Left out hops

[jeffpwright]

I got my big Imperial IPA all done and in the fermenter and pitched my yeast last nite and was very excited until I realized as I was cleaning up, I had only put the .5 oz hops into the flavoring boil and there were the 2 other packages (2 oz) that were supposed to go in still sitting on the table. Any suggestions? I was thinking of boiling up the remaining hops in a little water and dumping it in; afraid that might water down the whole thing. Or I could just add it to the dry hopping cycle... or just take my lumps and go with what I've got.

 

[PDevlin75]

I'd say go with dry hopping

 

[govner1]

Hit it with a hop shot!

 

[DPveritasGold]

That's a tough one. I wouldn't think that dry hopping would fix anything though because without the hops in the boil, you're not going to have the alpha acids in the wort needed to bitter the beer.

 

[SilverZero]

Do a big dry hop. You could make some hop tea and add it, but don't do a lot. Hops in water just don't do the same. I'd say dry hop the heck out of it. Maybe do 4 days with half and then add the other half for 4 more.

 

[m00ps]

even with the planned 4.5oz, that doesnt really seem close to what you'd need for an imperial IPA. Id say to dry hop with all of those, and more, to try and at least get it to smell like one.

 

[hanuswalrus]

Humongous Dry Hop

 

[2005STi]

Brew a second way over hopped beer (say 2x the desired 5gal IBU) and blend once both are finished.

 

[m00ps]

i wouldnt blend an IPA, thats just begging for oxidation, right?

 

[wysiwyg]

WHEN were the 2oz supposed to go in? If at the very end, then you should be ok with a big dry hop, but if they were scheduled for more than 20 minutes left of the boil, then you may have missed out on the chance to bitter and will be trying to cover up malty taste with hop floavor/aroma.

Either way, you'll have learned something and ended up with beer, so you're good either way!

 

[jeffpwright]

I left it out of the last 15 min... the flavoring phase so I may be ok on the bittering structure; I think the general consensus is big dry hop and you're confirming that since it was the last part of the boil a dry hop is going to be the closest approximation

 

[jeffpwright]

And thanks to all for the sage advise!

 

[SilverZero]

And thanks to all for the sage advise!

Don't use sage, it clashes with the hop flavor in most ales.

 

[rlmiller10]

Do you have room in the fermenter for another gallon? If so get some extract to make as much as your fermenter can handle (leaving room for krausen), add hops, boil for 15 minutes, cool and add. That way you will not dilute and still have the hops.

 

[Cajun_McChicken]

brew a second way over hopped beer (say 2x the desired 5gal ibu) and blend once both are finished.

+1

 

[2005STi]

i wouldnt blend an IPA, thats just begging for oxidation, right?

I don't think so. You would need 3 kegs but you could borrow the third for a day since you only need it for an hour or so.

Take each carb'd, finished beer in keg and go with a 50-50 mix to start in a glass and work the balance until it tastes right to you. Then close transfer from the full keg into an empty PURGED keg. You should be easily able to see the volume you've added to the empty keg as the cold beer will make the keg sweat and you can also just put your hand and feel where the cold beer has filled up to.

Once you have the correct fraction of beer A, top off with beer B.

 

[Kirkwooder]

Go to your local recycle center and get 4 cases of empty Budweiser bottles, dilute your beer to 10 gallons and serve it to your BMC drinking friends. They'll never know the difference.

 

[GHBWNY]

Unless you've already done something, it's into day 3 of ferm, so let it go and dry-hop.

If it had been me and I caught it before active ferm took off, I might try extracting about a quart of the wort, heat it to boiling, then add 1 oz hops and let it simmer for 30 min., let it cool and add it back to the wort and dry hop with the remaining 1 oz (or more) hops. Boiling will kill the yeast in that sample, so I'd plan to repitch a small amount.

As someone mentioned, dry-hopping alone adds only aroma/flavor; it is not going to provide the bitterness in the beer that balances the maltiness, but you'll have beer. Cheers!