Should I Worry About The Bitterness In My Final Beer?

[Gustatorian]

Yesterday I brewed a Black IPA which called for 1.3 ounces of Simcoe as FWH.Per Beersmith, this amount should get me about 65 IBUs. However, when I pulled a sample of wort after the boil, the beer had minimal bitterness to it. Usually with a beer hovering between 60-70 IBUs I can taste a distinct, somewhat harsh, bitterness to the wort. This almost tasted like the wort of a stout. Should I be worried that I didn't extract enough bitterness from the FWH or does the bitterness rise during fermentation? (I'm used to it dropping a bit). Is there a way to add bitterness at this point? FWIW, I added the hop charge in my Mash Tun during my 20 minute mash-out phase at 168ºF.

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

Sounds more like mash-hopping to me. First Wort Hops usually go in the kettle, and get boiled.

 

[Gustatorian]

Guess it was

 

[Gustatorian]

Sounds more like mash-hopping to me. First Wort Hops usually go in the kettle, and get boiled.

Any suggestion on how to amend this? I'm assuming 10-20 IBUs in the beer currently. Need to bump it to around 60

 

[Yooper]

Any suggestion on how to amend this? I'm assuming 10-20 IBUs in the beer currently. Need to bump it to around 60

You didn't add any FWH or bittering hops to the wort at all? What was the hops schedule, exactly?

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

This may sound silly, but if it's a CDA (or black IPA) and if there are toasty notes to it I wouldn't worry about further bittering. I would dry-hop the ever loving stuff out of it and go for big-over-the-top hop-juice flavors.

Out of curiosity, what was the recipe, hop schedule, and process actually used?

 

[Gustatorian]

You didn't add any FWH or bittering hops to the wort at all? What was the hops schedule, exactly?

I guess it wouldn't be considered FWH because I added them to the mash at 168ºF for 20 minutes then drained into my BK. I assume some of the alpha-acids were extracted from the pellets and isomerized with the boil (or they were somehow isomerized within the Mash, not really sure about the science behind FWH. But yea, no pellets hit the boil.

 

[Gustatorian]

This may sound silly, but if it's a CDA (or black IPA) and if there are toasty notes to it I wouldn't worry about further bittering. I would dry-hop the ever loving stuff out of it and go for big-over-the-top hop-juice flavors.

Out of curiosity, what was the recipe, hop schedule, and process actually used?

Malt was 65% 2-Row, ~20% GP, 3% Munich all mashed at 154ºF for 60 min with a 20 min mash-out in which I added Carafa III ~5% and Chocolate ~1% and 1.3 ounces Simcoe. 90 minute boil with 1# 2oz of sucrose added last 10 minutes (no boil hop additions) and then a 60 min whirlpool with 2oz Citra and 2 oz Galaxy. Getting double dry-hopped in fermentor and keg, both with 3oz Citra and 3oz Galaxy each. I'd say I'm dry-hopping the ever loving stuff out of it

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

You got whirlpool hops too, so you got some IBU generated from this. IMO whirlpool hopping doesn't bitter much, but does produce substantial hops flavors. I say go with what you are planning already, hopefully the result isn't overly sweet, but with plenty of late hops I don't think it will be. If it weren't too late already, I would have said to add 2 or so more ounces to the whirlpool. I would definitely drink this brew, I love Black IPAs.

 

[Gustatorian]

You got whirlpool hops too, so you got some IBU generated from this. IMO whirlpool hopping doesn't bitter much, but does produce substantial hops flavors. I say go with what you are planning already, hopefully the result isn't overly sweet, but with plenty of late hops I don't think it will be. If it weren't too late already, I would have said to add 2 or so more ounces to the whirlpool. I would definitely drink this brew, I love Black IPAs.

I WP at 135ºF so I don't think too many alpha acids were isomerized :-(. I'm going to let it ferment through and see what it taste like prior to kegging. If it's too sweet, I may make a tincture or something based on brewer's friend's IBU calculator.

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

Try making a hop-tea, perhaps, if you are worried about bitterness. I have never employed this method, however it may be an option and I have read others on here suggest it. That is a low whirlpool temp.

 

[jjeffers09]

+1 Hop tea, or hop shot was what I was thinking. A hop shot is pretty much concentrated hop tea isn't it?

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

Is a hop shot isomerized? I don't know the answer to either of those questions.