Pre isomerized Alpha Acids

[Smiddylad]

Hi All
I have just brewed a IPA, but I used some old challenger hops that where close to their expiry date and I'm fairly sure I got my calculations wrong, so even though the final gravity of my beer is 1.010, it tastes really sweet. Too sweet, I fear I got my bitter sweet balance way off as there is hardly any bitterness. I was thinking of some pre isomerized alpha acids to fix my problem but I can see anywhere I can pick up an amount small enough for a homebrewer. Does anyone know where I can get a small enough amount to fix my batch, or does anyone know of another way where I can bitterness to my beer to balance out the flavour. Is it worth brewing an starter sized batch, hop the hell out of it and blend it into my beer. I bottled some of it, but most of it is in a corny keg, so blending is not out of the question. Any thoughts.

Thanks

Neil

 

[graysalchemy]

Hi you can get it from our sponsor The Homebrew company.

I have used it before and to be honest i wasn't impressed. I worked out exactly how much I needed to bring the IBU's back up to where they needed to be (mine shortfall was due to the wort ending up 10 points higher affecting the BU:GU). After bottling and subsequent drinking it always tasted a bit harsh and 'chemical'. It was like this for a good 8 months so much so I stopped drinking it. However I have sinced had some of it 12 months later and it is wonderful and mellow. Just got a few bottles left which i will keep for Christmas. :thumb:

 

[Smiddylad]

Part of the reason why I think I buggered up the bitterness is I used fresh hops straight of the bines in my garden, thought I would do an harvest IPA. It’s not something I want to let mature, fresher the better. I was thinking of taking Randy Mosher approach in Radical brewing. Pour a measured glass and add small amounts until I get the amount right amount and then scale it up in the keg. The beer is drinkable as is, but it’s almost like drinking orange juice it’s so sweet, it really needs the bitterness to balance it out. Maybe I should make a couple of litre batch of super hopped beer and try and blend that into the finished beer. The pre-isomerised alpha acids sounds like a lot less hassle :)

 

[graysalchemy]

They are but in my experience they taste chemical and not balanced, like using too much target hops with out balancing them with something else.

But like most harsh hops it mellows with time.

 

[brewtim]

I had a similar experience to yours recently, where one brew was lacking in bitterness and another of my brews was too bitter, so I blended the two. Just use a 100ml measure to get the ratios and taste, then when happy just scale up the ratios, turned out great :thumb:

 

[Wezzel]

Could you remove a couple of liters of wort, boil up some hops and add it back into the keg?

 

[graysalchemy]

I don't think so you need a volume of wort in proportion to the amount of hops I would have thought.

I have asked aleman in the past and i can't remember the reason in detail but I was adviced it couldn't be done and to use isomerised hop extract.

 

[Smiddylad]

Just bought some isomerised hop extract from my local home brew shop. So gonna try my luck with itoday. Fingers crossed it fixes my beer :)

 

[Smiddylad]

Tried the isomerized oils in a test glass of my beer, wasn't too impressed with the result. Ultimately the beer is too deleicately flavoured and as pointed out, it just gave it a chemical aftertaste. Not good so decided to abandon that approach. I think the beer is only good for blending. Otherwise I might just chuck the batch and put it down to experience