A Craft Beer & Brewing reader recently asked us the following question:
I just finished fermenting and bulk aging my beer, but it did not turn out well. Is there anything I can do to “save” it?
It depends on what is wrong with your beer. Some off-flavors (e.g., from serious infections) really can’t be easily corrected or covered up. However there are a significant number of flaws that can be corrected by adjusting the bitterness levels or blending your beer. You can even use the same techniques to change the style of your beer after fermentation.
First let’s talk about hops-malt balance. If you have a beer that is too malty, you can adjust it by adding more bitterness. The easiest way to do this is using an isomerized hops extract. Isomerized extracts are “pre-boiled”—that is, the alpha acids have already been put in a final “isomerized” form. So you can, quite literally, add tiny amounts of isomerized extract “to taste” until you achieve the hops balance you want.