harsh hops flavour in fruit beer

[rb]

Brewed a fruit beer using a Coopers Canadian blond kit, 10 litres of
treated water to remove chloramine (pinch of sodium metabisulphate) and
20 g of Goldings 6.8% hope pellets for a 20 min low simmer + 8 litres of
pear juice + ascorbic acid powder + fermax nutrient (quarter of a
teaspoon) added to the cooled wort and fermented at 14-16 C with Wyeast
3944 for two weeks before being transferred to secondary - where it sits
right now.
Tasted some at transfer to secondary and there is an immediate harsh
bitterness almost quinine like - not the late back of tongue hop
bitterness and a slight hint of sweetness.
I'm guessing ABV is likely ~7-8%
My options are to dump it or bottle as is and leave for a few years, or
I've got a dextrose/maltodextrin mix I can add to bulk up the ABV to
Barleywine levels (~11%?), bottle and leave for a few years.
Another option is to also add a killer yeast like k1v-1116 to stop
anymore Wyeast 3944 funkiness.
Thoughts?
rb

-- every day is a new day full of opportunity

[Tom Biasi]

Post by rb
Brewed a fruit beer using a Coopers Canadian blond kit, 10 litres of
treated water to remove chloramine (pinch of sodium metabisulphate) and
20 g of Goldings 6.8% hope pellets for a 20 min low simmer + 8 litres of
pear juice + ascorbic acid powder + fermax nutrient (quarter of a
teaspoon) added to the cooled wort and fermented at 14-16 C with Wyeast
3944 for two weeks before being transferred to secondary - where it sits
right now.
Tasted some at transfer to secondary and there is an immediate harsh
bitterness almost quinine like - not the late back of tongue hop
bitterness and a slight hint of sweetness.
I'm guessing ABV is likely ~7-8%
My options are to dump it or bottle as is and leave for a few years, or
I've got a dextrose/maltodextrin mix I can add to bulk up the ABV to
Barleywine levels (~11%?), bottle and leave for a few years.
Another option is to also add a killer yeast like k1v-1116 to stop
anymore Wyeast 3944 funkiness.
Thoughts?
rb
-- every day is a new day full of opportunity

I don't brew these things so I really can't help with that. Then why am
I posting?
I just wanted to add my opinion about dumping it.
Unless there are clear signs of infection I would never dump a batch
based on the taste while transferring. I would bottle it as is. I don't
think I would wait two years though.

[Dan Logcher]

Post by rb
-- every day is a new day full of opportunity

I don't brew these things so I really can't help with that. Then why am I posting?
I just wanted to add my opinion about dumping it.
Unless there are clear signs of infection I would never dump a batch based on the taste while
transferring. I would bottle it as is. I don't think I would wait two years though.

I agree.. I've had two batches I thought would completely suck, but I rode it out and
secondary then kegged. After a month of conditioning, it was a good beer.

I've had to dump two batches due to wild yeast.. but I let them go all the way and still
couldn't drink it.

[baloonon]

Post by Tom Biasi

Post by rb
Tasted some at transfer to secondary and there is an immediate harsh
bitterness almost quinine like - not the late back of tongue hop
bitterness and a slight hint of sweetness.
I'm guessing ABV is likely ~7-8%
My options are to dump it or bottle as is and leave for a few years,
or I've got a dextrose/maltodextrin mix I can add to bulk up the ABV
to
Barleywine levels (~11%?), bottle and leave for a few years.
Another option is to also add a killer yeast like k1v-1116 to stop
anymore Wyeast 3944 funkiness.
Thoughts?

I don't brew these things so I really can't help with that. Then

Post by rb
why am

I posting?
I just wanted to add my opinion about dumping it.
Unless there are clear signs of infection I would never dump a batch
based on the taste while transferring. I would bottle it as is.
I don't think I would wait two years though.

I'm also not experienced in these things, but I'd second the idea that
you don't want to dump it, at least not right away.

That amount of Goldings plus whatever hop extract was in the kit
shouldn't cause that kind of thing.

One possibility is yeast bite from yeast not floccing out. It can't
hurt to cold crash it and see if that helps, and if not try fining with
gelatin or some other fining agent. It's cheap and doesn't take long so
it can't hurt.

It's possible there's an infection, so one thing to try also is to leave
it in secondary for a couple of more weeks, but also right away fill a
few plastic soda or seltzer bottles with a sanitized ladle and funnel
and maybe 3/4 of teaspoon of white sugar. Let them carbonate for a
couple of weeks and then taste. You could use regular bottles, but
plastic bottles are less likely to burst if there is an infection. That
ought to give a better sense if it's worth proceding. If the test
subjects taste really sour or turn into gushers, there's a greater
likelihood of infection. But if they taste OK or even good, then you're
more likely to be good to go.