120 Ibu's ?

I think I made a boo boo. I brewed this recipe today and failed to notice the alpha acids of my NZ Pacific Gem Hops that I used . At 16.3% , and using 2 oz I ran my IBU's up to 120 that included 1 oz of NZ Hallertaur at 8.9% AA. I realized what I had done when I put this in promash ( After I brewed) What do you guy's think ? Major F or OK??? Heres the recipe: English Pale Ale

Mash-Extract

4.5 lbs Pale malt Extract
2# 2 row malt
1# Munich malt
.25# 60 l Crystal
.5# 20 l Crystal
you know my Hop portions from above : And WLP007 Dry English Ale yeast
Cheers

Let it mellow.

yeah thats gonna be one bitter somebitch...even at 20 percent utilization your still looking at 97 ibu's just for the pac gem. Hopefully the lb of munich will give it some malt backbone, it will probably be potable if not great.
do you add the extract to the boil right away? How big of a boil do you do? When i do extract beers id do 3-4 gallon boils and would get really low hop utilization (like under 20 percent). It might not be as bitter as you think...

I boil a full 5 gal batch to make sure I get my bitterness. Herin lies the prob. And yes I add my extract once boil commences. When I took my reading I was off my OG of 1.048 mine was 1.040, not to much off but will this also affect my hop levels ? Im not too worried because I am a patient brewer. I'll just give her more time conditioning. Brew an let learn. Cheers

I thought IBUs max at 100

digdan said:

I thought IBUs max at 100

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Typical human PERCEPTION of IBUs maxes at 100, but you can put as many IBUs as you want into the brew.

Once it gets above 100 IBUs, you won't be able to tell if it's 110 or 239 or whatever....

-walker

Actually, I'm pretty sure that you will reach a saturation point in the wort at which point the acids can't be isomerized any longer and will just precipitate out. But, yeah, it's largely academic since you won't be able to taste it, anyways!

You won't notice it, much. It will mellow out after a month or two. There doesn't seem to be a practical limit on IBU, I've seen tests at OSU measuring 300 IBU, but you really can't tell once the ale is past 100.

Thanx guy's for the reasurance, I don't care that I over hopped, it's just that I'm striving for brews that coencide with style so I guess I'll pay more attention to my AA next brew sess. Cheers

With high AA hops, it becomes important to pay attention and not just go by weight. I have Columbus from two different sources, one is whole @10.8% and the other pellets @ 14%. I've seen experimental hops (OSU) at 19%!

David , that's exactly what I did. I went to the LHBS and grabed what looked good . It's my fault for not looking at the AA % and only the weight. just asked what was in the last shipment of whole hops and the pac gems were fresh for the taking. Wonder what It'll taste like when it's settled down a bit. I know of 2 commercial IPA's that Claim to be in the 100 IBU realm, I love both. So much for my malty slightly hoppy English Pale! Cheers thanks for the insight

Walker-san said:

Typical human PERCEPTION of IBUs maxes at 100, but you can put as many IBUs as you want into the brew.

Once it gets above 100 IBUs, you won't be able to tell if it's 110 or 239 or whatever....

-walker

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I disagree Walker.
At 200 IBUs your skull will collapse when you drink it.