Just brewed a beer with 308 IBUs, A little over the top?

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I recently brewed a clone of Pliny the Elder with 172 IBUs and it was fantastic. Last week I tasted a beer with 260 IBUs and it was even better. So I decide to try a bigger ipa today. I came up to 308 ibus. Can't wait to taste the final result. I'll be using about 250g to dry hop it in 2 weeks, 200 g the first week and 50 the second week.

Patience is tough on me lately...
 
Mathmatically yes it's possible to get up there but I was under the impression that past about 120 it's not really absorbing anymore. That't a huge amount of hops... sounds fun
 
That's just a waste of perfectly good hops. :(

As mentioned, 100-120-ish IBUs is the practical limit where hop utilization flattens out and you don't actually get any more bitterness.
 
+1 to Kombat...just a waste of perfectly good hops. The saturation limit for iso-alpha acids is well under 100 ppm (aka IBU's) and the OP should aim for 1001 IBU's to test the enjoyable grassiness that comes from the remaining drops of wort that make it out of that mass of hops. There won't be much, so treasure them. Hops aren't the only thing wasted by excessive hopping, wort is lost too.
 
Even though the OP was over saturation for alpha acids and bitterness, don't additional hop additions provide flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel? In other words, are there benefits besides IBU from massive hopping? Does a calculated 300+ IBU beer have a perceptible difference from one that's 200, regardless of IBUs measured in a lab?
 
Depends when the hops were added. If they were mostly added at the start most aroma and flavor would boil off.
 
jeffjm said:
Even though the OP was over saturation for alpha acids and bitterness, don't additional hop additions provide flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel? In other words, are there benefits besides IBU from massive hopping? Does a calculated 300+ IBU beer have a perceptible difference from one that's 200, regardless of IBUs measured in a lab?
Click to expand...

Yes, there would. I was a bit harsh above. Although the saturation limit for iso-alpha acids would kick in, there are other bittering and flavor components that will alter the perception of bittering in a beer. They are limited and they may be less pleasant than typical bittering compounds, but they exist.
 
Ability of alpha acids to isomerize and reaching a saturation point is always quoted. I wonder though if other compounds contributed by hops increase which allows glycosides produced by yeast (not much by saccharomyces though) to act on the hops giving a complex flavor. Sure there is a saturation point for everything, but while hes wasting hops in an IBU sence, he may not be when concerning other compounds.
 
I'm not concerned, I'm just experimentating for the fun of it. I have been pitting my nose at the airlock and the smell is great. As I said I tasted a beer with 260 IBU and it was fantastic. It was as much as a pleasure to smell it as it was to drink it. I have more hops than i will be able to use for a long time at home ( 20lbs) so I thought why not.

I'll bottle it in about 2 1/2 weeks and will be able to taste it 3 weeks later. I cannot wait.

I plan to enter this beer into a competition in september. I'll be curious what the judges will say about it.
 
What's the hop variety you're using? This will have a significant impact on the resulting cohumulone and adhumulone levels, let alone your typical isohumulone levels.

Some of these secondary products of isomerization are more tolerable in smaller amounts, but when scaled up proportionally, can overcome the thresholds of tolerance and be quite unpleasant.

Its happened a few times where I've really liked the overall flavor that a particular hop has contributed, but when I hammer the hell out of that particular variety in the next batch, its demons come through...
 
Im sure its going to be great. I made a IPA once where I DHed with about 8 oz and it turned out great.
 
Although you can't get much past 100 IBUs in the boil, you could boost them by using a concentrate, like tetra, post-fermentation.

I made a hop wine that calculated to 360 IBUs. I'm certain that it was closer to 100 and it was horrible. All of the hops went into the boil. Knowing what I do now, I'd have put most of them in in the last 5 minutes and used very low AA hops.
 
I bottle it yesterday after dry hopping twice for 12 days. I think I have a winner.

As for the recipe
7.40 Gal
16.34 Pounds Marris otter
.75 Pounds Carapils
.75 pounds Crystal 40
.3 pounds of dextrose

Hops schedule
2.74 oz of chinook 90'
2.74 oz of Columbus 90'
1.35 oz of Chinook 45'
1.35 oz of columbus 45'
2.24 oz of Amarillo 30'
2.24 oz of Simcoe 30'
1.8 0z of centenial 5'
4.71 oz of Simcoe 5'

1.5 quarts starter of Wlp 001.

Dry hopping.
1.48 oz of chinook, columbus, amarillo, centenial and simcoe for 12 days
.45 oz of chinook, columbus, amarillo, centenial and simcoe for 6 days

OG 1073
FG 1013
7.8% ABV
 
You need a waaaaaay bigger dry hop then 2 oz for something like this. I dry hopped a Pliny the Younger clone with about 8 oz.

2 oz is my standard for a pale ale...
 
Wait are you taking about 1.5 oz each hop for the first dry hop and then 0 5 oz each hop for the second dry hop?
 
I also certainly don't believe Pliny the Elder is a 170 IBU beer. Tastes more like 110-120 at most.
 
Tonight I had some friends over and we tasted this beer. It was great not too bitter and the aroma was even better. I know I put way to much hops in it but in the end it turned out great.

I would do it again.
 
Don't get me wrong I think this was a cool experiment. However, as fun as it is to say you brewed a 300+ IBU beer at a certain point you are just wasting hops. There is an IBU ceiling where no matter how many hops you add it just doesn't get any more bitter. In addition our palates are only able to perceive hop bitterness up to a certain point. I wouldn't be surprised if you brewed the same recipe with half the hops it would taste very similar and the difference in bitterness would be insignificant if it was even perceptible.

Another factor you didn't mention was water. A 100 IBU beer with a high sulfate content in the brewing water may taste more bitter than a 300 IBU beer with a low sulfate water. Since you mentioned it wasn't extremely bitter I wonder if your water was low on Sulfates. Try adding a pinch of gypsum to a glass of the beer and seeing if it increases the bitterness.
 
TIPA0303 said:
I also certainly don't believe Pliny the Elder is a 170 IBU beer. Tastes more like 110-120 at most.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Pliny was tested (the IBUs were measured) and it's more like 85 IBUs.

There is a limit of the amount of hops oils that can isomerize in wort, and that max is +/- 100 IBUs or so.

Which means it's impossible to actually have a 100+ IBU beer, although the calculators don't take that into account and so anything with an IBU listed is a calculated theoretical amount.
 
austinb said:
Don't get me wrong I think this was a cool experiment. However, as fun as it is to say you brewed a 300+ IBU beer at a certain point you are just wasting hops. There is an IBU ceiling where no matter how many hops you add it just doesn't get any more bitter. In addition our palates are only able to perceive hop bitterness up to a certain point. I wouldn't be surprised if you brewed the same recipe with half the hops it would taste very similar and the difference in bitterness would be insignificant if it was even perceptible.

Another factor you didn't mention was water. A 100 IBU beer with a high sulfate content in the brewing water may taste more bitter than a 300 IBU beer with a low sulfate water. Since you mentioned it wasn't extremely bitter I wonder if your water was low on Sulfates. Try adding a pinch of gypsum to a glass of the beer and seeing if it increases the bitterness.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt that for a minute. I have a pliny clone that is supposed to be 172 ibu and a Dog fish head 90' ipa that is supposed to be 111 ibu. The DFH feels so much more hop saturated than the Pliny. I was in a pissing contest with a homebrewer of mine. Plus had way too much hops.

I was just having fun and making sure some good hops whouln't go to waster.

I don't know about my water and can't be bothered to find out. When the beer is good it is very good..

As a homebrewer I couldn't care less about the wate.
 

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