Failed XX Bitter attempt

[rockdemon]

Hi!
Ive just attempted to make a beer similar to De Rankes XX-bitter. I gathered the info I could find and a week ago I gave my recipe a try.

Og 1058, 92% Pilsner and 8% Wheat.
The hopschedule was:
50g(1.76 oz)Brewers gold at 60
25g(0.88 oz) Hallertau mittelfruh at 30
25g(0.88 oz) Hallertau mittelfruh at 10
Yeast was t-58.

This was for a half batch(10L/2.6 gal) so i thought that 100g of hops was enough by far. should be an IBU of about 80.

I tasted the beer yesterday, the fermentation was good. it was at 1010 now but it wasnt bitter nor hoppy. It actually tasted quite boring.

I got 2 questions:

1. What could i have done wrong?
2. To make it a more interresting beer(and dont care about it being similar to XX-bitter) could i dry hop it with for ex 10g of amarillo?

 

[balauru_327]

Hello,
I didn`t try XX Bitter yet, is still in waiting. From what i can say you didn`t use candy sugar. The yest make a huge difference in a taste. The beer is bottle refermentated, so you have a change to replicate the yeast.

"XX is being made with pale pilsner malt and loads of Brewers Gold and Hallertau hop flowers"

What says on their site. So no need of wheat. And they say Hallertau hops, but which type?

 

[rockdemon]

Hello,
I didn`t try XX Bitter yet, is still in waiting. From what i can say you didn`t use candy sugar. The yest make a huge difference in a taste. The beer is bottle refermentated, so you have a change to replicate the yeast.

"XX is being made with pale pilsner malt and loads of Brewers Gold and Hallertau hop flowers"

What says on their site. So no need of wheat. And they say Hallertau hops, but which type?

yeah, thats the info i found aswell.
the reason for wheat is just for more head and better head retention.
didnt want to use sugar since i was aiming for low OG. i make too many high abv beers

the mittelfruh that i have at home has a higher alpha avid than the hersbrucker.

Im not aiming to completely replicate the beer i just want a hoppy and bitter belgian style beer. and i like XX bitter so i used the hops that they claim to use.

 

[illmatija]

I recently brewed a belgian imperial IPA with noble hops, the results were good, take a look at the last post:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=529880

I think you should have put waaaay more late boil hops and dry hops too.

Given your batch size I would add 25g @5, 25g @0, and 50g dry hops for around a week. Assuming noble hops.

 

[rockdemon]

I recently brewed a belgian imperial IPA with noble hops, the results were good, take a look at the last post:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=529880

I think you should have put waaaay more late boil hops and dry hops too.

Given your batch size I would add 25g @5, 25g @0, and 50g dry hops for around a week. Assuming noble hops.

Ooh. And i thought that i had plenty already. Ok, i cant do any late additions now but i can dryhop. Would you suggest brewers gold pr mittelfruh?

 

[balauru_327]

..."want a hoppy and bitter belgian style beer"... why don`t you say so.

Use a belgian yeast, use aprox. 20% ( or less than 20% ) candi sugar to hit your desired ABV, Magnum for a clean bitter (which is a Hallertau "memeber" ) and a lot of Hallertau for aroma ( i like very very much Tetnager, but isn`t a Hallertau ).

I used in an ALE Saphir hops, and has some big hints of honey combined with citrus and flowers which i found very good in a IPA, but is so hard to find & buy. Not to mention Polaris, Mandarina Bavaria, H. Melon, H. Blanc, Hull Melon, Opal and Smaragd. Maybe you have better chances in your country.

 

[rockdemon]

..."want a hoppy and bitter belgian style beer"... why don`t you say so.

Use a belgian yeast, use aprox. 20% ( or less than 20% ) candi sugar to hit your desired ABV, Magnum for a clean bitter (which is a Hallertau "memeber" ) and a lot of Hallertau for aroma ( i like very very much Tetnager, but isn`t a Hallertau ).

I used in an ALE Saphir hops, and has some big hints of honey combined with citrus and flowers which i found very good in a IPA, but is so hard to find & buy. Not to mention Polaris, Mandarina Bavaria, H. Melon, H. Blanc, Hull Melon, Opal and Smaragd. Maybe you have better chances in your country.

Yeah normally i wouldnt use such low alpha hops to get a bitter beer. It seems so ineffective and takes big amounts of hops.
Is magnum similar to haller? I think ive used it for bittering and it had high alpha acids.
The reason for using these hops is that the beer i had as the model for this recipe is made with brewers gold and haller.
Nex time ill use a more potent hop for bittering. I did dry hop this beer with 50g of haller mittelfruh(5% alpha).

in this beer its now 15g of hops per liter beer but with these noble hops its probably not enough... go for 20 next time

 

[balauru_327]

Magnum comes from the Hallertau family, like Perle, Mittelfruh, Aroma, Hersbruker, Taurus(similar with Magnum), Tradition

http://beerlegends.com/hallertau-hops

Magnum has 12-14% alpha, twice the amount other Hallertau has (except H. Taurus)

15g hops/liter ...a lot:cross: . The hops will absorb beer ( rehydratate ) and you will loose one beer, i think . squeeze those MF