Bitterness question!

[Joski]

Hi guys,

I wanted to make my bulldog homebrewkit (evil dog) very bitter. I added the hops that came with it simcoe and summit (2x26gr) and added 40 gr extra summit and boiled them for 60 minutes so it should be realy realy bitter! My brew is almost fermented now (in a few days i add the hops for dry hopping) , i tasted it while taking gravity reading today but it isn't realy bitter, you do taste the high abv and some lemon, but little bitterness. Does it comes within time or have i done something wrong here? It should be way over 100 Ibu! (I calculated it.)

 

[Joski]

I forgot to tell i did pitch the yeast at 2 high temperature. But i did airate later again and added a new yeast bag and all went good then. Could it be i lost my bitterness because of the yeast activity in the beginning @ to high temperature?? :-\

 

[Dutto]

All worts taste sweet before fermentation.

I find the final taste is usually a balance between the sweetness of non-fermentable sugars and the bite of the bittering hops.

Maybe in this case, the hop bitterness in your beer is being cancelled out by the as yet un-fermented sugars and it will come good when everything is fermented and conditioned. :thumb:

 

[Lesinge]

Same as Dutto, my bigger bitter beers really taste like poison at the bottling stage whilst at pitching stage taste very sugary. Do you also eat really hot chillis too by the way?:)

 

[Poochops]

I love a really bitter hoppy brew but the hop profile of this kit, which I've done myself, I've found really unappealing. If you've boiled those hops in the wort prior to pitching then you'll have plenty of bitterness but maybe the alcohol is masking it presently. If I was doing it again I'd do the dry hop loose (open the teabag) but I'd lose the summit and replace it with something else, maybe more simcoe or some cascade, Centennial or Amarillo, then leave it at least a week before racking/bottling. I suspect the summit as being the big citrus hit that spoiled this brew for me, I might be wrong, but I've already decided to drain my last 20 bottles and use them for something more appealing.

 

[Leon103]

I started reading a blog earlier that suggested dry hopping reduces bitterness due to change in ph. I believe @get_er_brew posted it on social media

 

[LarryF]

Your additional bitterness will depend on the AA of the hop you're using. I've got some Polaris at 17.5%AA and they do add a kick.

 

[Pavros]

Dry hopping doesn't add bitterness, only aroma and flavour. If you want to add bitterness to a kit you need to boil some hops in some water with some dry spray malt and add that to the fv.

 

[Leon103]

http://scottjanish.com/dry-hopping-effect-bitterness-ibu-testing/

If you are not already reading Scott Janish's blog, you should be. This excellent write up on the effect of dry hopping on bitterness is particularly interesting but the whole blog is full of great information. The main points to take away about dry hopping and bitterness are;

Dry hopped beers with intense aroma profiles can enhance the perception of bitterness, especially with moderate and high IBU bases.

Beers with IBUs under 20 can become more bitter by dry hopping.

Beers with IBUs above 30 can become less bitter by dry hopping.

Dry hopping will increase the pH of beer, which also increases the bitterness perception of beer.

Humulinones introduced to beer via dry hopping imparts a “smoother” bitterness than iso-alpha-acids and are 66% less as bitter.

Humulinones are more soluble than alpha acids, however, because hops contain so much more alpha acids than humulinones, even if 10% gets into the beer vs 100% humulinones there generally is more alpha in the beer.

 

[Joski]

Thnx guys! Summit does have high bittering % (17%+). Hopefully they don't upset the, taste, i boiled them with dry malt (after the. Hot break) .

 

[Joski]

I added dry hops 4 days ago and bottled this one yesterday! I added cascade, mosaic,citra and amarillo to dry hop. Hopefully this turns out good because there's a lot of money in here :-) , i did loose allready 2 bulldog kits (raja's reward and the bad cat both due the bry-97 realy anoying smelling yeast!) ..this time i used yeast from the kit. Hopefully the summit doesn't spoil my brew like here is told :-\ .. also bottling the four finger jack in 3 days ( again from bulldog) ... keep you updated guys! Any tips/tricks for the hammer of thor? ( yes again i have this one also fermenting away)

 

[Oneflewover]

I added dry hops 4 days ago and bottled this one yesterday! I added cascade, mosaic,citra and amarillo to dry hop. Hopefully this turns out good because there's a lot of money in here :-) , i did loose allready 2 bulldog kits (raja's reward and the bad cat both due the bry-97 realy anoying smelling yeast!) ..this time i used yeast from the kit. Hopefully the summit doesn't spoil my brew like here is told :-\ .. also bottling the four finger jack in 3 days ( again from bulldog) ... keep you updated guys! Any tips/tricks for the hammer of thor? ( yes again i have this one also fermenting away)

I really hope that I don't appear rude, but maybe just follow the instructions? Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Joski]

I just want to add stuff :-) , original i think would taste rather plain ;-) .Cheers!