Sharps taste sharp

[Nicknacknoo]

Hi Chaps n Chapesses,

Looking for advice.

I brewed my 6th AG brew that twas a Doombar recipe.
Followed it to the t. Was in the primary for 2 weeks, secondary for 2 weeks, bottled for 1 week at room temp and then 3 weeks at 13C.

With great anticipation opened a bottle and was sooooo disappointed. Had a good 'mouthy feel' but when I swallowed it tasted very bitter at the back and to the sides of my tongue. (almost ashy)

I think I should point out that this was the first time I adjusted my water, nothing too dramatical 1/2 campden tab, 22ml CRS and a few other bits n bobs, ( could that have such an effect?), but my efficiency rose from the mid 60's to the high 70's.

Any ideas or will time see me right.

Thanks for any help/ suggestions/ ideas.

Nick

 

[Cwrw666]

With great anticipation opened a bottle and was sooooo disappointed.

Are you sure you didn't open a bottle of real Doombar by mistake?:lol:
Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[BeerCat]

Did you taste the water after you added the chemicals and did you have a sample when you bottled it? Stupid question but did you get the IBU's too high? What are you sanitising with? Its horrible when you make an undrinkable beer but i have poured a few batches away myself.

 

[chuffer]

Do you need to do secondary for two weeks after having a 2 week primary? Could I ask where you got the doom bar recipe from? I actually quite like the sharps stuff, particularly the wolf rock red ipa which I think is just doom bar but with fruity hops....id like to have a bash at pimping up recipes for both at some point

 

[Nicknacknoo]

Hi Beercat, didn't taste the water after additions but will in future. I put in a total of 80g of hops, perle fuggle NB and Chinook. (still a novice , does this sound ok?) Sanatise as I usually do......clean bottles, into dishwasher on high heat, then spray bottles with starsan solution and drain(no probs with this method before). What do you mean by did I have a sample when I bottled it....taste it.....if so I assume it doesn't taste all that as it must condition first, or should it taste ok just before bottling, ( like I said I'm a novice)

Hi Mr Chuffer, I do a secondary because when I started brewing I followed a particular persons method and it worked first time so I stuck to it. He said the beer would taste a lot rounder if left a couple of weeks to condition before bottling....Recipe to follow let me know how you get on.

mash at 66, boil 60 mins
3.9kg pale malt
300g Caramel malt
200g Roasted barley
Hops are as above 20g of each at 60 min
Wyeast 1099
Predicted og 1045
final og 1013

Ive tried Doombar bottled and don't much like it, but my local WMC does it on tap and its like an angel weeing down your throat.

Cheers for the help guys, much appreciated

 

[BeerCat]

I always have a slurp from the hydrometer tube when i bottle it to see how it tastes. Normally tastes pretty good if its a Pale Beer. The darker stuff takes time to mellow out. If you threw 80g of hops in at the start of the boil that is really a lot. You have probably over bittered. Are you using any brewing software? If not try this http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator/ If you put your recipe in there it will tell you the IBU (bitterness). I dunno what the AA for perle is but even if its just 5 the total IBU is around 68. I reckon thats at least double what it should be.
Where did you get the recipe? Reckon there are errors in it. Normally you would add the hops separately, some at the start and the rest near the end for flavour.
I presume your doing a 23l batch? What method are you using to brew?

 

[chuffer]

Doom bar is very mild, not bitter or hoppy aroma so yeh the hop bill looks mahoosive

 

[Lesinge]

As the others have said that looks like a big hop profile for this type of beer at the start of the boil, as it will be bitters rather than aroma and flavours. Mind you, I did an IPA with 70iBUs and it tasted like poison for the first four or five weeks and then really elegant clean bitterness later on. I think for you time might be a great healer.

 

[MickDundee]

My first AG was almost (I say almost, I got30 bottles from it and only have about 6 left) undrinkably bitter because I messed up the hops (I didn't realise I should have cooled to below 80C to add the flame out hops so shoved it in when it was still at boiling, then got distracted by my daughter and left it for 2 hours - it probably didn't even reach 80C by the time I went back to it). Even it only had about 75g of cascade in, so I can imagine yours is super-bitter!

 

[Wilfy]

Was this the recipe on the MM website? That has an EBU of 76!

Pinched this from JBK where someone had been talking to someone from Sharps brewery.

Doom is
Malt is pale ale malt, crystal, roast barley
Hops are Northdown, Northern Brewer and Perle
Yeast is a Whitbread B derivative
Water is 2:1 sulphate to chloride 220ppm Ca2+ zero carbonate or bicarbonate

As for the hops the schedule is as follows

5% Start of boil, rest at end, steep for 1 hour before transfer to FV

EBU 22
OG 1040
PG 1009
pH 4.1

 

[Nicknacknoo]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all your inputs. To answer your questions, I don't use brewing software as I'm still new to this game but will in future. Its an AG kit bought from MM. On the MM site it gives the IBU at 76.

My Conclusions,

Having put this thread out there ive learn more about brewing than I knew a few weeks ago. Like anything in life learning is a continual process. Having made the mistake of trusting recipes etc I shall now endeavour to look more closely at the particulars of a brew. Hopefully over time the doombar will get better as will my brewing technique. Thanks to all you guys who have contributed to this post it really is valued information. So tonight I will open another bottle of my bittery doombar, toast you all, and put it all down to experience. Cheers again guys

Nick,

 

[Dads_Ale]

Doing a bit of searching it looks like the MM kit is based on an American recipe for Doom Bar:hmm:

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/doom-bar-clone-all-grain

Looking at the chart the IBUs are miles over what they should be.

Its also classed as a Northern English Brown Ale :whistle:

Vendors should really check recipes out before putting them on their site...

 

[Simonh82]

If you use the recipe builder on the Malt Miller website I think the recipe becomes public by default.

It could be that the person was going to split the hops themselves and just put them all in as a buttering addition.