Brewlord
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- 30/3/06
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Fellow Brewers,
Ive been extract brewing and using a no-chill cube for some time and have found that occasionally the final brew is quite bitter. I have been putting it down to the fact that as the hop additions are essentially in hot fluid overnight, they are allowed to impart more bitterness. In particular, one batch I completed with Super Alpha, Hallertauer and Tettnanger took over a year before it was a bit easier to drink. I calculated the IBU at about 26.6 for that batch but am sure it was more when finished. To me a calculated IBU of no more than 30-35 is OK but thats usually the limit I try and calculate.
For that batch I added the following additions:
12g Super Alpha @ 35mins, 40g Hallertauer @ 20 mins, 20g Tettnager @ 15 mins and 30g Hallertauer @ 5 mins. (I am figuring the super alpha here might have been the major source of excessive bitterness and also the fact that when I siphoned into the no-chill cube I picked up a lot of hops.)
I am about to make a version of JSGA (but probably more like JSAA) with 20g Amarillo @ 40mins, 40g Amarillo @ 20 mins and 20g Amarillo @ 5 mins. I have made this before and it was fantastic...love that Amarillo!!!
My questions are:
With this hop schedule and normal no-chill process, am I likely to get excess bitterness? (I think the Amarillo is 8.2% AA - having made this before I think I know the answer is NO but worth asking...may have just fluked it last time.) If it is likely to be too bitter, can I chill the cube either in the fridge or with the addition of ice bottles around it (or both) and would this cool down the wort rapidly enough to minimise the bitterness? In addition I intend to also filter through my siphon tube this time to minimise how much hop and break material is transferred to the cube.
OR...Should I possibly reduce the boil time to compensate for the longer period the hops remain in the hot wort?
OR...Can I add tap water to the cube to cool it down and then put in the fridge and or add ice bottles? (Although I have read that this approach may lead to infections as the hot wort need to sanitise all sides of the cube...not real sure about this though!!)
As I mentioned, I have done this JSAA clone before with no additional cooling and left it over night and it turned out a treat so I am thinking it was simply my addition of super alpha that may have screwed me in the earlier brew but I am a bit worried that I will go to a lot of trouble and be disappointed again. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.
<_<
Ive been extract brewing and using a no-chill cube for some time and have found that occasionally the final brew is quite bitter. I have been putting it down to the fact that as the hop additions are essentially in hot fluid overnight, they are allowed to impart more bitterness. In particular, one batch I completed with Super Alpha, Hallertauer and Tettnanger took over a year before it was a bit easier to drink. I calculated the IBU at about 26.6 for that batch but am sure it was more when finished. To me a calculated IBU of no more than 30-35 is OK but thats usually the limit I try and calculate.
For that batch I added the following additions:
12g Super Alpha @ 35mins, 40g Hallertauer @ 20 mins, 20g Tettnager @ 15 mins and 30g Hallertauer @ 5 mins. (I am figuring the super alpha here might have been the major source of excessive bitterness and also the fact that when I siphoned into the no-chill cube I picked up a lot of hops.)
I am about to make a version of JSGA (but probably more like JSAA) with 20g Amarillo @ 40mins, 40g Amarillo @ 20 mins and 20g Amarillo @ 5 mins. I have made this before and it was fantastic...love that Amarillo!!!
My questions are:
With this hop schedule and normal no-chill process, am I likely to get excess bitterness? (I think the Amarillo is 8.2% AA - having made this before I think I know the answer is NO but worth asking...may have just fluked it last time.) If it is likely to be too bitter, can I chill the cube either in the fridge or with the addition of ice bottles around it (or both) and would this cool down the wort rapidly enough to minimise the bitterness? In addition I intend to also filter through my siphon tube this time to minimise how much hop and break material is transferred to the cube.
OR...Should I possibly reduce the boil time to compensate for the longer period the hops remain in the hot wort?
OR...Can I add tap water to the cube to cool it down and then put in the fridge and or add ice bottles? (Although I have read that this approach may lead to infections as the hot wort need to sanitise all sides of the cube...not real sure about this though!!)
As I mentioned, I have done this JSAA clone before with no additional cooling and left it over night and it turned out a treat so I am thinking it was simply my addition of super alpha that may have screwed me in the earlier brew but I am a bit worried that I will go to a lot of trouble and be disappointed again. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.
<_<