messed up IBU, around 19, should be 37+, after 6 days in FV - ideas?

[buckerooni]

Hi All,

After changing a recipe on brewday after I discovered I didn't have the hops (grrr!) I modded my recipe but instead of adding 30g at 50 min I added 10g This was my second BIAB so take it easy on me!

Recipe: Chinook IPA ( http://brewerschoice.com.au/chinook-ipa-recipe/ )
Maris Otter Ale 5.1kg
75 min mash, 66c, mashing out at 78c
chinook 10@50
chinook 15@10
chinook 15@0

I also had a large water volume loss after the boil. started with around 33, ended with 20 @ 1.060, dropped some wort, added some boiled water to bring it down to 1.052. I stirred during the sparge and had a very rapid boil with the lid on, which may explain the high gravity. After day 6 it's down to 1.013 - I raised the FV to 20c this morning, I wanted 19c however.

So, using ianh's BIAB designer and retrofitting the numbers, I ended up with an IBU of around 20. To get up IBUs up to the 140 mark should I:
1. make some hop tea (around 34 grams of chinook should do it - see attachment for calc)
2. get some isohops and adjust it

Suggestions appreciated...and I promise to do better next time...

 

[Topher]

How does it taste?

 

[luggy]

A bit off topic but you shouldn't boil with the lid on, the precursor to DMS needs to be allowed to be driven off.
As for the hops if it were me I'd do a combination of a hop tea and a dry hop

 

[Yob]

Mini boil with some dme, I'd not go iso

 

[Blind Dog]

Personally, I'd taste a sample now and unless it's overly sweet or unbalanced I'd dry hop at about 1.5g per litre for 4 or 5 days and proceed as normal to fine/filter and bottle or keg (after sampling). I think you might be pleasantly surprised how nice the beer is without trying to 'fix it' to fit the original recipe

Only if it tastes crap would I bother trying to fix the bitterness. If you do go the route of a hop tea, my personal experience us that you want to boil up some LDME and add the hops for a shortish boil rather than using plain boiling water. I've not had great results with hop teas for high AA hops. YMMV

Also, your post suggests you boiled with the lid on, although your volume loss suggests you didn't? Just in case, make sure you leave the lid off once a boil is achieved as you need to drive off sulphur compounds or run a greater risk of DMS (cooked cabbage flavour) in the finished beer

We've all made mistakes and yours would barely register in the litany of stuff ups that have occasioned my brewing journey so far.

 

[buckerooni]

thanks fellas, it's not overly sweet. the recipe calls for '30 Grams Chinook (Dry hop @ day 14 for 7 days)' which seems a long time to have in the fermenter - 21 days?

Your suggestion for 4-5 days of dry hopping at 1.5g/ltr sounds like a better idea.

I also guess this will have to sit in a keg (just got a Kegerator on the weekend !) for a bit longer before reaching it's potential too.

Will keep the lid off next time. I've now calibrated the urn too so I will have earlier indications of loss etc.

 

[Blind Dog]

21 days in the fermenter is fine, but dont get too hung up on timings in a recipe on the fermentation side as the yeast has not been told you're working to a schedule and will let you know when it's done. Personally, I only ever rack to a secondary fermenter if I'm ageing or lagering the beer, which isn't that often

ive found that 4-5 days of a dry hop (ideally added when the beer is a few point off final gravity) avoids grassiness with most hops. To me it's less grassy and more fresh cow pat, so something I really want to avoid. For hoppy beers, I might switch for new hops after 4-5 days (I use a big tea ball or weighted Swiss voile bag tied with sanitised string to a handle or hook outside the fermenter so I can pull the hops out and replace)

 

[glaab]

I'd make another batch about 60IBUs and mix them when they go in the kegs.
I have stuffed up and made a brew too bitter, but after a few months in the bottle it was pretty good,
so I'd say it will be even less bitter if you "leave it a bit longer". good luck

 

[pyrosx]

Why **** with it? I'd just change the name to a Pale Ale.... and brew the correct recipe next time - then you get a good feel for the hopping rates involved.

 

[glaab]

my bad, I thought he wanted to fix it

 

[Blind Dog]

my bad, I thought he wanted to fix it

He/she did hence the options they listed, but open to suggestions. Only downside of blending batches is lots of the same beer; with a chinook IPA that's probably not a bad thing

 

[buckerooni]

thanks fellas, I was concerned the balance of IBU (20) to ABV (around 5.5%) may be a little low and result in a weird beer that may be rather unenjoyable. Sounds like it'll be OK and I'll end up with a punchy malt + hop heavy pale ale without the expected bitterness?

I like the idea of not fking with it and just adjusting the hop schedule to rebalance it out.

I dry hopped with 30g of chinook today, will do it for another 2 days and then CC (loads of trub) for 3 days.

Anything to be concerned about? I've got all these fragments of knowledge without the real-world experience to back it up!

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Why **** with it? I'd just change the name to a Pale Ale.... and brew the correct recipe next time - then you get a good feel for the hopping rates involved.

Agree. These types of questions come up quite a bit and I wouldn't worry too much, learn from your mistake and get it right next time. I'm sure we've all made batches that didn't turn out exactly how we originally intended, due to every type of reason, but in most cases the beer will be fine.

 

[buckerooni]

well fellas, just carbed it up and it tastes good, real good! A little heavy on the alcohol side but there's still some bitterness and a good hop aroma and taste - real beer FTW!

My first BIAB and it's incredible coming from a limited run of high gravity LDME volume brewing to this. Now I've got my setup with urn/kegerator the new chapter has begun.