Percieved bitterness problem

[MartinV]

Hello to everyone, today im here looking for some help with my brewing, specifically bitterness of my ipa, i've changed my water source and i've already modified it in order to make an "ideal" ipa water, lately i've been relying on beersmith to do my IBU calculations, but once my beer is ready, it doesnt seem to match my beersmith calculations, bitterness seems almost non-present, for example beersmith says that using 2oz of 12%AA magnum, will deliver 100+ IBUs on a 5gal batch , once I taste my finished beer it doesnt even taste like a quarter of those IBUs, by the way, heres my water profile, i'm using palmers sugested water parameters, is this happening because I'm not using enough bittering hops? because flavor hop additions are coming out real nice

Ca 150
Mg 10
Na 52
Cl 80
SO4 358

 

[Brewskii]

What's your hop schedule?

 

[MartinV]

2oz magnum 60 min
1oz cascade 10min
1oz simcoe 5min
1oz amarillo flameout

1oz citra dryhop 5 days
1oz amarillo dryhop 5 days

 

[Yooper]

You're using the water profile listed above for 100% of the brewing water? And you're boiling 6+ gallons at the start (not topping up with any water)?

 

[MartinV]

Indeed, that is my final profile, At my boíl after i've combined both mash and sparge water

 

[duboman]

I'm still learning about water and getting a handle on it but I would think with that schedule of hops, regardless of the aroma/flavor it should be pretty bitter. Have your friends tasted the beer and perceived the same lack of bitterness?

It could simply be a matter of your personal ability to truly perceive the bitterness.

 

[MartinV]

Yes they have and they share the same opinion as I do, not bitter at all, I consider myself a hophead since I really like strongly bittered beers, but still I can tell bitterness levels pretty darn good, I'm thinking of lab testing the IBU levels of my beers from now on

 

[grathan]

OG/FG? yeast strain? Sweetness will offset bitterness.

 

[MartinV]

My OG was 1.076 and FG 1.015, safale english ale yeast, tastes pretty dry actually , and the hop flavor/aroma is quite good, but bitterness is almost non-prestent

 

[grathan]

Assuming the hops weren't stale and the amount was correct and you got a nice rolling boil on the Magnum for at least 60 min the only possibilities I can think of is either your pallette has changed or perhaps there was a lot of protein in the pot when you first added the hops. I am only basing this on something I read that said if you don't boil the wort for 15 minutes before adding your main bittering addition some of the hop resins stick to the proteins that haven't broken down yet and don't end up adding bitterness.

 

[Beezer94]

I think another factor is using magnum for bittering. They are considered a very clean bittering hop. Which translates to a less punch in your face type bitterness. I would use chinook if you want a more aggressive bitterness. Hops with higher levels of Cohumulone create a "harsher" bitterness, which is great in a hoppy beer. The trend of late seems to be less bitter tasting to appeal to those whom can't get over bitter beer. Stick with the water profile and use the chinook and you will definitely notice a difference.

 

[MartinV]

Actually I remeber dropping my bittering hops almost immediately after the hot break, didn't boil my wort for long enough before my bittering additions, I'm definitely going to check that in my next brew.

I have brewed with chinook, but as you mention its cohumulone levels are way to high for my taste, I like it as a aroma hop, that is my main reason why I'm using magnum as my bittering hop, but I'll give it another try with both hops and taste the difference, thank you so much for your help, I'll post my results later, cheers!

 

[Beezer94]

Actually I remeber dropping my bittering hops almost immediately after the hot break, didn't boil my wort for long enough before my bittering additions, I'm definitely going to check that in my next brew.

I have brewed with chinook, but as you mention its cohumulone levels are way to high for my taste, I like it as a aroma hop, that is my main reason why I'm using magnum as my bittering hop, but I'll give it another try with both hops and taste the difference, thank you so much for your help, I'll post my results later, cheers!

I always wait a minute or two after full rolling boil to add my bittering addition, otherwise you are sort of first-wort hopping which gives a "smoother bitterness" supposedly. Columbus or Warrior are another good choice for bittering. You could use 0.5oz of chinook (or columbus/warrior) and then use magnum to get the rest of the ibu's to roughen the edges just a little.