Recipe Advice

[bullfrog]

I have a dilemma. This dilemma is in the form of my brother, who constantly complains that my brews are too bitter. He likes hop flavour, just not too much on the bitterness side. To try and make him a brew for his birthday, which is coming up in a couple of months, I've devised this recipe (mainly because these are things I've already got lying around, mind you) and I wanted to get people's thoughts:

1.5kg light LME
1.0kg light DME
0.4kg dextrose
0.3kg crystal (steeped)

10g Amarillo @ 30 mins (8.5% AA)
10g Centennial @ 25 mins (9.7% AA)
10g Cascade @ 20 mins (5%AA)
10g Centennial @ 15 mins (9.7% AA)
10g Cascade @ 10 mins (5% AA)
10g Centennial @ 5 mins (9.7% AA)

Either US05 or Nottingham yeast.

I ran it through ianh's spreadsheet and it came back as 27.2 IBU's.

So what are people's thoughts as this for a high-flavoured, low-bitterness brew? Any advice?

 

[manticle]

What kind of ibu level are the brews he complains about?

 

[bullfrog]

What kind of ibu level are the brews he complains about?

Yes...that would have been useful information to share

I normally brew around 35-45 IBU drops and whilst he'll drink one or two, he definitely won't stick on them for too long before jumping back to whatever megaswill is on hand.

 

[OzBeer_MD]

Maybe he likes the aroma rather than the taste (and he may not realise it). What about dry hopping some pellets into the fermenter part way though the primary fermentation? Shouldn't add bitterness.

 

[bullfrog]

Maybe he likes the aroma rather than the taste (and he may not realise it). What about dry hopping some pellets into the fermenter part way though the primary fermentation? Shouldn't add bitterness.

I thought about that but he tends to drink directly from whatever vessel the beer is stored in is (whether that be a longneck or a stubby) so I don't think he'd get too much benefit from added aroma.

 

[manticle]

Next question is what kinds of commercial beers does he prefer?

I think 27 is a good level (dependent on many other factors) but if he's sensitive to bitterness it may still be too much.

My personal thought would be to go from high aa to low so centennial at the beginning, amarillo in the middle and cascade towards the end. As far as hop flavoured beers go (I'm generally a malt man) it looks tasty. Have you brewed with a similar extract bill before? Remember bitterness and perceived bitterness are different - sweetness will offset bitterness so that's also something you can play with.

My brother usually drinks Millers and Becks - I made him a golden ale that sits at around 30 IBU but it was made with all noble hops so there's a subtelty there that you don't always get with American hops. It's a bit maltier/thicker than he'd normally drink even though it finished around 1012 so I think the balance between dry, bitteness and sweetness is what counts in the end.

It's also a good challenge but quite difficult to brew for someone else's palate so don't forget yourself in this as you'll probably be drinking most of them.

 

[WarmBeer]

I have a dilemma. This dilemma is in the form of my brother, who constantly complains that my brews are too bitter. He likes hop flavour, just not too much on the bitterness side.

Brew the beer you want to drink. Tell your brother to HTFU.
:lol:

 

[bullfrog]

Next question is what kinds of commercial beers does he prefer?

I think 27 is a good level (dependent on many other factors) but if he's sensitive to bitterness it may still be too much.

My personal thought would be to go from high aa to low so centennial at the beginning, amarillo in the middle and cascade towards the end. As far as hop flavoured beers go (I'm generally a malt man) it looks tasty. Have you brewed with a similar extract bill before? Remember bitterness and perceived bitterness are different - sweetness will offset bitterness so that's also something you can play with.

My brother usually drinks Millers and Becks - I made him a golden ale that sits at around 30 IBU but it was made with all noble hops so there's a subtelty there that you don't always get with American hops. It's a bit maltier/thicker than he'd normally drink even though it finished around 1012 so I think the balance between dry, bitteness and sweetness is what counts in the end.

It's also a good challenge but quite difficult to brew for someone else's palate so don't forget yourself in this as you'll probably be drinking most of them.

Good point on the high AA hops early, but I've only got the 10g of Amarillo sitting around so I figured I'd toss that in first and then bounce the other two off each other for the later additions.

My brother will generally drink anything that I would consider beer-flavoured water, but has mentioned a number of times that he likes the hop flavours of my other brews and would be good without the bitterness.

I usually use a similar extract bill to this (just with more bittering hops to balance it out) so I'm on well travelled ground when it comes to that. The BU:GU, according to ianh's spreadsheet, is 0.60. I'll be honest and say that I'm still coming to grips with interpreting BU:GU figures, but, from what I've garnered so far, that's more in my brother's ball park than my more bitter brews.

And as for me possibly being lumped with the whole batch -- if it's not bitter enough (ie. tastes like it comes from a dam) then I can always use it to blend, but I think that I should be able to slam these down pretty easily.

Cheers for all the help.

 

[roverfj1200]

Brew the beer you want to drink. Tell your brother to HTFU.
:lol:

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[manticle]

Good point on the high AA hops early, but I've only got the 10g of Amarillo sitting around so I figured I'd toss that in first and then bounce the other two off each other for the later additions.

My brother will generally drink anything that I would consider beer-flavoured water, but has mentioned a number of times that he likes the hop flavours of my other brews and would be good without the bitterness.

I usually use a similar extract bill to this (just with more bittering hops to balance it out) so I'm on well travelled ground when it comes to that. The BU:GU, according to ianh's spreadsheet, is 0.60. I'll be honest and say that I'm still coming to grips with interpreting BU:GU figures, but, from what I've garnered so far, that's more in my brother's ball park than my more bitter brews.

And as for me possibly being lumped with the whole batch -- if it's not bitter enough (ie. tastes like it comes from a dam) then I can always use it to blend, but I think that I should be able to slam these down pretty easily.

Cheers for all the help.

Then I reckon jump on it. Only one way to find out.

It took me a couple of goes to get the one my brother seems to like but on the way I came up with a couple of tasty recipes that I will (and have) brewed again.

 

[Nick JD]

I'm a hop scrooge, so thake this with a pinch of yeast ... but I'd hop hard for 60 minutes and then again very late and/or dry. I'm not a big fan of the 20-30 minute additions.

Most of my brews have a 60 minute addition and then late or dry. IMHO, the best part of hops are found either after 60 minutes boiling, or no boiling at all. YMMV.