National Homebrew Club Ireland

Brewing Discussions => Extract Brewing => Topic started by: byronyasgur on October 10, 2016, 11:18:51 PM

Title: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: byronyasgur on October 10, 2016, 11:18:51 PM
I did an American Style IPA extract brew last week. In Beersmith I had the bitterness cranked all the way up to 70 but when it came to the 15 min hop additions I had a senior moment and added them 15mins into the boil instead of 15 mins from the end. So I changed the recipe on Beersmith from 15mins to 45 mins to reflect what I had done and see what it reckoned the bitterness would be — it said it would be 90IBU. From what I could tell there's nothing I could have done at that point except top it up with more wort which I didn't want to do and couldn't really do anyway. I tasted the wort and it was great I thought; but mightily bitter  :P Prob too bitter to drink but I'm thinking the alcohol will counter it a bit - or so I hope.

So it's been in the fermenter a week now. Is there anything I can do to bring down the bitterness ( I'm particularly wondering whether taking it off the yeast cake earlier or leaving it there longer would make any difference since I think that's about all I could do at the moment - unless fermentation temperature would do anything ) — or maybe 90IBU would be fine ( which is what I'm kind of thinking - as long as it's drinkable I don't mind I'll just put it down to experience - just going by the profiles on Beersmith it's all fine if I compare it to a Belgian IPA even though I doubt it's very like the Belgian style ) ... I used Muntons extra light and some speciality grains - and the ABV is supposed to be around 7.5
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: Drum on October 10, 2016, 11:39:15 PM
Call it a session strength double ipa and put it down to experience. 7.5% abv and 90ibu sounds like a lot of the beers I brew, there's a good chance it will be drinkable even if you find it a bit too bitter
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: Ciaran on October 11, 2016, 10:43:01 AM
You could maybe rack it off the yeast, brew an identical sized batch with a reduced amount of hops (or no hops at all).  Ferment that out and then blend it back with the 90 IBU beer.

Or thinking off the top of my head another thing you could try (which I've no experience of so big pinch of salt) is to add some lactose to sweeten it up and balance the bitterness.  Maybe you could split some of the batch so you don't ruin it all.  Then boil some lactose in half a litre of water for 15 mins, cool that down and blend it in with part of the batch as a test.

Personally I like a bitter beer so I'd taste it and if it's passable just drink it and brew it again with the lessons learned.
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: nigel_c on October 11, 2016, 03:21:52 PM
Im sure you will have no problem off leading a 7.5% 90ibu IPA.
Sounds lovely. If your a hop head.
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: byronyasgur on October 11, 2016, 03:39:06 PM
thanks for the votes of confidence guys I'll prob post back here when I do the the FG I'll see what it tastes like.

— ended up googling "very bitter IPA" and came across this interesting but slightly mental thread - https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/most-bitter-ipa.110721/
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: nigel_c on October 11, 2016, 05:09:03 PM
I had a bottle of Mikkeller 1000 IBU ipa. Now that was too bitter.  Jesus it was rough. Spent more on rennie then i did on the beer and it wasn't cheep.
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: byronyasgur on October 11, 2016, 07:35:59 PM
wow :o
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: seino on June 26, 2018, 10:36:48 PM
Quote from: byronyasgur on October 11, 2016, 03:39:06 PM
thanks for the votes of confidence guys I'll prob post back here when I do the the FG I'll see what it tastes like.

— ended up googling "very bitter IPA" and came across this interesting but slightly mental thread - https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/most-bitter-ipa.110721/

Hopping on a very old post here, just curious how the brew turned out in the end? Did it taste overly bitter?

Just finished bottling my first extract IPA, and on that one I lost track a little bit of timing with the hop additions. Only by a few minutes, but curious the impact it might have on flavour. I love bitter, hoppy IPA mind you, but it's not to everyone's taste.
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: Ceedee on June 26, 2018, 11:18:31 PM
Quote from: seino on June 26, 2018, 10:36:48 PM

Hopping on a very old post here....

Hopping...I see what you did there, very good...pun intended ?
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: seino on June 26, 2018, 11:34:37 PM
Quote from: Ceedee on June 26, 2018, 11:18:31 PM
Hopping...I see what you did there, very good...pun intended ?

Sadly, yes. I just can't seem to extract myself from cheap puns.  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: willk on August 01, 2018, 10:55:27 PM
Quote from: seino (Shane) on June 26, 2018, 11:34:37 PM
Quote from: Ceedee on June 26, 2018, 11:18:31 PM
Hopping...I see what you did there, very good...pun intended ?

Sadly, yes. I just can't seem to extract myself from cheap puns.  :rolleyes:

Floc'in amazed this never boiled over - I was sure trouble was brewing.  For what it's wort, I felt it had the potential to be the Grainfather of all rows...
Title: Re: Wrong hop addition timing in IPA
Post by: seino on August 02, 2018, 02:50:45 PM
Agreed. This thread could have gotten lager but it was pale by comparison. The yeast I could do is come up with a witty pun, but sadly I bottled it.