High OG, bitter taste

[Nathan Buckner]

Hey guys,

Very green, I'm on my 6th homebrew, all previous batches have turned out pretty good.
I just brewed a batch using
3lbs Maris Otter
2lbs Malt of Ireland stout malt
1lb Rye
2oz light roasted barley.
I'm brewing a 2 gal batch.
A calculator I used said OG should be ~1.068.
My OG actually came out to 1.080. I'm ok with that OG but was very surprised and concerned.
Another concern is I checked OG again today after pitching the yeast last night. Same OG, 1.080. So I decided to taste it if it was sweet. It smelled weird and was pretty bitter. I looked that up and I'm assuming it tastes like that because its young, theres all sorts of things floating and yeast suspended that could contribute to it. Anybody have ideas about cause of high OG and confirmation about bitter taste?

Thank you

 

[Jag75]

Sounds like you got great efficiency. What was the projected efficiency percentage? What kind of fermenter are you using , what yeast did you use , starter or not and what temp did you pitch. With it being such a big beer you may have under pitched.

By the way welcome to HBT!

 

[Nathan Buckner]

Thanks!
The calculation was for medium attenuating yeast, 75%. Been using a Mr. Beer fermenter for all previous batches.
I'm using US05, 6g for 2 gal, no starter.
My thermometer's battery died during the cooling process so I put more ice in the sink and let it stand for 15 more min after already cooling for 20 min. It may have been slightly over room temp. 74-80 degrees.
To clarify I tasted it this afternoon after only pitching last night so that could be why its bitter. Any concern with the OG or bitterness? If I under pitched how many more grams should i throw in there?

 

[Jag75]

I'm not sure you under pitched. Sometimes it may take a bit to start fermenting. Is it a clear fermenter? Can you see if krausen has started. If your looking at the airlock and see no movement your lid may be leaking. A sure sign of that would be a start up of krausen with no airlock activity. The beer is green so it's not gonna taste great. Does it taste different then the wort did before you pitched? Wort taste sweet. If your beer isnt sweet it sounds like it's starting to ferment

 

[Nathan Buckner]

I think I'm doing the rookie worrying thing Haha
My mr. Beer fermenter has a screw on lid with notches that allow co2 out but nothing in, so no air lock. It's a brown plastic barrel. Theres a good amount of krausen on top. The wort was very sweet before I pitched the yeast. With your feed back and other forums I've read, I'm going to let this brew do its thing and just be amazed that I got 1.080 out of only 5lbs of fermentables. I greatly appreciate your feed back!

 

[Jag75]

Good deal . Sounds like shes underway ! You have beer

 

[Dgallo]

What calculated are you using? A 1.080 is the right for your grainbill. The program projected your og wrong. I plugged you into BeerSmith and for a 2 gallon batch it’s projecting a 1.086 at 75% efficiency. So you’re most likely closer to 70% effficient being new to brewing which would be a 1.081.

Also, it’s most likely spicy and not biter. Rye provides a spicy/peppery flavor. For a 2 gallon batch a lb is a lot, it’s almost 18% of your grain bill. Most people use it at 5-7%.

 

[Nathan Buckner]

I'm using an online calculator on winemakersshop. Probably not the best one to use. Any suggestions for accurate free calculators? Its the only free one I found where I can plug in amount of grain and get an approximate abv% with og/fg. So that clears that up, I appreciate it. As for the spicy, I would agree. Reading other posts here and looking up countless recipes I've seen it used for 5%-20% of the grain bill. So I kinda did it on purpose but that doesnt mean ot was a good idea. Hopefully it turns out alright.

Correction: Just found brewers friend has one :::facepalm:::

 

[camonick]

What calculated are you using? A 1.080 is the right for your grainbill. The program projected your og wrong. I plugged you into BeerSmith and for a 2 gallon batch it’s projecting a 1.086 at 75% efficiency. So you’re most likely closer to 70% effficient being new to brewing which would be a 1.081.

I agree with the above also. I have a little app on my phone that I mess around with and it says 1.080 @ 72% with that grain bill (6 lbs 2 oz is a pretty big grain bill for 2 gallons). The app is called Fermenticus Brew Log and is free. You’re limited to saving 5 recipes unless you upgrade it for $2.00 which gives you 15 slots I think. I use it for quick calculations when I don’t have my computer and beersmith with me.
I’ve always thought raw wort tastes like really bitter sugar water. Less than one day after pitching your yeast, I doubt that fermentation had much of a start. Let it ride.

 

[Zambezi Special]

I am also a beginner and am recognising a lot of your issues.
Just let it go and it will be fine.
Your OG will be out, as will FG, till you figure out your set up

By the way, I use brewtarget. It's free and seems to work fine

 

[Tim H]

Where did you draw your sample from? Top or bottom of fermenter? I’ve done a few high gravity brews and had some “bitter” flavors the first few days, but that was probably due to the large amount of hops I added during boil. If you are getting any trub/yeast from the bottom, that can make things taste funky.

Depending on how fast your beer ferments, it should start to mellow out. Age/conditioning is usually good for higher gravity beers, especially if you have complex flavors that need to come through a bit more (and round out some of the harsher tastes).

 

[Nathan Buckner]

I have a Mr beer fermentor and I used the spigot. So technically bottom. I'm assuming with most trub still floating around but starting to settle most of it would be towards the bottom. I tried a sample of the beer post fermentation pre bottle conditioning and it tasted great. There was some warmth from the alcohol, decent spiciness from the rye, and some fruitiness from the hops that complement the spice very well. As comanick said, I just needed to let it ride.

 

[dwhite60]

Looking for something free in breweries software try BrewTarget. Fairly easy to use and accurate once setup for your system. It's open source software. It can be used for free but they do take donations.

All the Best,
D. White