Different IBU's provided by different software? - Page 2

**Revvy** · 02-09-2011, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevedasleeve

IBU calculations are really hit or miss though, you should know, regardless what formula you use. There is a show on that - which confirms my experience - at basicbrewingradio which show some rather wild competing IBU numbers using the standard formulas compared to actual IBU measurements.

What is interesting is that there seems not to be much consistency even within a single formula: For one beer with many small additions at the end of the boil the IBUs might be reasonably accurate, but using the same formula for beer with, say, just a 60 minute and a 20 minute addition the IBUs come out wildly inaccurate.

My take on it is not to sweat it at all. If I want my recipe to be a bit more bitter I will usually add at the long end (60 minute or FWH) and treat late additions as flavor/aroma. But honestly I kind of feel like just calculating at all is a waste of time! IMHO if you measure something and it is wrong it is pretty much meaningless!

IMHO and YMMV
Steve da sleeve

You mean this one?

Quote:

March 20, 2008 - What Is an IBU . . . Really?
John Palmer, author of How to Brew, shares information from a conference that challenged his concept of what defines an International Bitterness Unit (IBU).

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-20-08ibu.mp3

It is a bit of a mindblower really.

Moody_Copperpot · 02-10-2011, 11:24 AM

Wow! Yeah you know, since I posted this I've come to the conclusion that it's really not a big deal at all. I know if I add something with higher AA at 60 min, it's going to add more bitterness...and that's all I really need to know. I care about the flavor, not about some programs with IBUs that are a bit off.

stevedasleeve · 02-12-2011, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revvy

It is a bit of a mindblower really.

Yep it is. But wait there's more...!

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr07-05-07ibutest.mp3

vath · 01-31-2012, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moody_Copperpot

Yes I can tell you exactly what is doing that. Hopville has something called "Boil 4 avg gallons" in the hops section. It defaults to 4 gallons for some reason. You have to manually change that setting. What you do is take your preboil volume + your post boil volume and divide it by 2. So if you have 7 pre, 5.5 post it would look like this: 7+5.5=12.5 /2=6.25. 6.25 is what you'd enter there. I had the same issue with it until I noticed that section and emailed the creator to find out the proper number to plug in there.

I have been racking my brain trying to understand the "Boil X.X avg gallons for XX minutes" on the Hopville site...... g-damn.... thank you Google and Moody for posting this...

Moody_Copperpot · 01-31-2012, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vath

I have been racking my brain trying to understand the "Boil X.X avg gallons for XX minutes" on the Hopville site...... g-damn.... thank you Google and Moody for posting this...

No problem! I'm glad I could help. Happy brewing!

cm02WS6 · 02-01-2012, 01:41 AM

I've also got a spreadsheet I made using the calculations in Palmer's book. I figure the actual IBU number doesn't mean much. It is mostly about comparing one brew to another given my process and taste. I also like to look at the IBU:OG (points) ratio as another way to compare recipes of a certain style.

Now, finding a calculation to account for hop degradation is something I've been wanting to incorporate too.