I need advice

[DragonSlayerBrewing]

Here is the situation...I didn't discover that my wort chiller had a leak in it until about 2 gallons of water had been added to my finished wort. I reboiled the wort for about another hour to get the volume back down to around 5 gallons. This meant that all my hops went to bittering. I just racked the beer to secondary fermentation and it is a bitter mess. This brew was supposed to be around 4.5% ABU. Any advice on what I could add to the secondary to cut the bitterness? I added a half pound of organic sugar, hoping that if I increase the alcohol, it will help balance the bitterness.

 

[Kaz]

What kind of beer is this?

 

[bottlebomber]

Did you add your hops to the kettle loose, or did you have bags? If you had bags and removed your hops, you didn't effect your IBUs. If you added the hops loose you would have ideally waited a half hour for the hops to sink, gotten the wort off the hops, and boiled. Either way you did drive off your hop aroma though. Your best bet might be to brew a second batch of the same beer and under hop it, if you have the means to do that, and then blend the two. It might be really good!

 

[Golddiggie]

You can also just let it sit for a bit longer before you start to drink it. Bitterness tends to mellow with age (like some people).

You can also dry hop it to get back some of the aroma hop contributions. I've read instances where people have used dry hopping to offset too high of batch bitterness.

I would also start using nylon hop bags (or make/get a hop spider) to hold your hops during the boil.

What were you using as a wort chiller that leaked 2 gallons into the kettle? Even when I was using an IC, I was always tending to it, I didn't just start it and walk away. With my plate chiller, I'm also right there, but mostly to watch the thermometer dial drop like a stone as it's chilling (recirculate until I hit one level, then into the fermenter through the chiller to get to final pitching temp). You might want to reconsider either the chiller you're using, or method of chilling.

 

[bottlebomber]

Happy 5000 ^^^

Have you tasted much young wort though? It always tastes harshly bitter, even at 35 IBU. Its one of the things that really changes as the beer develops

 

[Golddiggie]

bottlebomber, didn't even see that I passed the 5k mark...

I have tried fresh wort that had a good amount of hops in it (for me, the target was about 50 IBU). I know the flavors will change/evolve/mutate/mature/grow/spread/destroy as the brew ferments.

The OP mentioned that he already racked to secondary when he tasted a sample. Still, without knowing the time frame, it's hard to say how the final product will turn out. I would leave it alone a while, tasting every few weeks to see where it's at. If it's almost there, but you want to add some hop flavor/aroma to it, dry hop it with the same hops you originally used for flavor/aroma. I've found 1-3oz (total) to be really good for dry hopping. I have a batch that's sitting with 2oz of whole hops right now that will be going to keg Wednesday evening. Looking forward to tasting that one. :rockin:

Depending on the recipe/brew, you could have more options for reducing the higher IBU level in it. Really hard to say without knowing WHAT you brewed...

 

[DragonSlayerBrewing]

Thanks for the responses. I was making dinner for my parents at the same time I was chilling so that is my excuse for not noticing the leak.

here is the recipe: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/the-innkeeper-limited-edition-all-grain-kit.html

Any advice on what I should use to dry hop if I go that route? I have never used a hop bag before. Is that something you guys recommend?

 

[Golddiggie]

You can make a hop spider to give the hops more room to mix in, while still making it so that you can easily remove the remains from the wort. I've been enjoying using the hop spider I made far more than the hop bags I was using. For one thing, it's easier to add hops with the spider. You simply toss the pellets into the bag through the ring. My spider is all stainless steel, so I don't need to worry about heat from the boil doing anything to it (there are threads where people got their PVC based spiders too close to the boiling wort, with not so nice results). There's a picture of mine in my gallery...

I would dry hop with EKG (1 or 2oz) for a week before you go to bottle/keg... That will bring back some hop aroma/flavor to the brew. It's still going to be be more bitter than it would have otherwise been, but it should be good given enough time.

Look at this as a lesson learned to not divide your attentions between chilling the wort and something else. Or get yourself a better/more efficient chiller so that you spend less time chilling the wort down.