Is it possible to reduce bitterness from dry hopping?

[SloppyGriffin]

So over the past weeks I have been sampling my beer to see how the flavour is. I really liked what I achieved but I wanted to dry hop a small amount of fuggle and a smaler amount of millenium to give it an earthy aroma. Well Now after tasting it I think i preferred it without the dry hopping. It didn't ruin the beer and it really has a nice woody malty smooth taste to it but I was wondering if there is any way to reduce the bitterness that the dry hoppin g has imparted. Either by adding someting to the secondary or at bottling or should I just learn for next time to not dry hop for this recipe?

Is it possible to reduce existing bitterness from dry hoppin by adding something to secondary or bottling?

Note: That second paragraph was just for the people who thought the description was too long and wanted to skip ahead.

 

[bottlebomber]

Dry hopping doesn't typically produce much bitterness since the hops do not isomerize. However if you're happy with the flavor of the beer now there is no need to tamper with it. Bitterness will fade with time though, if that is your issue.

 

[BobC]

I think you will just have to let it age and some of the bitterness will mellow out.

 

[SloppyGriffin]

Yeah I never really got any real bitterness before but since Millenium has a high AA%, i think like 13%, i believe that is what is the main culprit. given I only add like 0.05-0.1oz of it, it was a wee bit too much. I'm sure once it is bottled, the carbonation and vanilla/maple notes with slightly overpower the bitterness or at least thats what i am aiming for.

 

[bottlebomber]

.05 ounces of hops is an insignificant amount of hops. That's barely a gram.

 

[SloppyGriffin]

Well sir my hops are MAGICAL then i suppose. It may have been more. Wouldn't say it was any more than .15oz. I suppose the main consensus is that aging will do it best. I did however contemplate adding about 2-4oz malodextrin to it at bottling. Do you think that will just mess it up?

 

[bottlebomber]

Well sir my hops are MAGICAL then i suppose. It may have been more. Wouldn't say it was any more than .15oz. I suppose the main consensus is that aging will do it best. I did however contemplate adding about 2-4oz malodextrin to it at bottling. Do you think that will just mess it up?

I think it's not needed. I think that once your beer is carbonated and conditioned it will taste much different that it does now.

 

[SloppyGriffin]

Ok. I have tried searching for what exactly malo does to the beer. i know it gives it more mouthfeel and body but if you had to describe that with words that make pictures in your head what would they be?

 

[bottlebomber]

Ok. I have tried searching for what exactly malo does to the beer. i know it gives it more mouthfeel and body but if you had to describe that with words that make pictures in your head what would they be?

Take some cornstarch and dissolve it in a glass of cold water, then heat it up. Drink it to experience mouthfeel

 

[ILoveBeer2]

It sounds like you may want to stop playing with this beer and let it age. The carbing process can make a huge difference in the final product. Make the best simple beer you can. Tinkering can be done on the next batch.

 

[SloppyGriffin]

Fair enough. I believe already this is my best batch yet as it achieves the "feel" i wanted. Thank you everyone.

 

[pjj2ba]

There is hop bitterness (alpha acids) and then there is hop "bitterness" from polyphenols in the hops. The later do not count towards the IBUs, but can certainly add to the perceived bitterness of a beer. This can be a problem with long dry hopping times and certain hop varieties with high polyphenol levels (no relation at all to AA levels). You can end up with a beer that tastes a lot more bitter than you expect (been there, done that)

The way to deal with this is you know you are going to dry hop with some high polyphenol containing hops is to the back off a bit on your bittering hops in the kettle to account for the "bitterness" you will get from the dry hops