Casey

Recipes 

Howdy,
So I've recently ventured off on my own, creating my own recipes and have been pretty successful making some dang good beer! One thing I can't understand is that after I plug all the info into BeerSmith I'm getting IBU's that are beyond what the palate can even handle. My last IPA was 157 IBU's but it did not even come close to a bottle I get from the liquor store that say's 90 IBU's!?!

The hop socks I add to the boil are loosely tied (a few times I didn't give them enough room to expand and i was like a baseball afterwards).

My normal schedule is: 1 liter water per pnd of grain for strike, mash, sparge enough to get about 12.5-13 gal. to boil so I yield about 10 gal after all is said and done.

am I not keeping a good enough track on water amount throughout the brew sesh? I'm sure its something simple because I'm definitely a rook. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Casey

ylpaul2000

Recipes 

I just listened to a basic brewing podcast in which a two part "hop ceiling" episode was discussed and an extremely hoppy beer was sampled and there was a discussion about how the beer got so hoppy. What was established was that no matter how much hops are used in a 60 minute boil the IBU ceiling will end up around 50. They explained that designing a recipe that included more than 50 IBU's at the 60 minute boil is a waste. The conclusion was that adding hops later in the boil (5-10 minutes before flame out) was much more efficient as far as increasing the IBU's goes.

TacoBrew

Recipes 

Did they recommend changes for 90+ minute boils?

Edit: I realize I could just listen to the podcast, but how did they determine a 50 ibu limit?

amandabab

Recipes 

they leaned slightly forward, reached behind and pulled.
IBU is just arbitrary # assigned to relative bitterness flavor.

pinback

Recipes 

+1

IBU to me has so much more to do with ABV and the FG ( as in how many sugars are left).

For your problem, I would try doing the exact same beer again but without the hop sock and maybe try figuring out if you may have any water issues.

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duckmanco

Recipes 

I listened to this one to and frankly, I'm surprised a little that the information learned from it hasn't set the homebrew hop crowd on its a**. I was floored by it and started thinking about my last ipa recipe that I got from Nate Smith where it called for 18ibu 60" and another 18" ibu at 30 and then 3oz of flameout hops which I let steep for 30 min in the hot wort (his recipe didn't say to specifically do that, it's just something I find to work incredibly well for massive hop flavor and aroma).

That beer (Dankness IPA) was so bitter, it actually approached some of the commercial examples of IIPA, which I'm not in it for straight bitterness but it surprised me). I think BBR was on to something noting that only 50ibu is possible from any size or AA hop addition amount at 60 min, but clearly additional IBU can be picked up later in the boil. The CYBI clone recipe of FW Union Jack also follows a similiar method but it's bittering charge is at 90", which the podcast didn't address, but the bittering charge is still just south of 50IBU if my memory serves me right.

Basically I've learned that trying to shove IBU's greater than 50 at 60" is pointless, and has since saved my Warrior hop stash. Great podcast, especially the section with the hopbursted ipa with a massive (and only addition) amount of hops at 5 min that came out with some measured 80+ IBU. Neat stuff that I've actually (at least I think anyway) experienced.

genes

Recipes 

I've always known the ceiling to be 100 IBU's.

ylpaul2000

Recipes 

All the testing was conduced in a laboratory setting by Dr. Brad Sturgeon of Monmouth College using the beer 23 assay. His tests were valid and as much as many would argue there is empirical, repeatable data that substantiates his claims.

BrewKnurd

Recipes 

you could argue that perceived bitterness is arbitrary, but ibus are lab testable. Nothing arbitrary about measured ibus. The theoretical ibus estimated by software is another topic entirely.

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Fake it til you make it.

duckmanco

Recipes 

That's not what was addressed in the podcast. The results were completely based around a single 60min addition of hops. That's it.... So the results showed that no matter what, 50ibu was all they get into a single 60 minute charge. Anything after that, is just vegetable matter in the kettle ---- but only for 60 min additions. More ibu will and can be picked up later in the boil, but from 60 min, 50ibu was it.