Does Maturation Increase Bitterrness Levels?

[grinder]

Just keggd a nice pilsener made from malt extract, some pilsener & wheat grain and hop pellets and fermented with wyeast 2001.

I am carbonating at the moment but had a little taste of the uncarbonated beer and found that it lacked bitterness.

I boiled around 80gms of saaz hop pellets with an AA ratng of 3.8% with my extract. And added another 20gms or so at the end of the boil. It should have been plenty I would have thought.

I made up 23 ltrs of wort.

Will this bitterness level improve with lagering time or will it stay the same? I was expecting more bitterness with the initial tasting.

 

[goatherder]

Hop characteristics generally decrease over time. This is mostly evident in aroma, but bitterness will tail off too.

 

[Tony M]

You should have got close to 40 IBU with a 1 hr boil if your hops were in good nic. These lagers are best when fresh (IMHO) and soon start to mellow out so the hop characteristics are not about to expand. When its carbonated you will get some "carbonic sharpness" from the gas and that may help. If you remain disappointed with the bitterness level, boil up some bittering hops (do your calcs) in an ankle stocking in a pint of water and chuck the resultant tea in the keg. It doesn't have to be saaz, NZ Hallertau is twice the AA and I doubt you'll tell the difference.

 

[devo]

I had some brews that initially were more bitter than I would like but have backed off over the 2-3month period. Or then again I could just be just getting used to the bitterness level?

 

[marky_mark]

You may find that as the yeast, polyphenols & tannis settle out; and some of the other compounds meld together you will get cleaner flavour that will help with the perception of bitterness. Plus, as Tony said, carbonation does tend to accentuate bitterness, and with kegs that is something you can dial up or down to your taste.

But for the most part, a beer's balance does tend toward the malt side of the equation with any extended period of ageing.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[grinder]

You should have got close to 40 IBU with a 1 hr boil if your hops were in good nic. These lagers are best when fresh (IMHO) and soon start to mellow out so the hop characteristics are not about to expand. When its carbonated you will get some "carbonic sharpness" from the gas and that may help. If you remain disappointed with the bitterness level, boil up some bittering hops (do your calcs) in an ankle stocking in a pint of water and chuck the resultant tea in the keg. It doesn't have to be saaz, NZ Hallertau is twice the AA and I doubt you'll tell the difference.

I just boiled around 30gms of perle (6.8% AA) pellets with a pint of water for arond 30mins. Added to my brew and tasted it. Much Better!. I think the saaz pellets I used were old or something cause I got buggar all bitterness out of them. Now it is good. I am now happy.
Thanks for the advise Tony