Low bitterness/hop utilization with BIAB

[tripeland]

I have been BIABing for the last 12 months with quite a few brews under my belt. For all of my beers I've noticed a distinct lack of hop bitterness. The beers all have a sweet taste even though they finish at or below 1.010. They were all popular recipes and my volumes and efficiencies were good.

I always notice a very cloudy wort from flour and other fine particles escaping the mesh bag during mashing. These particles would normally be filtered out in a 3V setup during vorlauf. I'm wondering if during the boil the hop oils bond with these particles and then drop out during cool down, taking the bitterness and hop flavor with it.

Do people who BIAB notice a difference in bitterness compared to a regular 3V setup?

 

[deuce40]

The brewing method you use will not have an effect on you hop utilization. I have a couple of questions about your brewing methods.

1. Do you do anything to your water profile? Water plays a huge role in the perception of bitterness in you beer. Higher sulfate in your water will help.
2. Hows your oxygen control during the cold side? Oxidization will make your hoppy beer profile taste overly sweet quickly.
3. Do you live in a high altitude? Higher altitudes will give you a lower boiling point, I live in Denver so my boiling temp is 202, ten degrees lower then at sea level. Hop utilization takes a bit of a hit for me over here.

 

[tripeland]

Thanks for the reply.
1. I filter my tap water and use campden tablet to rid chlorine. My water report shows chloride at 89ppm and sulphate at 45ppm.
2. I used to bottle from the fermenter using a bottle wand. I have moved to kegs since with closed loop transfers so no chance of oxygenation. The low bitterness still seems to be an issue.
3. I'm basically at sea level.

I know there are many paths to affect hop utilization, I was just wondering if a cloudy wort pre-boil was potentially one of them.

 

[deuce40]

I've been brewing BIAB for about five years now and made plenty of IPA with the right amount of bitterness in my brews. Only time when I've had issues hop bitterness is when one of the three things mentioned above was out of wack. Do you add anything to change your water profile, looks like its high on chloride.

 

[tripeland]

I don't normally adjust my water (except for acid), although I do have gypsum on hand. What chloride do you normally target? I could dilute with RO then add some gypsum.