The Full Boil Advantage?
Cubx, you know, I don't know much about hops, but while at the brew shop I was looking at the hops chart they had there and noticed Galena was awfully bitter... Which is why I substituted Fuggle for flavoring instead of more Galena.
Man, that is a disapointment.. the last thing I want is a bitter porter! Well, now I know for next time. I hope it mellows out though because, like I said, it was nearly undrinkable. I also opted for a different yeast that would offer a more sweet finish rather than a dry finish.
Thanks guys for an interesting dispute.. I learned a lot!
From what I understand boiling hops for 45 mins or more is where the bitterness comes from. Adding flavoring hops with 30 mins or less will not add more bitterness only hop flavor. Maybe you should have tried adding the Fuggles for the boil for less bitterness and the Galena for flavor.
Rob, yeah it will definitely be bitter. I doubt it will smooth out after even months, but you never know, your mistake might turn out to be an "invention by accident"... don't stress it.
I've even seen recipes using full Columbus for an hour... which I think are around 17%. It would be so much easier to just light a fire inside your mouth, ya know?
As for the timing, generally 0-5 minutes is aroma, 10-30 is flavoring, and 45-60 is bittering, but as I have stated, these are not hard and fast rules. I've seen flavoring at 10, and bittering at 90. I use those times as a guideline.
Also, bittering and aroma do not have to be used for that. I have swapped them, or used one style all the way around. It all comes back to experimenting.
cubx wrote:
After re-reading this, I actually don't think we were all talking about the same thing.
Either way, I don't want to start an argument. It's just not worth it.
No arguments here, just trying to get the facts straight so we don't mislead anybody. I'm sure you can understand that. I've always said people should question everything, especially what they read on the internet, ha. That goes double for reading internet stuff on brewing. Lot's of good stuff out there, but theres also a lot of stuff that just gets repeated with no real proof (aluminum pots being bad for example).
I'd be willing to bet the 4 cups of coffee he added contributed more to the bitterness than the ounce of Galena. I had a Java Stout the other night and it was horrible and it was all due to the acrid coffee taste. It was bad enough I could actually tell it was coffee bitterness. While Galena is a high alpha hop, it has very clean bittering properties. Something like Chinook comes across more harsh... at least to me. He probably could have only added a half ounce though for bittering, since he was doing a bigger boil and adding the hot coffee.
If you find it undrinkable due to the bitterness, try adding some unfermentables like lactose, to add some more sweetness to counteract the bitterness. Give it a few months to mellow...yes bitterness can mellow. Also, if in a few months you still find it totally undrinkable, consider brewing up another batch and try to do some blending...that can work wonders!
DT
Edit: If you brew this again, you might stick with the Fuggles as they give an earthy tone. You might also look into some of the hops that give a more minty flavor, drawing a blank on the name off the top of my head though.