Scoresheet comment help

[Ski12568]

I recently got my score sheets back and both judges noted a bittering harshness on the finish. Can this be avoided or lessened in anyway?

4oz of Amarillo were used in total

What other info would you like?

Overall score was 40.5, Gold medal, American pale ale

 

[poptarts]

dont use as much bittering hops? you have to post a recipe for a question like this.

 

[Ski12568]

8lbs Maris Otter
1lb Crystal 20
1lb Munich

.5 oz Amarillo FWH (60min boil)
.5 oz Amarillo 30min
1.5 oz Amarillo 13 min
1 oz Amarillo Dry Hop

US-05

 

[poptarts]

water used and PH of final beer can make a harshness, what are you doing for water? FWH tends to be smoother bittering, but you could maybe sub a clean bittering hop for like magnum for the fwh and see if it makes a difference.

 

[philosofool]

I hate the word 'harsh' as it is not very helpful. Sometimes this is just a synonym for "excessive" sometimes it refers to the particular "feel" of the characteristic. Did they describe the intensity of the bitterness, e.g. "moderately high bitterness" somewhere--if so, the harshness is a distinct issue and I would try a traditional "clean" bittering hop like magnum for the same target IBU and see what you think. Otherwise, try droping the 30 min Amarillo addition and adding some magnum for 60 to make up the IBUs.

Congratulations on your gold!

 

[Ski12568]

I used distilled water and added a tablespoon of gypsum to the mash.

I ended up adding some lactic acid to the mash to get it to 5.4 pH. I planned on also using some calcium chloride but when I went to add it, I noticed I purchased calcium carbonate...

Is warrior a sufficient substitue for magnum? I just received someone the mail on a bulk order.

thanks for the help

 

[philosofool]

I used distilled water and added a tablespoon of gypsum to the mash.

I ended up adding some lactic acid to the mash to get it to 5.4 pH. I planned on also using some calcium chloride but when I went to add it, I noticed I purchased calcium carbonate...

Is warrior a sufficient substitue for magnum? I just received someone the mail on a bulk order.

thanks for the help

I pretty much always use a little calcium chloride, even when most of my calcium adjustment comes from gypsum. I've used warrior a lot and find that it's good, so I would try that before investing in a bunch of magnum. It will probably be cleaner than Amarillo.

 

[philosofool]

A tablespoon of gypsum also sounds like a lot to me. I've gone up to 9g (~2.5 tsp) but that used CaCl2 and my local water that has some other balancing minerals.

 

[Yooper]

8lbs Maris Otter
1lb Crystal 20
1lb Munich

.5 oz Amarillo FWH (60min boil)
.5 oz Amarillo 30min
1.5 oz Amarillo 13 min
1 oz Amarillo Dry Hop

US-05

There isn't anything there to explain a 'blistering' harshness at all. It looks nice!

A tablespoon of gypsum also sounds like a lot to me. I've gone up to 9g (~2.5 tsp) but that used CaCl2 and my local water that has some other balancing minerals.

Oh, I missed that. 15 grams of gypsum (about a tablespoon) could do it, I suppose by enhancing dryness quite a lot.

The mash pH was 5.4, even with that much gypsum and distilled water? That's surprising to me, and even more so if you used acid. Is your pH meter properly calibrated?

A cause of harshness could also be some alkalinity in the sparge water, but I assume you used 100% distilled water for the sparge water?

 

[Ski12568]

Oops, I meant Tsp... Sorry about that. Thank you all for the help. Since then I have started weighing my additions with a gram scale.

 

[philosofool]

Oops, I meant Tsp... Sorry about that. Thank you all for the help. Since then I have started weighing my additions with a gram scale.

I got my scale for like fifteen bucks plus shipping. Look at a scale retailer, not a homebrew supply store

 

[Ski12568]

There isn't anything there to explain a 'blistering' harshness at all. It looks nice!







Oh, I missed that. 15 grams of gypsum (about a tablespoon) could do it, I suppose by enhancing dryness quite a lot.



The mash pH was 5.4, even with that much gypsum and distilled water? That's surprising to me, and even more so if you used acid. Is your pH meter properly calibrated?



A cause of harshness could also be some alkalinity in the sparge water, but I assume you used 100% distilled water for the sparge water?

I meant tsp, sorry about that. The mash pH started at 5.6 and I added some acid to bring it down to 5.4, I curse a cheap pH meter so I calibrate it before each reading if necessary.

Yeah, distilled for everything. I did not make any additions to the sparge water. I started using the Bru'n water spreadsheet so now I make additions to both.

 

[Ski12568]

I got my scale for like fifteen bucks plus shipping. Look at a scale retailer, not a homebrew supply store

I just use my gram scale that I use for silver, works great.