First time IPA advice

Bitter or astringent flavors can be avoided by steeping under 170°, and in much less water volume than your batch size. Also, lowering your IBU's if that's what was causing the bitterness.

I would not add spices, as they are not typical for an IPA. I would also mention that 3 oz of hops in 5 gallons isn't enough for an IPA.

Lastly consult How To Brew.

 

If your winter warmer was a bit bitter it could have been from the hop addition, and your taste buds are too sensitive to the bittering hops. Or maybe the winter warmer used cocoa powder or some ingredient that can have bitter aftertastes.

But I'm with @JohnSnowNW in that spices are not "typical" in an IPA. Flavor variances typically come from using different hop combinations. If you've purchased a recipe kit, then I'd stick with what hops came with the kit, but if you think you are too sensitive to hop bitterness you could cut back on the hops, although 3 oz. isn't much to start with.

 

What is your "1/4 lb toasted malt"? ...it might need to be mashed
also...if a Winter Warmer has a "bitter aftertaste", you might want to consider another style other than IPA...but as JohnSnowNW already said, 3 oz of hops is not really in IPA territory.

 

If thats how you bottled, then the B Brite is probably the cause of your issue. B Brite is more of a cleaner than a sanitizer, its much like PBW and needs to be rinsed off. For a sanitizer use something like StarSan.

 

If you feel that you'd like to add more hops, it's not too late. You can add dry hops right into the primary fermenter, let them sit for ~5 days or so, and it'll add great hop flavors and aromas. Add them after it appears primary fermentation looks complete, maybe in the 7-10 day range. Some candidates I'd recommend for dry hopping are Simcoe, Moasic, Nelson Sauvin, and Chinook, but everyone has their favorites. For a 5 gallon batch, 2oz total dry hops would be a good place to start.

 

What grains might you be talking about if the "toasted and crystal malt came in powder and syrup form" ?

If this is only your second batch, I would say better beers are in your future with a little more experience and patience. Cheers

 

One cause of soapy off flavors is leaving the beer on the trub for too long. How long did you leave your winter warmer in the fermenter?

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html

 

<.broad brush>
Winter warmers typically have high ABV ... are highly hopped ... and benefit from months of aging before they come into their own so maybe they were consumed too soon before the flavors had a chance to meld. They can be bitter when consumed too soon.
<./broad brush>

Not rinsing the bottles completely after treating with C-brite was a big mistake.

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As for your current endeavor ... brew the kit as is (crawl ... walk ... run) except Palmer (How to Brew) recommends against using Irish moss in extract recipes; however ... it's your beer.

 

Along with the others that have mentioned it, I think you're tasting the B-brite. Don't just clean and rinse the bottle, sanitize them before you fill them. My process includes clean in PBW (or cleanser of your choice), thorough rinse. Allow to dry upside down and stay that way until bottling. While bottling, couple of shots of StarSan into each bottle...enough to coat all surfaces, let it sit upside down to drain out the residual for a minute or two, then fill. If you do them in batch's, say 6 at a time, it gives them time enough for the sanitizer to be effective and to drain most of it out too.

 

Nope definitely not too long. What spices did you add to your winter warmer, how much of each, and how / where in the process did you add them?

 

Advice, more hops....