Bitter Taste Reduction ?

[Pjam]

I've brewed short Youngs Harvest Bitter (18 litres). It's at 4.6% after 7 days and still going. All is well. I know things will change once conditioned and I do like bitter but this seems strongly bitter, 'what did you expect' I hear you say
Is there anything I might do?

 

[TheMumbler]

Wait, bitterness recedes with time. Other than that water it down a bit, that would carry some risk of introducing infection though.

I suppose you could put some lactose or sweetener in there I wouldn't go down that road as the relationship between sweet and bitter isn't all that straightforward so far as I can see. Also artificial sweeteners taste minging IMO.

 

[Mary]

:thumb: But can we reduce the bitterness in the process of brewing?

 

[graysalchemy]

Brewing short has upset the balance between hop bitterness and residual sweetness. It will probably mellow in time. Most fermenting wort taste more bitter than the resultant beer anyway during fermentation so I would leave it and see.

I had a bitter which I had not hopped enough so I added isomerised hop liquid, I calculated what I had in the beer and what I needed and put it in. Needless to say it was to much and because it was a l=synthetic liquid it was quite harsh. However the point to this story is that now a year latter itr is a wonderful beer well rounded. Only got 4 bottles left wish I had the original 100 left which I painfully struggled through. :lol: :lol:

The only thing which would counter the bitterness is some sweetness in the form of a non fermentable sugars, but i would really leave it till it is bottled or kegged and then try, you will probably be surprised, if not leave it longer. :thumb:

 

[PD]

dont add so many bittering hops to the brew...

 

[pittsy]

dont add so many bittering hops to the brew...

Kit brewed short

 

[graysalchemy]

dont add so many bittering hops to the brew...

Kit brewed short

PD write 100 Lines

I must learn to read posts properly,
I must learn to read posts properly........................

And no copy and pasteing :twisted: :twisted:

 

[TheMumbler]

Add less hops to the boil and/or boil them for less time if doing extract or AG. I am guessing that you are doing kits though.

I haven't brewed a kit for ages but the approaches I would try are:
More dilution i.e. don't brew short, brew less short or brew long.
Add some extra malt extract to push up the OG this will change the bu:gu ratio in the direction that you want. I think it would need to be malt extract, not sugar, for this to work.
Steep some crystal malt and add that to your FV for the kit to increase both gu and residual sweetness.

As I said above, time will reduce bitterness but you will lose hop aroma over time as well.

Obviously you can try those things in combination but it will be easier to get a feel for it if you stick with one kit and alter one thing at a time. I'm sure there are threads on modding kits knocking about if you have a search.

I see I've been scooped on a couple of these points :)

 

[Hawks]

Time will fix it, I find all my beers taste unbalanced in the FV ( as GA has said ) so I'd certainly not worry yet :thumb:

 

[PD]

Sorry Sirs.....

can I blame my age ?

 

[graysalchemy]

Sorry Sirs.....

can I blame my age ?

No excuse get on with it. :lol:

 

[PD]

I must
I must
I must improve my bust.

Oh sorry wrong forum.......

 

[graysalchemy]

Thats more like it. :thumb:

Keep trying. :lol:

 

[JKaranka]

What about boiling 500g DME in 4l of water, add it in and let it have a second fermentation?

 

[Pjam]

Thanks guys, I think my concern is another case of inexperience. I shall leave alone for now.

The only thing which would counter the bitterness is some sweetness in the form of a non fermentable sugars

Again, another newbie question, what would would be an example of a non fermentable sugar?

 

[graysalchemy]

I knew you were going to ask me that :hmm:

I think Lactose is non fermentable but I may be wrong.

 

[Pjam]

I knew you were going to ask me that :hmm:

:lol: Oops, sorry.
I'll see how it goes, and as you say, I might end up with something very drinkable :)