IBUs in IPAs - Misconceptions About How Hops Work

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othellomcbane

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Inspired by a Men's Journal article — their "top 25 beers in the world," which is as arbitrary as you'd expect, but whatever — where they describe Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA with this passage: "It should be impossible for a beer that's been hopped for 90 solid minutes (an average IPA gets 60) to be delicious; in fact, each sip should be like snorting aspirin" I decided to write an in-depth article explaining in the simplest terms and silliest metaphors how IBUs and hops work.

Come for the outdated DragonBall Z references, stay for the thorough beer nerdery. Comments / complaints / feedback / insults are welcome. Hope you enjoy it!

And here is the link: http://www.bear-flavored.com/2012/08/ibus-in-ipas-misconceptions-about-how.html
 
Your article has me wishing I went to high school in KS. It was a great read and the article mentioned in The Men's Journal would only encourage me to try DFH 90, if I was not already knowledgable of brewing science. I have also started snorting my aspirin daily and am considering freebasing Nyquil.
 
Nice article. The IBU race is pointless if breweries aren't also focusing on making good beers. I had a triple(!) IPA from Knee Deep that smelled like a hop field pouring into the glass and had a really unpleasant (spoiled meat?) flavor in it. Sure they hopped the living crap out of it and the aroma was second to none, but the beer didn't taste good.
 
maddad said:
Your article has me wishing I went to high school in KS. It was a great read and the article mentioned in The Men's Journal would only encourage me to try DFH 90, if I was not already knowledgable of brewing science. I have also started snorting my aspirin daily and am considering freebasing Nyquil.
Click to expand...

Hahahah.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I really appreciate it!
 
OK, so I thought that IBU's only measured the 'converted' bittering alpha acids, so adding aroma hops or dry hops doesn't increase IBU at all. But your article seems to imply that this isn't so?
 
bk0 said:
OK, so I thought that IBU's only measured the 'converted' bittering alpha acids, so adding aroma hops or dry hops doesn't increase IBU at all. But your article seems to imply that this isn't so?
Click to expand...

Any hops added during the boil will have some effect on bitterness, it depends on how long they boil and how long it takes to cool afterwards. Hops added at flameout will add very little IBUs, but they do contribute slightly
 
ktblunden said:
Any hops added during the boil will have some effect on bitterness, it depends on how long they boil and how long it takes to cool afterwards. Hops added at flameout will add very little IBUs, but they do contribute slightly
Click to expand...

Yeah but in the article it says that adding the same amount of hops at flameout vs 60min will result in the same IBUs but less bitterness, which is a contradiction.

IBUs == bitterness
 
bk0 said:
Yeah but in the article it says that adding the same amount of hops at flameout vs 60min will result in the same IBUs but less bitterness, which is a contradiction.

IBUs == bitterness
Click to expand...

It talks about one brewer adding a quantity of hops at 60 minutes to hit 60 IBUs and another guy adding a quantity of hops at 10 minutes to hit 60 IBUs, it doesn't say they're the same amount. As a matter of fact, you would be adding a huge amount at 10 minutes to hit 60. Beers that are only late hopped do seem less bitter than traditional 60 minute hops, but I'm not sure of why that is. I would say IBU calculations are not perfect and the effects of late hopping are not quite understood mathematically, but I admittedly don't know for sure.
 
othellomcbane said:
Inspired by a Men's Journal article — their "top 25 beers in the world," which is as arbitrary as you'd expect, but whatever — where they describe Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA with this passage: "It should be impossible for a beer that's been hopped for 90 solid minutes (an average IPA gets 60) to be delicious; in fact, each sip should be like snorting aspirin" I decided to write an in-depth article explaining in the simplest terms and silliest metaphors how IBUs and hops work.

Come for the outdated DragonBall Z references, stay for the thorough beer nerdery. Comments / complaints / feedback / insults are welcome. Hope you enjoy it!

And here is the link: http://www.bear-flavored.com/2012/08/ibus-in-ipas-misconceptions-about-how.html
Click to expand...

I don’t believe they were describing Dogfish Head as ”It should be impossible for a beer (not this beer)that's been hopped for 90 solid minutes (an average IPA gets 60) to be delicious; in fact, each sip should be like snorting aspirin.” They were implying that a beer brewed this way, one would think this. But they go on to say. This, however, is brewmaster Sam Calagione's specialty, and this confoundingly pleasant "extreme" beer is the purest expression of his skill. Hence, this is why it is in the top 25. But good write up.
 
I dont think the beer calculators can calculate the hops at flameout or 0 mins. I think it considers them non-existent. Although they do add bitterness because the wort is still boiling at the point of flameout.
 
Hopping 90 minutes, or even 4 hours, is never "impossible" or even indicative of something undesirable. It's all about amount of hops - and which type(s) - you use during that period of time. So it's definitely a ridiculous statement.
 
McGlothan said:
I dont think the beer calculators can calculate the hops at flameout or 0 mins. I think it considers them non-existent. Although they do add bitterness because the wort is still boiling at the point of flameout.
Click to expand...

It's pretty negligible. You'll see far more of an effect from the fact that you can't instantly cool the whole batch to pitching temps, and so you will get some conversion as you cool the wort. But even that is a small degree of conversion.

I use a hopback instead of flameout additions, before going through my plate chiller, so the wort passes through those hops and within seconds gets chilled to pitching temp. Definitely the closest you can get to a 0IBU addition in hot wort, and I greatly prefer the profile compared to dryhopping.
 
emjay said:
It's pretty negligible. You'll see far more of an effect from the fact that you can't instantly cool the whole batch to pitching temps, and so you will get some conversion as you cool the wort. But even that is a small degree of conversion.

I use a hopback instead of flameout additions, before going through my plate chiller, so the wort passes through those hops and within seconds gets chilled to pitching temp. Definitely the closest you can get to a 0IBU addition in hot wort, and I greatly prefer the profile compared to dryhopping.
Click to expand...

I hope to someday have the ability to use a hopback as I have been dissatisfied with the effect dryhopping has on my beer. No matter how much I use, it seems to have little noticeable difference compared to my other non-dryhopped beers I have brewed.
 
bk0 said:
Yeah but in the article it says that adding the same amount of hops at flameout vs 60min will result in the same IBUs but less bitterness, which is a contradiction.

IBUs == bitterness
Click to expand...

ktblunden said:
It talks about one brewer adding a quantity of hops at 60 minutes to hit 60 IBUs and another guy adding a quantity of hops at 10 minutes to hit 60 IBUs, it doesn't say they're the same amount. As a matter of fact, you would be adding a huge amount at 10 minutes to hit 60. Beers that are only late hopped do seem less bitter than traditional 60 minute hops, but I'm not sure of why that is. I would say IBU calculations are not perfect and the effects of late hopping are not quite understood mathematically, but I admittedly don't know for sure.
Click to expand...

Correct. You would have to add a lot more hops at 10 minutes to achieve the same IBUs, but it could certainly be done (especially on a homebrewing scale) and my point is that a 60 IBU hopbursted beer would taste much different from a 60 IBU beer with only 60 minute additions. Not all IBUs are created the same.

But yes, late-addition hops add very few IBUs. I usually consider anything added after ~10 minutes to be insignificant bitterness wise, to my taste, though IBU calculators factor these in. Anything added at flameout (or after) contributes no IBUs.
 
FWIW, I tried an IPA recently that had the entire hop addition done at the whirlpool. Nothing before flameout. It was delicious, and sufficient;y bitter that it couldn't be called anything BUT an IPA. Granted, he used a lot of hops in the whirlpool, but it worked.
 

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