Why is my brew so hoppy?

[AcesHigh1919]

I am new to brewing and am wondering why my batches are coming out so hoppy? It's like chewing on a hop. I have the following

10lbs of 2 row
1lb of Munich type 1
1lb of caramel 60l

30mins 1.25oz of Columbus hops
5 mins 1 oz of Cascade hops

I left to ferment for 2 weeks and it tastes like chewing on a hop. Brewfather said it should be in the low 50s for IBU. That shouldn't be that bad. Any help???

 

[IslandLizard]

Maybe you don't like hops?
Columbus can be a bit of acquired taste. It's not for everyone.

What commercial or craft hoppy American Pale Ale do you really like?

You strained the hops out, I hope?

 

[Jeroen79]

50 IBU just is hoppy, if you don't like hop just halve the dose.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I left to ferment for 2 weeks and it tastes like chewing on a hop. [...] Any help???

Did you package it (and taste it carbonated in a glass) or taste it out of the fermenter? How long has it been since it was packaged?

 

[pvtpublic]

Well, don't dispare! You're beer isn't a drain pour! If you let it age, the hop character will lower. The longer you let it age, the more it drops. Try it again in a month or two. Or give it more.

Your recipe has an extremely hoppy balance. If you want it balanced, I suggest lowering your calculated IBUs down to 25. If you want it malty, do 15-20. And if you want it pleasantly hoppy shoot for 30-35.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I am new to brewing and am wondering why my batches are coming out so hoppy? It's like chewing on a hop. I have the following

Maybe you could elaborate on what you define as "hoppy"?

• Is the beer overly bitter? If so, then maybe you are adding too much bittering hops. You could also shift hops into a flameout or steep addition. (or dry hops)
• Does it have an astringency? Or maybe a grassy character? This can just be from hops still in suspension. This will fade with time. I would not just much from a 2 week old sample.
• Does it have too much hop flavors (citrus, pine, resin, etc.)? I probably would not expect this based on your hop usage.

I use Columbus often. I find it gives a desirable "hoppy" character to American IPAs and Pale Ales, but I usually lean on other hops (Citra, Simcoe, Centennial, etc.) for hop flavors and aroma.

 

[lumpher]

I'm also leaning toward the 1.25 oz Columbus bittering. Columbus will let you know it's there. Cut it down some and try again; maybe 3/4 oz or even a full oz and see if that makes a difference. It's a good hop, but it IS pretty powerful. Another thing: Do you chill your brews when done, whirlpool then put in fermenter, or let them cool off on their own?

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

10lbs of 2 row
1lb of Munich type 1
1lb of caramel 60l

30mins 1.25oz of Columbus hops
5 mins 1 oz of Cascade hops

I left to ferment for 2 weeks and it tastes like chewing on a hop. Brewfather said it should be in the low 50s for IBU. That shouldn't be that bad. Any help???

Is it too BITTER? There's a couple of things that might have gone wrong...

• When boiling hops for 60 minutes, almost all the bittering has been extracted, so if it takes 20+ minutes to cool your boiling wort down below 170F, it's not a big deal. But if you boil a high alpha hop like Columbus (that's CTZ, right?) for 30 minutes, and then it takes 20 minutes to cool below 170F, it will be much more bitter than expected.
• Did you input the actual AA percentages from your hops packaging into Brewfather? They might have been higher than your software's default values.
• Did your mash hit expected gravity? A lower than expected gravity wort will extract a little more bittering.

On the other hand, if it's not too bitter, just too "spicy/hoppy", time will fix that.

 

[HM-2]

How much hop matter did you get in your fermenter from the vessel?
If it's been sat on a couple of ounces of hop matter from the kettle for two weeks, you might well get some nasty astringency from it.

 

[hotbeer]

Like you are chewing on the hop because your beer is murky? Wait another month before you try another glass. Pour carefully and don't stir up the stuff on the bottom of the bottle or keg.

Or is it just the strong taste of hops and you just don't care for it? What commercial beers do you drink that you like? Maybe you've never had a beer that's really hoppy. Or you just don't purchase them because you don't care for hoppy beers.

 

[Jonas217]

I am new to brewing and am wondering why my batches are coming out so hoppy? It's like chewing on a hop. I have the following

10lbs of 2 row
1lb of Munich type 1
1lb of caramel 60l

30mins 1.25oz of Columbus hops
5 mins 1 oz of Cascade hops

I left to ferment for 2 weeks and it tastes like chewing on a hop. Brewfather said it should be in the low 50s for IBU. That shouldn't be that bad. Any help???

It is the Columbus Hops. Try a more mellow bittering variety, I would recommend 1 ounce of Cluster at 60 minutes. Another suggestion is to try a half ounce of Columbus at 60 minutes. That should be better.

 

[Bobby_M]

50 IBU is pretty high. It defines an IPA. As mentioned, the 30 minute and 5 minute times, in their affect on total IBU, assumes you chill the wort down relatively quickly. If the wort lingered at near boiling for any more than a couple minutes, that time needs to be factored in.

 

[Protos]

It may also depend on the quality of the given hop batch.
It's not a unique occurrence when I'm suddenly getting an unusually harsh and lingering bitterness from the hops I'm well familiar with, like East Kent Golding or Hallertauer Mittelfrüh.

The murky world hop market is full of counterfeits or, in more politically correct wording, "economically optimized offerings", which is rarely discussed but which is a fact nonetheless. Not unlike what's going on on the tea market, where the global offering of "Darjeeling" far exceeds the actual output of the Darjeeling tea gardens. I heard, quite a similar thing goes with Saazer, even from the reputable brands, of which just an insignificant part on offer is actually still produced in Czechia, while the rest is outsourced and harvested God knows where else, best case in Ukraine, worst case in China.

No wonder sometimes you taste the difference.