Single-hop Citra IPA - far too bitter...

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Clyde McCoy

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Brewed my first 5 gallon batch, using this hop schedule:

Citra: 0.5 oz, boil 60’
Citra: 0.5 oz, flameout
Citra: 2 oz, 150F
Citra: 5 oz, 2 days before bottling

Bottles are still carbonating, but first impression on a flat tasting: the beer is quite bitter. Aroma is outstanding, pungent and fruity, and citrus and tropical fruit flavors are there, but it's also unpleasantly bitter. Aging over the next week may hopefully smooth things out.

Janish has a very nice article describing how dry hopping may increase bitterness: http://scottjanish.com/increasing-bitterness-dry-hopping/

Has anyone had this experience with single-hop Citra IPAs?

My current thinking is to switch to Columbus in the boil (eliminate Citra) and reduce the quantity of Citra during whirlpool/dry hop. Any input would be appreciated.
 
Wait until it's completed conditioning before making a judgement.
Carbonation makes a huge difference in the perceived bitterness.
PLus the extra week will make changes.
The 60 minutes addition is known as the bittering charge - that's a pretty small amount to use.
Yes the other additions, especially in boil can contribute, but *science reasons* it's not as pronounced.
I'm thinking most of the view is because the beer is still 'green' - very young - and some time will definitely help.
 
What was the rest of the recipe, particularly OG and FG? What was the stated IBU for the hops you used? Bitterness gets balanced out by sweetness in beer. That's a ton of dry hops though, it seems like that's going to dominate this beer no matter what.
 
What was the rest of the recipe, particularly OG and FG? What was the stated IBU for the hops you used? Bitterness gets balanced out by sweetness in beer. That's a ton of dry hops though, it seems like that's going to dominate this beer no matter what.

OG: 1.064
FG: 1.012

Water:

Ca: 156 Mg: 12 Na: 31 SO4: 153 Cl: 100 HCO3: 146


Grains (152°F 75’):

Target mash pH: 5.3

Rahr 2-Row (72%): 9 lbs

Rahr White Wheat (20%): 2.5 lbs

Crystal 15L (4%): 0.5 lbs

Briess Carapils (4%): 0.5 lbs

Rice hulls: 0.5 lbs


Hops (212°F 60’):

Citra: 0.5 oz, boil 60’

Citra: 0.5 oz, flameout

Citra: 2 oz, 150°F

Citra: 5 oz, 2 days before bottling


Yeast:

Yeast: A04 Barbarian

Fermentation: 64-70°F, 14 days
 
I found that I was over bittering when I first started whirlpooling. I use Beersmith to calculate IBUs. While I am confident about the whirlpool calculation, I found the program doesn't seem to calculate the whirlpool IBUs from the boil hops. I've toggled what I think is supposed to do that but I didn't see a change. So I add a line(s) in the recipe where I add in the same amount of whirlpool hops as boil hops. I was getting some seriously bitter beers the first few times I whirlpooled and this has since corrected the issue. I think it can be particularly an issue with any boil hops with AA upwards of 6.
 
That recipe shouldn't be super bitter. You sure it's bitterness and not astringency? I agree with waiting until it's fully carbed and conditioned to give a verdict on taste though.
 
Updated here -

The beer has completely changed after 5 days of conditioning. I'm sure it will continue to improve over the next week. The bitterness is completely gone, and the tropical citrus flavors are on full blast. I learned my lesson. Even NEIPAs need to age a little bit.
 
Something i've learned from all my NEIPAs..........dont judge it until its been in a keg for a week, and you've dumped out the first couple of pints.

No matter how long you cold crash in the fermenter, and how good your dumping is, there is always tons of suspended hop and yeast particles floating when it goes into that keg, and it will take a week for everything to settle out and pour out from the bottom before you get the true IPA flavor.
 
Sounds like hop bite to me. While you still have hop matter in suspension, you get a really intense bittter bite. As you noticed, once they drop out, it tastes glorious.

I bought a top draw system for my kegs and I can pull great tasting draughts much earlier now.
 

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