Too many IBUs!

[chocotaco]

I brewed a DIPA, my first all grain. I was worried it was too sweet after secondary so I added some hop tea at bottling hoping for more aroma and a touch more bitterness.

Well now it is SUPER bitter. Don't get me wrong, I like a nice bitter IPA. After a couple of sips you get used to it and it's pretty drinkable. But it wrecks your palate more than Palate Wrecker.

I cracked one after two weeks; nicely carbed. If I let it age a little longer is there any chance some of the bitterness will mellow? Any other tips? Maybe just serve it super duper cold?

 

[TopherM]

Hop bitterness definitely fades over time. Just let it sit and age. It's going to take something on the order of 8-12 weeks to mellow this one out.

Good luck!

 

[mooshimanx]

You can either let it sit, or you can try blending something less bitter in to taste. I don't personally feel like straight up IBUs fade the way hop flavor and aroma does. It just stays really bitter, but less hoppy.

 

[Dave the Brewer]

It sounds like you may have boiled your hop tea more than 20 mins. When I make a hop tea, I usually taste it every few minutes until its just right.

 

[chocotaco]

I didn't boil the hop tea at all; it was all flameout steep. However, the bag didn't keep the pellets as well as I would have liked (should have used leaf hops for that) and I was in a rush so I didn't have time to let it settle all the way. I didn't use much (maybe 8 fl oz in a 2.5-gallon batch), but it was apparently quite powerful.

 

[chocotaco]

The beer is otherwise pretty good, though - but I still didn't get the aroma punch I was after. What is the secret!? It was a 100% zythos IPA so in theory it should have had a huge tangerine punch. I even threw some grapefruit and orange zest in the secondary to really emphasize the citrus aroma. I can barely detect it, though.

 

[kh54s10]

I didn't boil the hop tea at all; it was all flameout steep. However, the bag didn't keep the pellets as well as I would have liked (should have used leaf hops for that) and I was in a rush so I didn't have time to let it settle all the way. I didn't use much (maybe 8 fl oz in a 2.5-gallon batch), but it was apparently quite powerful.

I may be wrong but if you didn't boil the hop tea it shouldn't have added any bitterness. At least this is what I understand when adding hops at flameout = aroma and flavor but little to no bitterness.

 

[Dave the Brewer]

My other thought was it didn't cool fast enough and you continued to get bitterness from the hops, but 8 fl oz isn't much. I would imagine that small amount would cool pretty quick. If it took more than 10 mins to cool below 180F or so, you might have gotten more bitterness than planned. Did you taste it?