Black IPA not bitter enough (hop tea advice please! :( )

[tarmael]

Hey all,

I've recently come back from a large break from brewing (various reasons..), and thought I'd use up the bulk hop stores I had been lugging around with me (in the freezer) over the years. I read up on the viability of hops and it seems if they're airtight, out of direct sunlight and stored in the freezer they can last quite a while, however you do lose out as time goes on so I've been sure to use larger quantities than originally planned.

After a few quite successful brews using these older hops, I thought I'd do something a little more fragile and go for a British Black IPA.
Saving money to get back into AG, I did a partial mash, but mostly DME:
4kg DME
250g Maris Otter
250g Carafa III

@ 60min
70g EKG
70g Fuggles

@ 5min
100g EKG
100g Fuggles
(I had them, wanted them gone, why not go large?)

Wyeast British Ale II (Washed from my Coffee Porter)

Was supposed to be a 70IBU beer, I kegged it tonight - drinking it young and I'd say it's closer to a 25 IBU
I have a bunch of Chinook, Nugget, and Columbus in the freezer, I'm thinking of doing a Columbus and Chinook
hop tea. How do I go about a hop tea of this calibre? 2-4L water, 30g Columbus, 30g Chinook @ 60 min?

(For reference, Coffee porter was 4kg DME, 250g Maris Otter, 250g Carafa III, 100g Chocolate Wheat, 100g Pale Chocolate Malt, 20g Nugget @ 60min, 15g EKG 15g Fuggles @ 5 min, 9 shots of coffee in the keg and it came out wonderfully)

 

[Gigantorus]

[SIZE=12pt]Tarmael,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Just plugging in your specs and the 4kg DME plus the hop additions should have given the brew something like 90IBU's. How old were the hops you used? Suspect they weren't as fresh as you had hoped and had lost a bit, which saw them under-perform.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]In terms of the extra hop additions. Have never post-added hops like you are suggesting - I have done the old hops in boiling water for 15 mins to 30 mins, which will produce some bitterness. Nothing ventured, nothing gained right?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]I did a Black IPA last year, which turned out great. My recipe was:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]• 1.7kg Thomas Coopers IPA[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• 1.5kg Dark Dry Malt Extract[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• 500g Dextrose [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• 250grams Maltodextrin[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• 300grams Chocolate Malt (cracked)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• 250grams Special B (Belgian) Malt (cracked)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• 50grams Centennial Hop Pellets[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• 50grams El Dorado Hop Pellets[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• 2 American Ale Yeast packets (need 2 in total)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Specs: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• Colour: Dark (66.4 EBC)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• Body: Medium-Heavy[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• Bitterness: High (73.0 IBU)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]• Approx. Alcohol Level: 6.8% ABV[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]30 min boil. Hop schedule was: Centennial & El Dorado Hops at (1) 10grams of each at 30mins, 5grams of each @ 10mins, and 5grams of each at Flameout and sit for 10 mins.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Good luck.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Cheers,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Pete[/SIZE]

 

[tarmael]

I asked reddit at the same time, they said it was hard to save, the best bet would be to brew something similar again but with a guaranteed buttload IBU in the trunk, then mix the two kegs, or... OR!... Do a post-gypsum addition and see how it goes then go from there.

Hops could be 3 year old. Given they're normally a 4.5 and 5.0 AA, they've probably dropped well and truly down to a 2 or lower AA. And the other note, in my original recipe I had 70/70 EKG/Fuggle @ 60 min, 30/30 EKG/Fuggle @ 5 min, but... Hand slipped.. Something something accidentally 100/100 EKG/Fuggle @ 5 min <_< >_> <_<;;
My justification was, "Well, I was going for a 50/50 EKG to Fuggle ratio here, I can't mess that up" - honestly if I could do it all again with fresh hops and turn out with a 90 IBU BB IPA, I would. I really.... really would.

My other other option is to get some isometised hop oil (the thing hop acids become after they've been boiled), i.e. pre-bittered hop oil, regular hop oil will just add aroma to the beer at this stage.
I'm informed from people who've done hop-tea bittering additions later that it doesn't work, so it's out of the question.

My three options, as I said, gypsum addition, mix it with an over-hopped beer later down the track, find an isomised hop-oil/extract. I may call my locals, Brisbane has a few, but I'm thinking I'll just do a heavy nugget, columbus and Chinook black IPA down the track with the same yeast (washed, because money), then do beer out dip-tube attached to beer out dip-tube on a keg, then rack the over-hopped beer onto it, then rack the over-hopped beer into the original keg. 2-fer.

The worst part is that I'm poor at the moment paying rent in two houses, I do my orders on pay day (monthly pay) for the next month of brews and go from there. I've already ordered my next brews which are a wheat beer, because it's finally cold enough to brew one (no fermentation chamber, I love wheat beers and IPAs) and a Chinook, Columbus, Nugget IPA because I love IPAs and I NEED these hops gone... Really... I'll do another bulk order (Yakima Valley Hops in the US, good value, really) once these are gone, I just need them out the door.
I'm going to back-seat these hops though, going to use them for bittering only and have fresh ones for my 5 min additions