Help with accidental extra bitterness

[Seeker]

Hi, I was hoping someone could give me some advice on dry hopping this beer which is now more bitter than I planned for.

Should I dry hop to the schedule, reduce the schedule or not dry hop at all? I know dry hopping is said to not raise IBU, but I think it does raise perceived bitterness?

I've even thought about adding more fermentables or blending another brew.


Brew details

I brewed at the weekend and was aiming for the numbers below. I hit them all, but my new kettle strainer clogged, and one thing lead to another and rather than chilling I ended up dumping 75c wort into my fermenter, and fridge chilling. Basically I blamed my plate chiller, and messed about with that. Once I realised it was the strainer I decided it was too late to add the chiller back in ( a mistake with hind sight).

This has lead to higher bitterness from my 10 min additions.

Grain bill
Marris Otter: 8.6kg
Medium crystal: 300g
Sugar:300g

Hops
Galaxy: 30g - 60 minutes
Galaxy: 20g - 10 minutes
Citra: 20g - 10 minutes
Galaxy: 40g dry hop - 3 days
Citra: 80g dry hop - 3 days

OG: 1.045
IBU:39
Batch: 40l
Fermenter: 45l

I've adjusted the hops in my software to assume 20 minutes and the IBUs climb to 46.7, giving an IBU/GU of 1.03

The wort tastes bitter, but not overpowering.

Should I dry hop as planned?

 

[razz]

Good morning seeker, when do you plan to dry hop? At the end of primary or a few days into fermentation? I ask because I would wait until the primary is over and then sample the beer and make a judgement on how bitter it really is. For mine, I've never really had any perceived bitterness from dry hopping, I do get some sweetness from some hops.

 

[MHB]

You will loose about fair bit of your bitterness during the ferment call it between 20-40%, Iso-Alpha sticks to everything and depending on a bunch of factors like pitch rate, amount of trub, temperature... lots gets lost, wort always tastes too bitter.
IBU's are a measured quantity and no amount of dry hops can add to the IBU's because it requires heat to convert Alpha Acid into Iso-Alpha Acid (well there are a couple of other ways but not for home brewers). What you are referring to is hop taste/flavour/sensation. Its a good idea to learn the difference, not all that hard to do, just make some wort (DME would do), split in to two equal half's. Boil it for an hour with some hops, strain into a bottle top up to original volume and keep in the fridge. Make some hop tea in the other half, would happen faster warm but stay under 60oC to limit isomerisation. You could do a cold extraction (add hops leave overnight, filter top up...)
Compare the tastes, the boiled one will be pretty much just bitterness, the hop tea will be mostly just hop taste, the flavours are quite distinct.

Personally I would be freaking out at the efficiency, looks like your getting a touch over 65%, anything under 80% and I'd be worried.
Be worth having a good hard look at your kettle configuration to. If you do a good whirlpool there shouldn't be any hops heading into your hex, you don't need a strainer. Just finish the boil add your kettle finings and any flame out hops, wait until all motion stops then run off to the hex slowly.
Mark

 

[Vini2ton]

Plans are made to be changed. As said, you can't tell what the taste will be post fermentation. All the computer predictions and programs are never going to replace our taste-buds. It never ceases to amaze me how different things can be along the process. Colour for instance.

 

[Seeker]

Good morning seeker, when do you plan to dry hop? At the end of primary or a few days into fermentation? I ask because I would wait until the primary is over and then sample the beer and make a judgement on how bitter it really is. For mine, I've never really had any perceived bitterness from dry hopping, I do get some sweetness from some hops.

Good idea, that had not crossed my mind.

I will dry hop in the FV after primary fermentation, hopefully with about 2 gravity point before final so I can seal it and it can self carbonate.

 

[Seeker]

You will loose about fair bit of your bitterness during the ferment call it between 20-40%, Iso-Alpha sticks to everything and depending on a bunch of factors like pitch rate, amount of trub, temperature... lots gets lost, wort always tastes too bitter.
IBU's are a measured quantity and no amount of dry hops can add to the IBU's because it requires heat to convert Alpha Acid into Iso-Alpha Acid (well there are a couple of other ways but not for home brewers). What you are referring to is hop taste/flavour/sensation. Its a good idea to learn the difference, not all that hard to do, just make some wort (DME would do), split in to two equal half's. Boil it for an hour with some hops, strain into a bottle top up to original volume and keep in the fridge. Make some hop tea in the other half, would happen faster warm but stay under 60oC to limit isomerisation. You could do a cold extraction (add hops leave overnight, filter top up...)
Compare the tastes, the boiled one will be pretty much just bitterness, the hop tea will be mostly just hop taste, the flavours are quite distinct.

Personally I would be freaking out at the efficiency, looks like your getting a touch over 65%, anything under 80% and I'd be worried.
Be worth having a good hard look at your kettle configuration to. If you do a good whirlpool there shouldn't be any hops heading into your hex, you don't need a strainer. Just finish the boil add your kettle finings and any flame out hops, wait until all motion stops then run off to the hex slowly.
Mark

I think I can tell the difference, but I'll do that test, should be interesting.

The strainer idea seemed to fix some problems I have.

My kettle tap is on a tri clover fitting and has nothing inside to attach to and is 1cm above the base. This means I have about 2 inches to the top of the drain before the pump sucks air.
I have been tipping the pot which works, but is a pain, and upsets the trub.

I leave behind too much wort and still end up with trub out the tap.


Next batch I'll make a simple pick up tube instead.

With the strainer I biunged a silicone tube up the back of the spout, and into the strainer. I can do the same with the pick up I think.

That is a reimagined rebuilt brewery with loads of unknowns.

In happy to have survived , and I'll work on efficiency later.

I did not sparge as I've been trying to trace off flavours which may have been over sparging.