IBU help

Hey guys, I'm wondering if you can help me out? I'm looking for an IBU calculation for this recipe. I've put it in three different calculators and have come up with three different calculations. Maybe someone can put it in beer smith for me? Wink, wink. Here it is. I'm doing a partial boil of 2.5 gal and a 5 gal batch. Thanks guys.

0.25 lbs Weyerman Carafa III
0.25 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs Briess Caramel 80
3.15 lbs Dark malt syrup (60 min)
6 lbs Dark malt syrup late addition (15 min)
1 lbs corn sugar late addition (0 min)

Pellet Hops
1 oz Summit 17-19% (60 min)
1 oz Chinook 11-13%(15 min)
1 oz Centennial 9-12% (10 min)
1 oz Cascade 4.5-7% (5 min)
1 oz Centennial 9-12% (0 min)
1 oz Cascade 4.5-7%(dry hop 5 days)

Thanks guys

Need to know the AA% of the hops & whether they are leaf or pellets.

A 2.5 gallon boil will most likely evaporate to somewhere around 1.75 gallons after 60 minutes. If you top off to 5 gallons, that means you're adding 3.25 gallons of plain water, which dilutes the beer dramatically.

bobbrews said:

Need to know the AA% of the hops and whether they are leaf or pellets.

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This. And, I'd guess that the different calculators used probably had slightly different values for both AA of the hops as well as the PPG of fermentables, both would skew the recipe's IBU calculation.

I just updated the hop listing.

And BeerSmith says! -

IBU - 45.6
Est OG - 1.076
Color - 31.1
ABV- 8.0

assuming:
Cascade 5.5%aa
Centennial 10%aa
Chinook 13%aa

I'm looking for something very hoppy, should I double the hops?

abbysdad2006 said:

I'm looking for something very hoppy, should I double the hops?

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Yes, 8% along with 40ish IBUs is not that hoppy, only add hops to your additions within the last 20 minutes. And certainly dry hop with more than 1 oz...I use 1.5 PER GALLON if I want a hoppy brew

Calichusetts said:

Yes, 8% along with 40ish IBUs is not that hoppy, only add hops to your additions within the last 20 minutes. And certainly dry hop with more than 1 oz...I use 1.5 PER GALLON if I want a hoppy brew

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I've bought enough hops to double the recipe. i'm thinking of doubling everything except the summit at the 60 min mark and doubling the cascade for the dry hopping and add another oz of summit for dry hopping as well. Makes sense?

Calichusetts said:

Yes, 8% along with 40ish IBUs is not that hoppy, only add hops to your additions within the last 20 minutes. And certainly dry hop with more than 1 oz...I use 1.5 PER GALLON if I want a hoppy brew

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IBU = International Bittering Units

You can have a very high IBU and still not have a "hoppy" beer and vice versa. I agree with increasing the late additions and increase the dry hop add till your hearts content (more is definitely better here for a true hop head!) . Just know that these additions will do little to the IBU # (or at least that's the idea behind late additions).

abbysdad2006 said:

I've bought enough hops to double the recipe. i'm thinking of doubling everything except the summit at the 60 min mark and doubling the cascade for the dry hopping and add another oz of summit for dry hopping as well. Makes sense?

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Perhaps some reverse engineering would help here.

What type of beer are you shooting for, or can you elaborate on the Aroma, Appearance, Flavor and Mouthfeel that you'd like the finished beer to have?

dcHokie said:

Perhaps some reverse engineering would help here.

What type of beer are you shooting for, or can you elaborate on the Aroma, Appearance, Flavor and Mouthfeel that you'd like the finished beer to have?

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The recipe is a Black IPA. I love IPA's and hoppy beers. I love the smell of hops and the taste.

Remember there are several methods of calculating IBUs, Beersmith lets you pick which one you like. IME they can give pretty different numbers. I think the important thing to do is pick one and stick with it throughout all your batches for consistency.

It's a Northern Brewer Black IPA kit and I think I'll brew it to specs from them but, if it's only about 46 IBU i don't know?

abbysdad2006 said:

It's a Northern Brewer Black IPA kit and I think I'll brew it to specs from them but, if it's only about 46 IBU i don't know?

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Still think your getting IBU's and how "hoppy" a beer is confused. It's true that hops can add bitterness (quantified by IBU's) if left in boil for a long time (60min?), but add little if anything to the "hoppy" taste or aroma. Late addition hops and dry hopping is where nearly all hop flavor and aroma come from and they add very little to the bitterness (IBU).

Ya, I think I am getting it mixed up. I'm thinking that the IBU'S are how hoppy the beer is. So, I think I'll make it to spec and keep the left over hops for another brew.

It all depends on how you look at it...I only late hop (add hops at 20 minutes or less) and so my IBUs are pretty closely related to how much aroma and flavor I will get (besides dry hopping which is mainly for aroma.)

I think I mispoke earlier when I mentioned the 8% and ibu. I was trying to get at the fact that you should be adding more hops from the 20-0 mark which will increase your IBUs but most importantly give you the flavor and aroma you are after. Not necessarily a direct correlation between ibu and flavor/aroma, but they are related...at least for people like me that only late hop.

Calichusetts said:

It all depends on how you look at it...I only late hop (add hops at 20 minutes or less) and so my IBUs are pretty closely related to how much aroma and flavor I will get (besides dry hopping which is mainly for aroma.)

I think I mispoke earlier when I mentioned the 8% and ibu. I was trying to get at the fact that you should be adding more hops from the 20-0 mark which will increase your IBUs but most importantly give you the flavor and aroma you are after. Not necessarily a direct correlation between ibu and flavor/aroma, but they are related...at least for people like me that only late hop.

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Ok, so in the additions I have down, would it be a good idea to double the amount of hops from the 15 min mark on?

abbysdad2006 said:

Ok, so in the additions I have down, would it be a good idea to double the amount of hops from the 15 min mark on?

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That would certainly help with getting a greater aroma/flavor out of it. Dry hopping or using a hop tea will also get you that punch you might be looking for. Different people have different tolerances and ideas for what is a hoppy beer. Try it and experiment to find you ideal taste/flavor.

For me, I want an over the top punch of hops from my IPAs and similar styles which is reflected in the fact I late hop, dry hop and sometimes add a hop tea.

I enjoy over the top hop punch also. I like to share my home brews with friends. And as everyone knows, everyone has different tastes.

Calichusetts said:

That would certainly help with getting a greater aroma/flavor out of it. Dry hopping or using a hop tea will also get you that punch you might be looking for. Different people have different tolerances and ideas for what is a hoppy beer. Try it and experiment to find you ideal taste/flavor.

For me, I want an over the top punch of hops from my IPAs and similar styles which is reflected in the fact I late hop, dry hop and sometimes add a hop tea.

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Ok so if I were to dry hop with 2 oz cascade and maybe 1 oz of say summit, that would give me the hop punch?

abbysdad2006 said:

Ok so if I were to dry hop with 2 oz cascade and maybe 1 oz of say summit, that would give me the hop punch?

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Summit is really nice...I would actually go with 2 oz each if its a 2.5 gallon recipe. Again, I want to smell my brew across the room when its poured so I want it really hoppy. I'm using 1.5 or more ounces in my 1 gallon super hopped recipies.

You might consider hop bursting since you are really focused on flavor and aroma. Remove your 60 addition and adjust your late additions to match your intended IBU. The bitterness will be smoother and all your hop additions are working towards flavor and aroma.

Adding a whirlpool addition is yet another way to get there but with the above process...I've found its enough.

Quick question, if I were to freeze the hops I'm not using, how would I go about thawing them out to use at a later date? Do u thaw them or just use while they are frozen? Thanks.

abbysdad2006 said:

Quick question, if I were to freeze the hops I'm not using, how would I go about thawing them out to use at a later date? Do u thaw them or just use while they are frozen? Thanks.

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Dried hops don't have residual water content. So when they freeze, they don't freeze solid. The cold preserves them. But you won't have a hard time at all adding them to your wort directly from the freezer.

bobbrews said:

Dried hops don't have residual water content. So when they freeze, they don't freeze solid. The cold preserves them. But you won't have a hard time at all adding them to your wort directly from the freezer.

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Great! Thanks!