Partial Boils And Hops

[poggor]

i recently made my first partial (see here). attempting to make a czech budvar or bohemian pils or something. i guess this style is mean to be fairly bitter and hopped.

anyway, its been fermenting at 10-11degrees for over a week and i checked the SG today coming down nicely to 1.015 (from OG of 1.056). I had a bit of a taste and it's VERY bitter (almost harsh) and also very hoppy.

So my questions are these:

1. if the recipe calls for hops assuming a full boil (but im only boiling about 75% of the total wort volume due to saucepan constraints) should i adjust these amounts given im going to top up to 20 L with h20? ie- did i over hop?

2. do hop flavours and bitterness mellow over the course of secondary and conditioning?

3. is it possible that the harshness is from letting the temperature creep up too high during my partial mash? ( i tried to keep it at 64c but it may have hit 70c for a short time)


cheers

 

[Steve@PMF82]

Hop utilization depends on the gravity of your wort during the boil.

Using a program like Beersmith or Brewmate can help you work out how much to add next time.

I would not worry too much, the bitterness will prob settle down over time as the beer conditions.

Mash temps will not affect how harsh your hops bitterness is.

 

[pimpsqueak]

Yes, flavours mellow and change over the course of conditioning. It's pretty early to be fretting over it, just let it run it's course, bottle/keg it and wait a month before you start getting critical about the flavour.

As for the partial boil and hopping question... get your hands on Brewmate or Beersmith or similar, set your boil volume and final volume and it will calculate everything for you.

Dunno about the mash temp though. I'm sure someone else will be able to tell you.