Fixing an Extra IPA brew

bennyineire

Hey peps,

So I brewed an Torpedo Extra IPA extract clone the other day,
I was meant to brew it at 20L and 7%, but when I brewed it to 20L it was looking like it was gonna come in at 9% which would have been to high (I put in to much LME).

In my panic I added another 1.5L of water and I made a hop tea with 30g of Cascade (Left if in of the boil water for 20 mins).

Looks like my brew will come in at around 7.5% now.
Just wondering how many IBU's will my hop tea contribute and how do you reckon my brew will turn out.

BeerNut

bennyineire wrote: »

Just wondering how many IBU's will my hop tea contribute

Roughly zero.

bennyineire wrote: »

how do you reckon my brew will turn out.

Dude, you have 20L of it sitting right there. Have a taste. It will turn out something like that.

bennyineire

Seriously man all brews taste like muck going into the fermenter, the only differance with this one compared to others is that is was sweeter which you would expect at that ABV, Is there anything I can do now to bump the IBU's at this stage or do I just wait it out and see what I brewed.

Who knows I might have stumbled onto a killer recipe :P

BeerNut

bennyineire wrote: »

do I just wait it out and see what I brewed.

This. Taste the finished version. Learn from it, and adjust the recipe for the next version.

poitinstill

whats the worst that can happen it might be a bit less bitter than the original. should still get you into the ballpark and be a good beer if theres a lash of nice ingrediants in there ...as the man says relax and have a homebrew

finatron

Dry hop it if you want to get more hop effect.
I'm not a fan of counting IBU it's home brew you are never 100% what it will turn out like and thats the fun of it.
when it was at 9% you had the opinion of making an imperial IPA. I would have got some citra hops and dry hopped it.

bennyineire

According to beermate as it is the IBU's should be around 54 and I think a torpedo is around 70.
I will transfer to secondary tomorrow and dry hop with 30g of Magnum.
I also have some cascade and amerillo, I want to dry hop 30g of one of these. Which would be best to go for, or could I go with 15g of both

BeerNut

Whatever you prefer. I like Amarillo myself. Nothing you do at this stage will raise the IBUs or make it more like Torpedo. Go for what will taste the best.

finatron

BeerNut wrote: »

Whatever you prefer. I like Amarillo myself. Nothing you do at this stage will raise the IBUs or make it more like Torpedo. Go for what will taste the best.

I second this dry hopping is going to give more of the aroma than the bitterness

bennyineire

Thanks for your help guys,
So does dry-hopping only give you aroma, does it not contribute to the taste at all. Although I do realise that "taste" is dependent on smell also.
I guess I'm just wondering how much impact dry-hopping has on overall taste

BeerNut

It mostly adds to aroma, it will add some flavour too, but it won't add any bitterness.

neoanto

When you boiled the water and made a tea with the hops you added no bitterness, you need to have some boiled malt in order to add bitterness.
As the other lads said, dry hopping will add aroma at this point not bitterness.
I think you can use hop extract, its a liquid and that can be added into the fermenter to add bitterness.

adamski8

neoanto wrote: »

When you boiled the water and made a tea with the hops you added no bitterness, you need to have some boiled malt in order to add bitterness.
As the other lads said, dry hopping will add aroma at this point not bitterness.
I think you can use hop extract, its a liquid and that can be added into the fermenter to add bitterness.

You need malt for the bitterness? News to me. I thought it came purely from the hops??

neoanto

You cant just boil water and steep the hops in it.
They won't isomerise.
You need to have some wort in there also. Its the interaction between the hops and the wort that extracts the biterness.

https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/862-how-can-i-get-better-hop-utilization?

bennyineire

Ok so I'm going to move to secondary in a few days, it looks like this brew is heading in the 8% category. Could I take out about 3 litres , reboil with some hops again, cool down and then dump it in the secondary.
I really feel I need to add more IBU's at this strength, maybe the hop extract might be a better route

BeerNut

bennyineire wrote: »

I really feel I need to add more IBU's at this strength

Do it for the next batch. The more things you do to this one the more likely you are to ruin it.

drumswan

bennyineire wrote: »

Ok so I'm going to move to secondary in a few days, it looks like this brew is heading in the 8% category. Could I take out about 3 litres , reboil with some hops again, cool down and then dump it in the secondary.
I really feel I need to add more IBU's at this strength, maybe the hop extract might be a better route

Stop dicking around with your beer, it will probably end up oxidised. Drink it, take tasting notes and adjust the next batch accordingly.

bennyineire

drumswan wrote: »

Stop dicking around with your beer, it will probably end up oxidised. Drink it, take tasting notes and adjust the next batch accordingly.

Eh I haven't dicked around with it or touched it yet, it's still in the primary.
Just looking for advice as surly a beer at 8% and only 50 ibu's aint gonna taste to good, but thanks for you insightful information

RasTa

bennyineire wrote: »

Eh I haven't dicked around with it or touched it yet, it's still in the primary.
Just looking for advice as surly a beer at 8% and only 50 ibu's aint gonna taste to good, but thanks for you insightful information

He is right, once the beer is in the fermenter all you need to be doing is dry hopping or transferring to a secondary if you choose.

Bottle and then get onto the next batch.

drumswan

Dont see the need for secondary unless you are adding some kind of adjunct really.

A beer at 8% with < 50 IBU will be fine. Thats like all Belgian beers. Much nicer than a beer at 8% and 60 IBU which tastes like cardboard from being oxidised. Bittering happens early in the boil, if you didnt add enough bitterness adjust your next batch accordingly.

bennyineire

Alright fair enough, I will add to secondary at the weekend and dry hop, bottle in a few weeks and it should be ready for Christmas to blow the head off me .
Mind I do like a string brew after a big feed

sharingan

bennyineire wrote: »

Seriously man all brews taste like muck going into the fermenter

Really? I think wort tastes fantastic. Too in-your-face sweet, but you should be able to get an idea for the finished product.

If you need to add IBU to your beer, consider getting pre-isomerised hop extract.

RasTa

bennyineire wrote: »

Alright fair enough, I will add to secondary at the weekend and dry hop, bottle in a few weeks and it should be ready for Christmas to blow the head off me .
Mind I do like a string brew after a big feed

If it's an IPA i'd be botting after 2 weeks

bennyineire

I haven't dry-hopped yet, will dry-hop for 10 days when I add to secondary, then bottle

RasTa

bennyineire wrote: »

I haven't dry-hopped yet, will dry-hop for 10 days when I add to secondary, then bottle

Yeah sorry, I meant after fermentation has finished.