Too bitter wort?

[Chris Wooffindin]

This might be another daft question, but here goes.

I've just converted a Buffalo boiler to BIAB system so I can brew bigger volumes. This worked a dream - I just had to change the tap, and I've added an insulation jacket. No need to faff around with the thermostat - I get a rolling boil by simple setting it to max.

So far, I've just been doing gallon batches of all grain whilst I play around with recipes. I settled on a nice IPA style beer that suited my summer tastebuds.

I've now scaled it up to 23 litres batch size and when I tasted the wort, it tasted nice until a really bitter taste hit my throat. I'm wondering whether wort generally tastes on the bitter side (I've never tasted wort, to be honest) and then calms down or whether I've gone mad with the bitter hops.

The recipe is 5.3kg grain bill (85% Maris Otter, 4% cara malt, 7% torrified wheat, 4% crystal 50L) with the following hop additions:

20g Magnum 60 mins
20g Centennial 20 mins
20g Citra 10 mins
15g Centennial + 15g Citra 5 mins
10g Centennial flame-out

According to Brewgr, this should have given me an IBU of around 50 which isn't really that high.

There were a couple of differences with my small batch. Firstly, I used Magnum rather than the original Target because I read it was a bit less harsh. The other thing is that it took way longer to cool as I had a blow-out on the wort chiller (cheap pipes) so I had to do a bit of faffing. I kept the hop basket in the wort all the time and I'm wondering whether this over bittered it?

Any clues anyone? Is the 60 minute addition too much? Does wort generally taste on the bitter side and calm down? Should I continue with the brewing and bottling and give it a few weeks?

Cheers in advance

 

[simon12]

50IBU is high also the citra has quite a bite. Bitterness will mellow in time so just carry on and see.

 

[AdeDunn]

Wort tastes HORRIBLE! Honestly, it's just nasty! To me it has a flavour that's a combination of artificial sweetener with a hint of bitrex.... Ferment it up for a few weeks though, and oh my how it changes once it's beer.... Bit longer in the bottle, priming and conditioning, and it's nothing like the foul tasting wort AND bitterness rounds off given enough time.

Me, I say just don't taste the wort, it's pointless.

 

[Zephyr259]

I find wort tastes pretty bitter and few of my beers exceed 30 IBUs, it'll most likely be fine once fermented.

 

[Sadfield]

I'm of the school that tastes everything. Nibble my grain when weighing out, taste mash first runnings, whilst sparging, wort at end of boil. I get used to how things taste at each stage, and it gives a reassurance that things are going ok. And yes, wort is very bitter, it'll be fine when fermented.







Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[Chris Wooffindin]

Thanks all for the reassurance. I’ll crack on as planned. Trouble is that I’m not the most patient ( not ideal for a homebrewer I know).

I shan’t also taste wort in future and I’ll trust my instinct.

I’ll provide an update in a months time or so, if anyone is interested?

 

[Simonh82]

As others have said it should be fine and will mellow out. Saying that keeping the hops in hot wort will have extracted more bitterness and eyeballing your recipe 50IBU seems low.

I had a really similar recipe in Brewers Friend so I tinkered with it to match your recipe and it came in at 70IBU. Quite a bit higher but still within the range for an IPA.

 

[Cwrw666]

Do you chill your wort or no-chill. I do the latter and have to reduce the hop amounts on IPAs as the way I do it I think I'm getting quite a lot of bitterness from the 0 minute additions.

 

[Clint]

I taste the wort. I found ag wort tastes the best...and nice wort = nice beer....

 

[Chris Wooffindin]

Do you chill your wort or no-chill. I do the latter and have to reduce the hop amounts on IPAs as the way I do it I think I'm getting quite a lot of bitterness from the 0 minute additions.

That's a very good point. I was planning to chill my wort quickly, but this didn't happen as expected so the hop spider was left in way too long. I suspect that this coupled with a potential under calculating of the IBU is a cause.

So, I've learnt the following:

> Tasting wort might be misleading, but I agree that nice wort can only help towards nice beer
> I need to check different references when calculating the IBU level
> Whilst I'm learning, forget about the 0 mins addition and keep to the 10-15 mins
> Remove my hop basket when chilling (probably help to cool it a bit quicker too)

Still, I'm now intrigued to taste it in a few weeks time.....

 

[Clint]

It is also worth remembering that there are NO daft questions.

 

[Norfolk79]

It is also worth remembering that there are NO daft questions.

As my first boss would say, you’re better to ask a daft question than make a daft mistake