To Bitter

[intheten]

Hi need some help
I have a Indian pale ale in the fermenter that I started on Sunday and is fermenting steadily.
The only concern I have is that it has an extremely bitter aftertaste. I'm guessing that I left the hops on the boil longer than required.

So what can I do to reduce the bitterness without watering down the taste.

Cheers
Intheten

 

[Fourstar]

You brewed an IPA and you dont want it bitter?!?!

The onyl thing to do to strip bitterness is aging the beer or thin it out with water/unhopped wort and ferment it further. At least thats all i can think of.

 

[brendo]

you could always try dry hopping with something that has a strong aroma profile... might knock off some of the perceived bitterness, but would probably take it out of style (unless you are after an American IPA)

Another option would be to brew something similar but with less hopping and then blend the two together - which would only knock the bitterness off, but should retain the flavour/body.

Otherwise, I think that the options that Fourstar has given you is pretty much it.

Cheers,

Brendo

 

[PostModern]

Time will smooth the bitterness. In my extract days, I once tried to sweeten a beer with the addition of DME as the beer fermented. Sorta worked, sorta didn't. You could always brew another whole batch underhopped and blend them before packaging.

 

[Whistlingjack]

Do nothing, just wait.

You will get some hops astringency in the fermenting wort and this will balance out.

If you did boil the hops too long, then try to calculate the bitterness mathematically.

Taste the beer after a suitable conditioning time, then see if you like it. Let's face it, there is no such thing as a bad beer.

WJ

 

[jonocarroll]

Can't help with the beer now, but I will comment on your suggestion of possible cause;

According to this graph that seems to make it's way around (below) the bitterness utilization doesn't increase significantly after 60 minutes of boiling.

So, question time:

- How long did you boil the hops for?
- What hops (and what alpha acid %)?
- Did you formulate the recipe to a specific IBU?
- Are you sure it's bitterness you're tasting, and not cloying sweetness from unfermented sugars?

Taste it again once ferment is finished before you decide to do anything with it.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Yeast can give a horrible bitter taste during fermentation

Let it finish and condition and then make a call

Cheers

Edit: Pet Hate - Should be "Too Bitter"

 

[jonocarroll]

Let's face it, there is no such thing as a bad beer.

I'm hearing that a lot recently. Seems my reminders of 'Geelong Pale' don't seem to be stopping people from making the assumption that 'there is no bad beer'... Next person to do that gets a bottle of my promite infused 'fail ale', and a challenge to repeat their claim.

Edit: @Cortez ... thank you!!! me fail english? that's unpossible.

 

[dmcke109]

Mate this exact same thing happened to me a couple of months ago (dam high AA Galaxy hops).

Here's what I did - I went and bought a $10 Morgans Master Blend. Tipped it into a fermenter, added 8-9L of water and fermented as usual. I then mixed this with the keg. Turned out alright.

My advice would be to firstly wait and see what the old girl tastes like b4 you do anything then perhaps do the above.

Hi need some help
I have a Indian pale ale in the fermenter that I started on Sunday and is fermenting steadily.
The only concern I have is that it has an extremely bitter aftertaste. I'm guessing that I left the hops on the boil longer than required.

So what can I do to reduce the bitterness without watering down the taste.

Cheers
Intheten

 

[Whistlingjack]

Are you sure it's bitterness you're tasting, and not cloying sweetness from unfermented sugars?

As the famous lady stated...please explain.

WJ

 

[jonocarroll]

As the famous lady stated...please explain.

Tastes and smells are impossible to properly convey with words without using analogies. Even then it doesn't always work (which is why everyone gets so tight-in-the-chest when someone says 'my brew tastes "funny" or "strange"'). I'm suggesting that perhaps it's not necessarily bitterness that intheten is tasting. Fermenting wort has all sorts of flavours that you won't necessarily find in the finished product - the yeast produce flavours that they later clean up, the sweetness turns to alcohol, etc...

 

[PostModern]

Can't help with the beer now, but I will comment on your suggestion of possible cause;

According to this graph that seems to make it's way around (below) the bitterness utilization doesn't increase significantly after 60 minutes of boiling.

I wish people would stop pulling that graph out.

Yeast can give a horrible bitter taste during fermentation

Let it finish and condition and then make a call

Cheers

Edit: Pet Hate - Should be "Too Bitter"

I two join you're crusade their are to much bad grammars hear.

 

[jonocarroll]

I wish people would stop pulling that graph out.

There's a problem with the graph? I've just seen it about and it seemed to fit the purpose. Perhaps there should be a button in the reply panel that inserts either that graph, the yorkshire square, or BribieG's bottles.

 

[Whistlingjack]

Tastes and smells are impossible to properly convey with words without using analogies. Even then it doesn't always work (which is why everyone gets so tight-in-the-chest when someone says 'my brew tastes "funny" or "strange"'). I'm suggesting that perhaps it's not necessarily bitterness that intheten is tasting. Fermenting wort has all sorts of flavours that you won't necessarily find in the finished product - the yeast produce flavours that they later clean up, the sweetness turns to alcohol, etc...

Tastes and flavours are totally different.

Tastes are confined to five categories, sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami and are identified by the taste buds in specific locations on the tongue.

Flavours are dictated by the olfactory receptors in the nasal passage. These are stimulated by volatile compounds that "connect" with the appropriate receptor, sending sensory "messages" to the brain.

Sweet is sweet, bitter is bitter and the two can never be confused.

WJ

 

[PostModern]

There's a problem with the graph? I've just seen it about and it seemed to fit the purpose. Perhaps there should be a button in the reply panel that inserts either that graph, the yorkshire square, or BribieG's bottles.

I find best aroma comes from 0 min boil. Flavour too. Max 10 mins for flavour. I give this graph no truck.

 

[jonocarroll]

Thanks for the bio lesson. I can't wait for your re-write of the BJCP guidelines using just those 5 tastes and a list of volatiles.

However;

Very slight regional differences in sensitivity to compounds exist, though these regional differences are subtle and do not conform exactly to the mythical tongue map. Individual taste buds (which contain approximately 100 taste receptor cells), in fact, typically respond to compounds evoking each of the five basic tastes.

Your basic classification scheme also omits any activation of nerve cells containing TRPV1 receptors to detect alcohol warmth (or spiciness, in case chilli-beer is your thing); astringency; or detection of 'metallicity'.

I'd argue that a very strong taste can be confused between categories, and that not everyone is perfect at describing what tastes they are tasting.

 

[The King of Spain]

I find best aroma comes from 0 min boil. Flavour too. Max 10 mins for flavour. I give this graph no truck.

+1

KOS

 

[jonocarroll]

I find best aroma comes from 0 min boil. Flavour too. Max 10 mins for flavour. I give this graph no truck.

Not so sure about flavour (haven't played around with that aspect too much) but as for aroma - I believe that graph is % utilization, or isomerization, so it will be how much hop oil is soluble in water. I would agree with you that you can get great hop aroma despite the hop oils not being soluble in water, but the graph isn't about what gives the 'best aroma'.

 

[PostModern]

Not so sure about flavour (haven't played around with that aspect too much) but as for aroma - I believe that graph is % utilization, or isomerization, so it will be how much hop oil is soluble in water. I would agree with you that you can get great hop aroma despite the hop oils not being soluble in water, but the graph isn't about what gives the 'best aroma'.

So what does the green line represent? The amount of dissolved aroma oils? Makes the graph even more useless, surely?

 

[manticle]

1. Wait and see/taste (it's only been two days)
2. If it's still horrible after a week maybe try adding a small amount of an unfermentable sugar like lactose
3. Extra DME (but again just a small amount)
4. Blend with a less hopped similar style brew
5. Suck it up