Beer Forum

Hi all,

After 2 weeks in the primary fermenter I today transferred to a secondary for conditioning at the same temp of 18C for a couple of weeks. I tasted a sample after transfer and at the fermenter temp their is a desired balance between the malt & hops but at approx 9C in the fridge the hops in the sample tends to excessively dominate. This situation arose as a result of equipment failure on brew day.

My OG is down by about 8 points and I'm wondering at this late stage if I can retrieve the situation somewhat by boiling & adding a measured quantity of malt to the conditioning secondary.

Thanks for any help

Age it.
The hops will fade away over time. Just bottle it, and put it away for awhile. Either that or blend it with another beer that has the opposite qualities and characteristics.
Ya dig?

Yeah, it sounds like the beer is still a bit green. Let it age for a bit. Maybe let your beer warm up a bit as well before drinking it as this will help let the malt shine through better.

I agree with Snowcapt and Brewinhard. Since you are cold conditioning your beer, you are in a still-active phase where your beer is working to balance out it's flavor profile. All the yeast that are still in suspension have hop compounds, tannins, proteins and sulfur compounds stuck to them, which is likely why you are tasting more hops and harsher flavors. Give it time and let those fall out of solution to reveal your beer's actual flavor. Not to mention, you haven't bottled or kegged yet, so it is much too early to tell what the final outcome will be. Unless you are following a "Tried and True" recipe that involves blending at this stage, attempting to blend an unfinished product seems like a gamble.