BetterSense
Well-Known Member
My beers have consistently turned out what I consider either barely bitter enough or slightly too sweet. I've tried to brew 2 IPAs now and neither one turned out bitter. It's possible that I have some problem with my taste buds, but I don't think so. DFH 60 and 90 minute IPA tastes a nice level of bitter to me, but I tried to brew a DFH clone, even adding an extra 10% of hops or so to be safe, and it turned out barely bitter enough to be called an IPA.
I thought it might be LHBS hops, so I bought some bulk hops from Farmhouse brewing. Same thing.
I thought it might be my water, so I tried using 100% glacier RO water. Same thing.
The LHBS guy told me maybe I'm not boiling hard enough, so I got a keggle and now I'm burning off 1.5-2 gallons per hour. Same thing.
About the only thing I can figure is that the Lowes paint strainer bags I use are causing it. But I see people on here who use hop bags and spiders.
Any suggestions? I'm seriously going to start doubling the hops from every recipe, but that gets expensive.
This is the latest recipe I brewed. Do you think this should turn out detectably bitter?
OG 1.072
FG 1.018
60min: 1oz Northern Brewer 10.5%
15min: 4oz Cascade 6%
5min: 1oz Chinook 11%
This was my previous attempt, which was also not bitter:
OG 1.060?
FG 1.011
60min: 1 oz Centennial 10.5%
30min: 1/2 oz Centennial 10.5%
10min: 1/2 oz Centennial 10.5%
5min: 1oz Centennial 10.5%
I thought it might be LHBS hops, so I bought some bulk hops from Farmhouse brewing. Same thing.
I thought it might be my water, so I tried using 100% glacier RO water. Same thing.
The LHBS guy told me maybe I'm not boiling hard enough, so I got a keggle and now I'm burning off 1.5-2 gallons per hour. Same thing.
About the only thing I can figure is that the Lowes paint strainer bags I use are causing it. But I see people on here who use hop bags and spiders.
Any suggestions? I'm seriously going to start doubling the hops from every recipe, but that gets expensive.
This is the latest recipe I brewed. Do you think this should turn out detectably bitter?
OG 1.072
FG 1.018
60min: 1oz Northern Brewer 10.5%
15min: 4oz Cascade 6%
5min: 1oz Chinook 11%
This was my previous attempt, which was also not bitter:
OG 1.060?
FG 1.011
60min: 1 oz Centennial 10.5%
30min: 1/2 oz Centennial 10.5%
10min: 1/2 oz Centennial 10.5%
5min: 1oz Centennial 10.5%