Bump the bitterness - take the risk?

[Redlantern]

Hi all - new situation for me here.

Made a DIPA batch and it is nearing the end of the old-school "primary" fermentation"

I have always sampled my batches through the port to see how they are coming along and have learned how well a batch is doing. Everything is on point a the moment save for one thing - the bitterness. My assessments have always been pretty good for how a batch is going to turn out.

One thought that has crossed my mind is to make a small quantity of beer from DME, add an ounce of hops, boil for say 45 minutes, cool and introduce to the batch. The recipe was on the lower end of IBU's to begin with, but it went too far this time

(Update - I jhust want 10 more IBU in the batch.)

Anyone done this?

 

[Ashevillain]

Ive never done that. But i was just reading about several people making hop tea with only a small amount of watter and adding to fermentor or keg, both really liked the method. Decent amounts of dry hops will add some bitterness too.

 

[IslandLizard]

Not that easy to fix. The problem lies in making a small batch (say 1 gallon) with a high enough IBU to raise your main batch (5 gallons). Say you want to raise your current 50 IBUs by an extra 20-30 points, you'll need a 170-230 IBU correction batch with a similar malt profile as your main batch. That's about impossible to brew!

Forgot to mention, hop utilization goes down with higher gravity wort. So there's a limit to the how small your correction batch can be. I gave a realistic example of adding 1/5 of your batch size as a strong correction wort. You may have problems fermenting this out if you add it to your finished main batch, oxidation etc. so you should ferment it by itself and then mix together or blend when done.

Hop teas never worked for me.

I'd say dry hop it well and enjoy the not so bitter beer. Dry hopping will add a lot of flavor and aroma, that compensates for the lower bitterness. For example, NE IPAs are not that bitter, but are drenched in hops.

Try to find out why your beer isn't as bitter as you envisioned, maybe your hops have a lower %AA than they promised, or were old or incorrectly stored (freezer is best). Did you do a whirlpool hop addition and at what temps for how long? That adds some bitterness too.

 

[Redlantern]

I was thinking 2 quarts at 1.040 SG.

I thought hop quantity drove the process. I.E. since an ounce in a 5 gallon batch will yield "X" IBU's when boiled for a given length of time, that If I did the boil for an that specified length of time and introduced the hops to the wort (albeit after the fact), it would yield close to the same thing as putting it in the boil in the first place

Was thinking that isomerizing the alpha acids was all that is necessary.

 

[IslandLizard]

I was thinking 2 quarts at 1.040 SG. I thought hop quantity drove the process - so since an ounce in 5 gallons will yield "X" for IBU's that If I did the boil for an appropriate length of time and introduced teh hops after the fact, it would yield close to the same thing as putting it in the initial boil.

Was thinking that isomerizing the hop oils was all that is necessary.

Look up a hop utilization table (How to Brew has one). Then calculate what's needed. Using hop extract like this or this maybe a better bet than using high AA% hop pellets, say Warrior or Apollo, but you'll likely need to order the extracts and they're not cheap. There's probably enough for 5 batches though.

FYI, I edited my original post and corrected the IBU calcs.

 

[Redlantern]

Look up a hop utilization table (How to Brew has one). Then calculate what's needed. Using hop extract like this or this maybe a better bet than using high AA% hop pellets, say Warrior or Apollo, but you'll likely need to order the extracts and they're not cheap. There's probably enough for 5 batches though.

FYI, I edited my original post and corrected the IBU calcs.

Awesome stuff. I will dig into this.

 

[Redlantern]

Try to find out why your beer isn't as bitter as you envisioned, maybe your hops have a lower %AA than they promised, or were old or incorrectly stored (freezer is best). Did you do a whirlpool hop addition and at what temps for how long? That adds some bitterness too.

That one is easy - I made minor tweaks to minor defficiencies in grain bill with the plan to bump my Apollo at 60 and forgot to do it!

 

[IslandLizard]

10 more IBUs is more doable, but I still don't think it's worth the trouble. If it's at 50 IBU now, you still need to make a gallon at 110 IBU or 1/2 a gallon at 160 IBU.

The difference between 50 and 60 IBU is noticeable, but not a huge jump. Go the dry hop round with the beer as is.

 

[Redlantern]

10 more IBUs is more doable, but I still don't think it's worth the trouble. If it's at 50 IBU now, you still need to make a gallon at 110 IBU or 1/2 a gallon at 160 IBU.

The difference between 50 and 60 IBU is noticeable, but not a huge jump. Go the dry hop round with the beer as is.

Will add dank hops to dry hop to enhance things I guess - Thanks for all the help.

 

[IslandLizard]

Will add dank hops to dry hop to enhance things I guess - Thanks for all the help.

Sounds like a plan!

 

[splyn]

hop shot?

 

[Redlantern]

I may have to investigate the hop shot and see how it keeps.

If I can freeze it and not have it lose integrity, I may keep it like a spare pack of US-05. Kept on hand for the oopsie moments.

For now, Dry hopped with
2 oz Citra
2 oz Nelson
2 oz Idaho 7
1 oz Galaxy

Let's see how that goes......

 

[IslandLizard]

For now, Dry hopped with
2 oz Citra
2 oz Nelson
2 oz Idaho 7
1 oz Galaxy

Let's see how that goes......

Holy Mo!

That will fix about any beer.

 

[Redlantern]

Holy Mo!

That will fix about any beer.

Done it before - it completely rocks n a DIPA.....

 

[brewbama]

How about dispense thru a Randall. http://beerknews.com/what-the-hell-is-randall-the-enamel-animal/