Bittering Problem

[melinda]

G'day,
I have just tasted my American Pale Ale and it is far too bitter. Because I cool my wort in cubes, I only boil my bittering hops for 40 minutes. This gives me the right bittering because of the increased time in the cube while hot. This works fine when I only have 1 or 2 hop additions at the end of the boil. But the Pale Ale I made had 5 hop additions because it is a hoppy beer. Because of the increased amount of hops and being slowly cooled in the cube, the bitterness has increased. Does anyone know how I can achieve the desired hoppiness without the bitterness? Should I dry hop the flavouring hops instead of putting them in the boil? Unfortunately Beersmith doesn't have a setting for this. Any help would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Cadbury

 

[Midnight Brew]

For late additions I would look into cube hopping. Great flavour and aroma comes from just simply throwing your hops in the cube and filling wort into them.

In terms of bitterness I recommend you try first wort hopping (FWH). You add your hops to the kettle before the boil is reached, usually as your a draining your mash tun. Imparts a cleaner, smoother and downright magical bitterness over a regular boil addition. To my tastebuds anyway.

 

[Dan Pratt]

If you upgrade the beersmith you have to the new version 2.3, it now has a function for calculating no chill.

In regards to making hoppy beers via no chill, its just not the same. I have found after much trial and error that the NC method doesn't seem to keep the hop flavour at the same level as the chilled beers.

Other may disagree but for styles that include alot of hops late, I always chill those, pretty much any other style can be done with NC to achieve a great beer apart from Hoppy Pale ales and IPAs upwards.

 

[manticle]

Firstly back off on your bittering hops.
Secondly add late hops later.
In hoppy beers I only ever do 10 min additions and whirlpool additions for late hops.

You can also try cube hopping or the argon method (which involves a short boil of hops in wort next day and adding to cube).

There's a few methods so you'll need to work out which you prefer.

Or chill - that's an option as pratty mentioned.

 

[huez]

Pratty beat me to it, but i'm not sure if its an actual no chill function or if you just use the whirlpool addition option and then you can say how long the wort will be over 85c. It's explained in this article

http://beersmith.com/blog/2016/08/07/beersmith-2-3-update-new-features-detailed-overview/

 

[melinda]

Thanks for the advice. I will have a go at the options suggested and like always, experiment. I will also have a look at upgrading my Beersmith.
Thanks again.
Cadbury

 

[Danscraftbeer]

and take lots of notes. I find myself tapping in a few paragraphs in beersmith on every brew if your experimenting techniques.
Also adding your own profiles as options.
Its a real bugger if you don't take notes and you want to refer back to what you did on that (good beer or bad beer)

 

[Dae Tripper]

Drop the hops in the cube at negative 10min. Just like doing a 10 min addition.

 

[stewy]

I use large amounts of hops in the cube. After the boil I leave the wort in the urn for around 30-35mins to let the crap drop out then transfer. It's usually at about 80-85c by then. Works very well & don't have a problem with getting hoppy ales. A decent dry hop also helps

 

[mikec]

Toss the late hops in the cube, then put the cubs in the bath full of cold water after say 10 minutes.
The convenience of no-chill but still chilling.

 

[fungrel]

Out of curiosity, is the bitterness you are experiencing what you would consider 'long' or lingering?

I have had issues in the past with no-chill and chlorine/chloramines in the tap, and this is the symptom that prompted me to look at treating my tap water.

I have also used this chart successfully a few times also.

 

[melinda]

The bitterness is immediately noticeable and stays in the mouth. Nothing like drinking a nice hoppy beer. If my water was a problem, I think it may show up in the other beers I brew, but it doesn't. Good thought though.