Reduce porter bitterness in secondary

[Grumpybumpy]

Hey all,

For my second 5 gal batch, I decided to get creative and wing it a bit and may have made a slight mistake. Here's the recipe:

7.6 lbs pale LME (half added at 10 min to flameout)
0.5 lbs crystal 60L
0.5 lbs chocolate
0.5 lbs roasted
1 oz black patent

1 oz magnum (10%) (60 min)
0.75 oz Willamette (4.8%) (40 min)
0.5 oz Willamette (20 min)

Wyeast 1056

Prior to brewing, I did not know that adding half the LME late increased the bitterness. So now instead of hitting 43.2 IBU, it's now 53.3 IBU... I like a bitter beer, but I don't think a porter should be this bitter.

Other than aging, is there anything I can do in a secondary to reduce the bitterness if I do find it's not to my liking in a few weeks? Vanilla beans, bourbon soaked oak chips, cherries, pumpkin, etc? Or will that just create a little complexity while not reducing bitterness?

(or maybe this is a stout...)

 

[usfmikeb]

Even 43 is a bit high for Porter, I usually shoot for 25.

 

[Golddiggie]

Depending on how dark it actually is, it could be more of an American Brown Ale. Although the IBU's were still outside it's range (20-40).

As for softening the bitterness of the brew, aging will do it best. Even a short amount of time, like an extra month, will do wonders. I've read about people dry hopping to take the edge off of a bitter brew (or one with more bitterness than they wanted), but have not tried it.

I will say that a brew that had more hop bitterness to it young, that I brewed, has really come into it's own over the months. After just 4-6 weeks it had softened it's edges enough that it was very nice. A few months more and it's really well rounded.

So, don't give up on the brew. Maybe change what you call it and then see how it changes over the months to come. Who knows, by fall it could be really good and you'll be planning to brew it again.

I will suggest getting/using brewing software that has allocations for doing late extract additions. I would also better plan the brew/batch before starting it. You can't plan for everything, but if you at least know what the recipe will give you as you designed it, you'll be in a better place.

 

[Calder]

It all depends on what scale you are using.

Rager says you will be around 60, and Garetz says you will be around 40.

There is a huge variation in calculations, hop freshness, boil , etc. Don't worry about it, it may be perfect.

 

[Grumpybumpy]

How about dry hopping it with a couple ounces in a secondary and calling it a black IPA?

I'll be sure to taste it first though...who knows? Maybe it's great!

 

[birvine]

Will I be ridiculed for this?

When I started brewing in the early 1990's I made a stout that was really bitter. Being a frugal student I hated the idea of throwing out all of that beer. Theory told me that the opposite of bitter was salt so I experimented with a glass of beer. I came to the point where I could toss in a tiny bit of salt and the beer was pretty good - even colleagues in class enjoyed it. I don't know how bad your brew is, but if you just can't drink it, try the old salt trick!

B

 

[Grumpybumpy]

It's still fermenting like mad, so there's no way to tell how it tastes right now. Salt seems like a crazy thing to add to a beer, but I'll certainly keep that in mind.

 

[BradleyBrew]

add some lactose?

 

[944play]

There is a huge variation in calculations, hop freshness, boil , etc. Don't worry about it, it may be perfect.

This.

Plus, I like a lot of bittering in a porter. My favorite porter recipe has a 1:1 BU:GU.

Plus, bitterness drops off pretty reliably with age.

Plus, you do have the salt trick at your disposal, as mentioned.

Plus, you haven't even tasted the beer!

 

[Grumpybumpy]

Well, taste test number 1 is going pretty well.

It's about what I expected. Pretty upfront chocolate taste with a bitter aftertaste that makes you want to get more of that chocolate...

What do yall think about racking to a secondary with a pound of boiled Rainer cherries or a vanilla bean or two? It is by no means BAD, (in fact the more I drink from this hydro reading, the more I like it) but my tolerance for bitter beers is pretty high. Other people may find it too much.

Or maybe I'll just age it for a few months...putting a kink in the pipeline I was trying to start.

BradleyBrew, my LHBS owner thought that lactose wouldn't make much of a difference, but it sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Has anyone used it in this manner?

 

[Calder]

If it tastes OK, don't mess with it. If you mess with it (hoping it will improve), you might end up ruining it.

 

[Grumpybumpy]

Bottled this last night and MAN did it taste good! The bitterness has mellowed out considerably and the chocolate/coffee goodness is shining through. I'll update again in 3 weeks! Thanks for putting my noob noggin to rest, everyone. I'm slowly learning to RDWHAHB

 

[birvine]

Ok, so... don't add salt now! LOL!

B

 

[TromboneGuy]

About the salt thing - I was hanging out with a bunch of guys from Costa Rica a while back, and they all salted their beer as they drank it. Sat there with a salt shaker next to them - shake, shake, drink, repeat.

Since I wasn't drinking anything particularly exciting that day I gave it a try. And you know what? It really did smooth out the rough edges on the beer we were drinking. I don't think I'd do it to an outstanding beer, but if you have one that winds up a bit rough, a tiny bit of salt could mellow it out.

 

[Grumpybumpy]

UPDATE:

As always, RDWHAHB won out. This beer turned out fantastic! Definitely my favorite so far. I'll be converting it to an all grain for my next batch this weekend with a small addition of melanoiden malt. The mash temp will be fairly high (156) for more body.

Thanks to all that replied. I'm glad I didn't mess with it.