Where the bitterness in a kit beer comes from, and how to change it
Bitterness isn't one thing
Somebody says a beer is too bitter and they usually mean one of two different things. That is how they end up with advice that is useless to them.
There's actual bitterness, which comes from hop compounds and is already measured into the tin before you ever open it. Then there's perceived bitterness, which is what your tongue reports after everything else in the beer has had its say, and that one you can move quite a long way without touching the hops at all.
What the tin has already decided
A beer kit is hopped wort that has been concentrated down, so the hop bitterness is in there and it's fixed. You can't remove it and you can't easily add much to it without moving into hop additions and boiling, which is a different hobby again.
What that means in practice is that the style on the front of the tin is the biggest single decision you make about bitterness, and it's made before you get home. An English bitter, whatever the name suggests, sits in the middle. A stout reads bitter from roasted malt rather than from hops. A lager is at the low end and has nowhere to hide.
The four things you can actually change
1. What you ferment with
This is the big one. Bitterness is balanced against sweetness and body, so a beer made with plain sugar has less of both and the same hop load tastes sharper. Swap some of the sugar for dry malt or a brew enhancer and the beer tastes less bitter, even though the hop content hasn't changed by a gram. Go the other way and ferment on straight sugar, and you'll wonder why the beer bites.
2. The volume you make it up to
The instructions say 23 litres because that's what the tin was built for. Make it up to 21 litres and you've concentrated everything, bitterness included. Make it up to 25 and you've thinned it out. This is the easiest lever in the whole process and the one people fiddle with by accident rather than on purpose.
3. Fermentation temperature
Yeast run warm throws esters and fusels, and those read as harsh rather than bitter, but a drinker won't separate the two. Hold the ferment steady and cool and a lot of what people call bitterness quietly disappears.
4. How long you leave it
Young beer tastes rougher. Hop bitterness softens over a few weeks in the bottle and so do most of the harsh notes from a warm ferment. A beer that tastes too bitter at two weeks is often exactly right at six, and tipping it out early is the commonest waste in kit brewing.
Serving it colder doesn't fix it, it hides it
Cold suppresses your perception of bitterness, so a beer served near freezing will taste smoother than the same beer at 8 degrees. That's a real effect and it's fine as a preference. It isn't a repair though, and the difference matters, because otherwise you'll decide a batch is fixed when it's only chilled.
Where to start if a batch is too bitter
Leave it alone for another month first, because that's free. If it's still too much, the next batch gets dry malt instead of some of the sugar, gets made up to the full 23 litres, and gets fermented cooler. Change those together on the same batch if you're impatient, or one at a time if you actually want to know which one did the work.
Shop related products
- Coopers English Bitter 1.7kg. Balanced enough to be a fair test of your own process.
- Coopers Light Dry Malt 500g. Adds body and sweetness, which pulls perceived bitterness back.
- Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 1kg. A middle road between plain sugar and all malt.
- Coopers Original Stout 1.7kg. Roast bitterness rather than hop bitterness, if that's the flavour you're after.
Did you know we also keep brewing gear in the shop that isn't listed online, including fermenters, a hydrometer and test jar, airlocks, heater belts and cappers. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.
More in the Coopers range, and Brewhilder will talk you through a recipe change.
Read next
- Coopers Dextrose or Brew Enhancer, which sugar your kit wants. The first lever above, in detail.
- How to brew a balanced English bitter at home. The brew day itself, if you're starting from scratch.
- How long to condition a kit beer before you drink it. The fourth lever, and the cheapest one.
Still the person who opens one at two weeks to check, every single time, knowing full well what it'll taste like.
Cheers,
Candeece
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