Overly Bitter

[Monkfish]

Hi Guys,

Need a bit of advice.

I brewed a pale ale over a month ago and unfortunately due to lack of concentration i added my hops at 15m to go instead of at flame out (DOH!). Even worse than this i only realised after i kegged that id done this so i had also dry hopped during the fermentation. As you can imagine this has resulted in a very bitter acrid hop after taste when drinking the beer. I have had it in a keg over 3 weeks at 3C hoping it would drop any hop debris down but its very unpleasant at the moment.

Any suggestions on how to improve this? I assume time is whats recommended most but i thought this was worth an ask.

Cheers!

 

[Agentgonzo]

Brew another batch that is under hopped and blend the two. Or put it on an adjacent tap and pour yourself a half-and-half until it's used up

 

[The Baron]

Exactly what Agent said it will not mellow that much but making a low IBU beer and mixing them is the way to go

 

[Jim Brewster]

Also if your chloride to sulphates ratio was biased towards bitter that will have a dramatic effect, magnifying the perceived bitterness

 

[hoppyscotty]

I find bitterness contributions from dry hopping does mellow or even totally subside over time with a couple of weeks of conditioning. I find the bitterness you get from dry hop, is very different to hot side additions so they way you describe the bitterness you’re getting suggests to me it’s probably coming from the dry hops so I’d leave it to condition for a while and see what it’s like then before writing it off.

I recently did an old school west coast ipa with big hot side additions and a huge dry hop. It took a good couple or three weeks of conditioning before it mellowed and it subsequently one of my favourite beers I’ve brewed to date. As the harshness of the bitterness subsided the aroma and flavour of the hops really came to the fore and worked well with the 70ibu’s or so of hot side bittering. It’s turned out a corker!

 

[foxy]

Hi Guys,

Need a bit of advice.

I brewed a pale ale over a month ago and unfortunately due to lack of concentration i added my hops at 15m to go instead of at flame out (DOH!). Even worse than this i only realised after i kegged that id done this so i had also dry hopped during the fermentation. As you can imagine this has resulted in a very bitter acrid hop after taste when drinking the beer. I have had it in a keg over 3 weeks at 3C hoping it would drop any hop debris down but its very unpleasant at the moment.

Any suggestions on how to improve this? I assume time is whats recommended most but i thought this was worth an ask.

Cheers!

Are you sure it is the hops? Acrid gives me the impression more of astringency. As the above post says bitterness from hops will mellow. To some a little astringency won't matter, though I can taste it I can live with it. (I like a bitter aftertaste) Astringency can come from the hops or sparge, if it is a very bitter aftertaste that is most likely what it is.