158 ibus?

2 oz. chinook 12.5% - 60 min
2 oz. Hallertau 4.1% - 30 min
2 oz. N Brewer 3.9% - 15 min


158 IBUs according to this formula:

http://www.weekendbrewer.com/brewingformulas.htm#Calculating Bittering Units:

Is this possible?
If so, will it be drinkable?
Its been in the primary for a week.

I haven't made a bitter beer yet, but we were at a local brewpub last week and they had a 98 ibu beer that really wasn't much more bitter than many other ESBs.

It's possible in theory, but not in reality. About 100 IBU's is the max you're going to get out of just about any amount of hops due to wort gravity and other things in solution. What is your original gravity? If it's something low like 1.050-1.070 this is going to be very bitter. If you have a big beer in the neighborhood of 9-10% ABV, it will need some time to mellow, but should be drinkable.

That would explain why this beer was palatable. The 98 IBU beer that we had was 9.8% or something near there.

Would it be theoretically possible to put your bittering hops in, then boil it down in order to increase the concentration of bittering compounds?

Yes, but by boiling down, you are also increasing the specific gravity, making the wort sweeter.

What if you did an extract kit with hops, and didn't add extract until the end? You'd use extra hops and extra water(hops for say 10 gallons) and 10 gallons of water, then reduce it by half and then add your extract.

OG was 1.060
So ABV should be around 6%??

I was going to put this in a Keg and drink it right away. Should i bottle it instead so i can age it? Can i age in a keg?

From what I understand, its not so much 100 IBU's is what you can extract, but 100 IBU's is the limit of what we can taste. The reason that it doesn't taste as bitter in bigger beers is because there is more sweetness/alcohol to balance it out so you don't "perceive" it as being 100 IBU's of bitterness like you would with a smaller beer.

Merz said:

OG was 1.060
So ABV should be around 6%??

I was going to put this in a Keg and drink it right away. Should i bottle it instead so i can age it? Can i age in a keg?

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Oh yeah, let it sit for a month at least. You'll be glad you waited.

So can i put it in a keg to age it? This was going to be my first time kegging, so i dont know much about it. Can I put it in the keg, taste it, and then let it sit for a month or so if it needs it?

Yes you can age in a keg. I say you have yourself a nice hoppy beer.

RDWHAHB!

Merz said:

2 oz. chinook 12.5% - 60 min
2 oz. Hallertau 4.1% - 30 min
2 oz. N Brewer 3.9% - 15 min

Click to expand...

Might want to post your full recipe for some feedback. That's an unusual hop schedule. Nothing wrong with unusual, but if you're going for a certain hop profile, there are a lot of experienced brewers here who can help.

I think it was:

6 lbs. light dme
1 lb. 80l crystal
1 lb. 20l crystal
hops above.


Sort of a strange recipe i think. Very limited selection at my LHBS. I didnt originally plan to use all those hops, but I had them in the fridge, and thought they might make up for the lack of other ingredients. Plus i like really hoppy beer.

I think next time I will order all my ingredients online and stick to a specific recipe, instead of creating my own based on what ingredients are locally available.

Nothing wrong with making a frankenbrew out of whatever you have available. And welcome to the forum!

Stone Ruination is one of the hoppiest beers I have ever had and I have a had a lot of hoppy beers and according to the bottle it is 100+ IBU's

The beer was in the primary for 4 weeks while i was trying to find a regulator. I kegged it yesterday and force carbed it and tasted it this morning. Its tasty. much better than i could have hoped for. Its a little strong, i think because i didnt use enough water. I ended up with a little over 4 gallons in the keg. I need to mark my carboy at 5 gallons so i dont have to guess anymore.

Overall i think this is the best batch i have made. Im going to start a similar batch today, using the correct amount of water, and slightly less hops(2 oz chinook, 2 oz sterling). I am also going to use a secondary fermenter this time and maybe dry hop. something like this:

6 lbs. light dme
1 lb. caramel 60l
2 oz. chinook 14%
2 oz. sterling 5.9%
1 oz. N. brewer 7.1 pellets dry hop

Anything else i should add? Irish moss? More extract?

I think i'll try to make some apfelwein also.


-Merz

I always think of what I want to end up with before I start, then work backwards.

If you dont won't to get brew software yet try this site
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/

Welcome and enjoy