finished instead.
 
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I will take your advice. The only reason I transferred was I was told it would give you a clearer beer. I have no idea if it will or not but sounds like it’s risky. At my level I should eliminate as much risk as I can .
 
That is a myth, same with "clearer wort results in clearer beer". Just give the yeast enough time to settle and mauybe cold crash to speed things up if necessary (I never do it) and your beer will be clear. The yeast does not care if it is in secondary or not when it settles after fermentation has finished.
 
I see. Should have asked here before taking the beer store advice. Should I age it in the secondary another week or 2 -3. Thanks

They advised you to use Amarillo at 60 minutes and Magnum at flameout and dry hop? Either the employee advising you had zero idea what he or she was doing, or it got turned backwards from intention to action. Magnum is pretty much exclusively used as a bittering hop, while Amarillo is almost exclusively used for flavor and aroma.

That said, based on this recipe, the beer shouldn't actually be super bitter, since you've replaced your bittering additions with lower AA% hops than the original recipe. Maybe you're perceiving greater bitterness because it's not balanced out by as pleasant an aroma as you would normally expect in an IPA. I'd probably do a second dry hop with 2-4 oz. of Amarillo or other IPA hops to make up for the fact that half of your flameout and dry hops were replaced with a bittering variety.
 
So the bitter hops should go in at the beginning of the boil? I may have it backwards
 
Absolutely terrible hop substitutions. But overall it's not out of spec for an IPA, just unusual.

Secondary is a terrible idea though. Get it bottled or kegged. Once carbonated beer takes on a very different flavor and the bitterness will likely be perceived differently due to the carbonation.
 
Just to make sure, you got that 0 minutes means at the end of the boil, and 60 minutes means “add sixty minutes before the end of the boil,” right?

And yeah, I would never use Magnum for anything other than bittering (60 min addition).
 
I much prefer Amarillo over Galaxy, but in my book they are kind of apples and oranges. Based on what I’ve read though other people seem to think Amarillo and Galaxy are similar. As far as dry hopping with Magnum I have never done it, but this is what YHC says about the aroma (dry hopping) characteristics of Magnum,”Magnum is a bittering hop with no distinct aroma characteristics.” I agree with the previous poster to do more dry hop with something like Citra which people seem to love or hate or maybe Simcoe or Cascade.
 
It's pretty clear that the original recipe was absurdly over the top at almost 100 IBU........ but the substitutions should produce a nice ale at about 60 IBU. Why magnum was added when it was I don't understand. True IPAs in the original sense should be in the 40's to 50's. Above 60 I call it an AABA....(Absurd American Bitter Ale)
60 IBUs is pretty bitter for many people's pallette, but I tend to brew up around 55 normally, so I would not find your brew outrageous. Amarillo is a flavor and aroma hop, and Magnum is a bittering hop as a rule. Using Amarillo and boiling 60 minutes, is an absurd waste. A more rational use of hops would be to use magnum at 60 minutes for bittering..... 3/4 ounce, and an ounce of Amarillo at 10 minutes or an ounce of Magnum for 60, and an ounce of amarillo at flame out or whirlpool, and then another for dry hop. This would put you in the mid to high 50's , and lots of flavor and aroma.

The important thing here is to plug your numbers into some software........... I like Brewer's Friend, which is free to use on line, and very easy to use. The other thing to consider is finding a complete description of the various hops, print it out, and take it with you when you go shopping. There is an IOS and I think an Android version of Brewer's Friend, and it's cheap........ take your phone or tablet and your hop description chart, and design your brew right there in the store based on what they have on hand.

H.W.
 
Man I have learned more in the past 12 hours than I have in the last few years. I have an old recipe I am about to try tomorrow. I used the IBU calculator and came in around 68.08 if I did it correct. Not sure if I add the dry hop or not. I would appreciate a critique of this recipe before I begin if possible.

2lb Pilsen DME
1lb Golden DME
5lb cara Vienna
5lb cara pils

1oz magnum @ 60
1oz Centennial @15
1oz Citra @ 5
1oz Mosaic@0

1oz Citra @dry hop

White labs 001 California Ale Yeast


Total IBU 68.08 assuming I used the calculator correct. The hop chart had a high side and low side so I used all the high AA numbers. Not sure what to do there.
 
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