Pale's and IPA's have a bite

[jasonclick]

I know this is a general question but I've made several (all grain) different Pale Ales and IPA's and it seems that all of them have a sharp bite or bitterness that I don't find in good commercial IPA's or PA's. I've tried various recipes that I've found on BeerSmith. In general, could the bitterness be caused from the water I'm using? I always go to the grocery store and buy 10 gallons of drinking water to brew with. Thanks.

 

[daksin]

Water could be a factor, but it may be a good idea to check your tastebuds against some commercial beers with published IBUs. It may just be that whatever method you're using to estimate IBU in your homebrew actually produces a beer with more bitterness than you'd like.

 

[Nightshade]

Potentially it could be water or also as said the IBU estimation may be off, but the possibility also is that it mmay actually be the freshness of the product as opposed to a store bought product.

 

[CA_Mouse]

I agree with the above. Water can have a big impact on the utilization of your hops and freshness could, also, be a part. You can always brew the same beer twice and on one cut the bittering hops by .25oz and see if that is where your bitterness is coming from.

 

[grathan]

Could be bicarbonates causing tannin extraction.

 

[Toga]

Try first wort hopping. It tends to smooth out the bitterness.