Extreme Hop Bitterness

[travishall1987]

I've got my first batch of all grain (a west coast amber) in the fermenter now. It's been in there for three days and is pretty much completely done bubbling. I took a hydrometer sample today and I've already hit my target gravity, but when I tasted it I noticed an overly intense hop bitterness. My hop schedule on this beer was pretty profound (90 min warrior AA 16, 10 min cascade, 10 centennial, 10 cascade and 10 centennial), as I was hoping to brew a nice hoppy american amber, but the way it is now is just too much. I realize this is VERY early in the process and am just looking for some clarification as to whether or not the extreme bitterness I'm tasting now will begin to mellow as the beer ages.

*It's also worth noting that I bumped the boiling time up slightly (roughly 5 minutes for each hop addition) because my pre-boil gravity was quite low and I was afraid of ending up with too much wort for my carboy.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Grain Bill
9lbs 2 row
1lb crystal 40
1lb munich
8oz crystal 120
8oz biscuit
3oz chocolate

Hop Schedule
90-110 min warrior
10-15 min cascade
10-15 min cen
10-15 min cascade
10-15 min centenial

Yeast
White Labs Sandiego Super Yeast from starter

:rockin:

 

[lumpher]

yes, it will mellow with time, but if you want advice, you not only have to tell us the times, you also have to tell us the aa and how many oz of each.

e.g. .75 oz cascade@10 minutes 7.4 aa

 

[travishall1987]

Realized I didn't include the amount right after I posted. Each hop addition was one ounce of pellet hops from hopunion. Not exactly sure about the AAs of the cascades and centennials, but I would venture to guess its somewhere between 4 and 6.

 

[daksin]

The AA are likely higher than 6, even on teh cascades, but really the warrior is what we're concerned with. Warm flat beer will taste more bitter than a finished beer, but still you may have over hopped it. Try using some free online software to calculate your IBUs.

 

[Andrikos]

If there's any room in your fermenter, add some (briefly) boiled wort of the same recipe and similar SG with no hops in it. That should help reduce the bitterness of your beer without significantly changing the rest of the beer characteristics.
And, yes, the bitterness and hop aroma will dissipate with time if you do nothing else.

 

[user 98891]

Sticking that into my software I get

1.051OG and 87.4 IBU. That's pretty hoppy (the style guide in brewtarget say the high side of a american IPA should be 70 IBU).

 

[Toga]

It has only been in the fermentor for 3 days!! Let is sit for a few weeks, dry hop with an oz or two for a few days to a week, then bottle or keg. The flavor profile will change and develop over time.

 

[scottland]

Don't make judgements based on green beer. Super San Diego ferments fast, but that doesn't mean your 3-day old beer is going to taste 'done'. Let it sit on the yeast for a few more days, and try not to make any snap judgements until it has some carbonation. You'd be surprised.