Was on my 3rd ever brew today and not going to lie, I think I got a little bit cocky. My first two went over really well (process as well as tastings) so I figured I had this thing down. Things started to go downhill when I panicked at my LHBS when they didn’t have the grains I wanted, so I tried to make some quick substitutions and ended up getting too much and not enough of a few, pushing the color and gravity out of style (Irish red). So made the trip back today and got what I wanted, but turns out when the hops packages say “2 x 1/2 ounce” it means you’re only getting 1oz of hops, not 2.5oz like I needed. With SWMBO rushing my process, I didn’t notice until it was too late…
any who, to make a long story (too late for that too) short, I’m way behind on my IBUs. Can I just go shopping say tomorrow, buy the correct amount of hops, boil them for alpha acid extraction and add it to my fermenting wort? I feel like I’m grasping at straws here, but figured it could work. I realize the contamination risk is increased, but I’d rather take the chance. Otherwise, it’s going to be some SWEET (literally) beer for St. Patty’s Day. Thanks for any advice
It may turn out good anyway. And attempting to rescue a batch is tricky. Consider dry hopping it to counter the sweetness and/or blending in more alcohol.
You could brew a small one-gallon batch of a similar recipe, but jack up the IBUs to 100 or whatever, and then blend the two batches. I’ve done it before, and it works if you know what you’re shooting for.
I don’t know how much I’d mess with it as an Irish Red has very little hop bitterness anyways. Like Euge says, can be kinda tricky trying to correct something like this.
It’s actually an easy fix. IsoHop. Then you’re gonna have to underbitter several batches to use it up. I fixed 10g of a porter a while back, then because of work obligations, didn’t brew in time to use the rest. Crap!
Nice! I looked into IsoHop, but you’re right, I just don’t think I would use it in time. I was considering dry-hopping it also, but I didn’t think that would contribute to the overall bitterness, just to the aroma, right? Then I was thinking I could just boil some hops in about 1/2 gallon of water then add it to the fermenter. Wasn’t too confident in the calculations though, so I’ll probably just leave it. Thanks for the suggestions and maybe I’ll get lucky.
To me dry-hopping gives flavor as well. However, if you plan on boiling up some hops do it in wort instead of plain water. Using plain water won’t give you the results you’re thinking of, but more of a vegetal flavor.
But, you might even like the way it turns out as it is now. Good luck and RDWHAHB.