No-chill Cube And Excess Bitterness....

[Brewlord]

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.
<_<

 

[felten]

What brewing software do you use? If I'm entering my late additions (30 minutes and below) into beersmith, I will add 10 minutes onto them.

So a brewday 15min kettle addition is calculated as 25min in beersmith. It's not a science, but if my late additions are going to contribute extra IBUs, then it gives me a guesstimation of that, and then I can lower my bittering addition to compensate.

ed; if you've made it before without any problems, then you shouldn't have to change anything?

 

[Hippy]

You should be alright with your bittering hops especially if you haven't had problems with it in the past. Try adding your late aroma hop additions straight into the cube after transfer as the extra isomerisation which occurs as the wort is cooling in the cube can kill off the aromatic oils.

 

[Brewlord]

What brewing software do you use? If I'm entering my late additions (30 minutes and below) into beersmith, I will add 10 minutes onto them.

So a brewday 15min kettle addition is calculated as 25min in beersmith. It's not a science, but if my late additions are going to contribute extra IBUs, then it gives me a guesstimation of that, and then I can lower my bittering addition to compensate.

ed; if you've made it before without any problems, then you shouldn't have to change anything?

I anm using IanH's Kit and Extract Spreadsheet from this forum..seems to have been OK so far.

 

[Brewlord]

You should be alright with your bittering hops especially if you haven't had problems with it in the past. Try adding your late aroma hop additions straight into the cube after transfer as the extra isomerisation which occurs as the wort is cooling in the cube can kill off the aromatic oils.

So are you saying to add my 5 minute aroma hops into the cube? Not sure I read your post right, but then dont you say that 'extra isomerisation which occurs as the wort is cooling in the cube can kill off the aromatic oils'? Isnt that what I DONT want? I though the idea with a late addition was to get the full aroma?

 

[felten]

Right, but the latest time to add them is in the cube.

Unless you want to use the argon method and boil them seperately, and add them before you pitch your yeast.