First All Grain

[voodoochild7]

I pulled a sample of my first all graing it's a bitter but it seems a little too bitter is there any flavor I can add in the secondary to offset it a bit? Here's the recipe. I guess I should forgo the dry hopping huh?

Bitter End Bitter

Ingredients

10 lbs. Muntons 2 Row Pale Malt
1 lb. U.S. 2 Row Victory Malt
1 lb Muntons Crystal 50L
1.25 oz. Kent for 60 min.
.75 oz. Kent for 45 min.
½ oz. German Hallertau for 15 min.
½ oz German Hallertau for 3 min.
1 oz. US Hallertau dry hopping 4 day prior to bottling
1.5 tsp. Irish moss
White Labs East Coast Ale WLP008

Brew Process

Brewed on 4/9/06

Mash grain in 4 gallon water at 158 degrees for 1 hour. Mash out at 170 degrees.
Sparge with 5 gallons of 170 degree water
Heat wort to 212 degrees.
When wort temp. is at 212 degrees add bittering hops(60 minute hops).
At 45 minutes to go add flavoring hops(45 minute hops).
At 15 minutes to go add aroma hops.
At 5 minuets to go add finishing hops(5 minute hops).

***Forgot to add the Irish Moss. All went smooth for my first all grain though.

Fermentation

Original Gravity
Hydrometer reading was 1.030 OG is 1.032( a little low due to poor crush) corrected for temperature. The FG should be around 1.011.

 

[Brewiz]

They always have that bitter/grassy taste when going into secondary. It will mellow out with time and go ahead with the dry hop, dry hopping does not add to the bitterness it will add to the aroma or nose as it is called. I'm sure that your beer will be just what you want after it's bottled and conditioned.

 

[cweston]

Looks like your OG was very low for a recipe calling for 14 pounds of grain. The reason it's bitter, I bet, is that the IBUs were calculated to balance of a much higher level of "maltiness" based on the target OG.

I think a good rule of thumb, if you drastically miss your OG, would be to either correct it with DME or add less bittering hops to maintain the BU:GU ratio.

 

[voodoochild7]

It was only 12 pounds of grain but it was still low. I'm just learning about the all grain stuff. I don't want to add any DME as I want to keep it all grain. I'll learn as I go. I'll see if it mellows a bit in the secondary and after bottling.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I don't want to add any DME as I want to keep it all grain. I'll learn as I go.

I appreciate the purist pursuit of grain, but using DME during your first few batches to adjust for low gravity is learning as you go. Most of us did it until we got our systems dialed in. In fact, I imagine if I were to ever do a high gravity brew (>1085 or so) I'd probably just augment with extract to avoid the mash issues.

 

[david_42]

By all means dryhop. This will add almost no bitterness and the additional aroma/flavor oils will help balance the bitterness. If it is still too bitter after two weeks in the secondary AND dry hopping, you can add a fining like polyclar to remove some of the tannins. There are other finings that will target excessive bitterness.

 

[cweston]

It was only 12 pounds of grain but it was still low. I'm just learning about the all grain stuff. I don't want to add any DME as I want to keep it all grain. I'll learn as I go. I'll see if it mellows a bit in the secondary and after bottling.

Oops--yeah, 12 pounds. I'm home sick today: the brain must be effected.

I still think that's the source of your bitter flavors. Your recipe gives a gravity somewhere around 60 with even a modest 70% efficiency, so you can see how drastically the difference in OG would effect the BU:GU ratio.

 

[MrSaLTy]

I'm home sick today:

I'm sick of work and want to go home does that count?

 

[PanzerOfDoom]

Say a recepie calls for mashing with 4 gallons and sparging with 5, will loss put you at 6 for the boil?

I am getting ready to build a mashtun and anticipate my first all grain within a month or so, any and all advice would be welcome.

 

[Glibbidy]

I'm just learning about the all grain stuff. I don't want to add any DME as I want to keep it all grain./

Amen to that. Nothing wrong with figuring it out, and accepting the results.

your brewery will be dialed in just fine.

 

[Jens-Kristian]

My first couple of beers had a pretty sharp bitterness for at least the first week in the primary but actually evened out a lot over the following week in the secondary.

I haven't done a bitter yet (looking forward to trying it) but my guess is that it will be just fine after another couple of weeks. I can't really back this up, but wouldn't the initial bitterness of a beer with higher IBUs generally need a bit longer to condition in order for the bitterness to find its right, level than in a beer with lower IBU?

I think you should go ahead with dry-hopping. As has already been said, you aren't going to add much bitterness by doing that, and chances are that the beer is just fine.

Cheers,

Jens-Kristian

 

[voodoochild7]

As it turns out I think I'm doing okay with this one. Reading about beer styles in Papazian's book my OG, 1030, though off by much for the amount of grain I was using is actually just about right for an "ordinary bitter" which the book says should be 1033-1038. Also the accute bitterness seems to be subsiding a bit now that it is off the yeast and trub and in the secondary.

Plus this Sunday I did some "research" and bought a couple of bitters to try and they have a similar taste to my beer.

So I think I'm good and an all grain convert. Now I have to solve my efficiency problem(which I'm sure had to do with the crush). The only way to be sure is to ha ha brew more beer.