IBU calculations

Hi everyone,
I've done my first two batches of beer, one from a kit and the other from yooper's dead guy clone. I'm planning on an IPA or DIPA, and when I ran the numbers on tasty brews calculator,it giving me a 90 ibu rating for 1 oz glacier FWH, 1 oz Sorachi ace at 60, 1 oz Sorachi ace at 30, and 1 oz glacier at 5. I guess my question is will this be super bitter? I see recipes with several ounces of simcoe or citra and then dryhopped to boot, and it seems like those would be a lot me bitter than what I plan to brew. Any help would be greatly appreciated, let me know if more info is needed like my fermentables, and as always, thanks in advance.

Depends a lot on the recipe. There is a difference between actual IBUs, calculated IBUs, and perceived IBUs.

Calculated IBUs is just based on amount and boil time. It may not be an actual number because there are practical limits to how much can be saturated into wort (10oz of hops boiled for an hour may calculate to 250, but that is not realistic).

You also perceive the bitterness differently if the recipe is malty. I have an imperial stout with an IBU of about 60 which I don't expect to be bitter at all (compared to many hop-forward IPAs with only 50 IBU which are quite bitter.

I don't think Glacier hops will give you much flavor. I've never used them, so could be wrong.

As the FWH and the 5 minute addition, you have them as flavor hops.

Sorachi Ace has a very prominent flavor, but you are using them as the bittering hop by adding at 60 and 30 minutes.

I'm not sure what you are after, but if you are looking for the Sorachi Ace flavor, I'd swap the hops around; add the Glacier at 60 (I think 30 minute additions are pointless - give very little flavor, and you get more bittering by adding at 60), and the SA at FWH and 5.

FWH hops give a more subtle bittering. I change the time in my program to treat them as a 30 minute addition for IBU calculation.

Any hops added to the boil before about 20 minutes from the end of the boil contribute primarily to bittering the beer- so yes, a 90 IBU beer with almost all bittering hops will indeed be very bitter.

To get firm bitterness, but more hops flavor and aroma, a hop schedule I'd like would be more like this:

1 oz glacier FWH (or to 40 IBUs or so with this addition)
1 oz sorachi ace at 15 minutes
1 oz sorachi ace at 5 minutes
1 oz glacier at 0 minutes
Dryhop with either hop variety (or both)

Thanks for the responses, guys. I'm gonna try your method, Yooper, as you're kind of the one everyone in the forums seems to turn to when they get stuck. As far as the Glacier as flavoring hops, I've read that "Glacier Hops is a balanced dual purpose hops. Its composure lends itself to many applications in many styles of beers. Glacier's alpha acid rating averages around 5.5% and its flavor and aroma profile are suitable for both English and American style ales." - I found 4 ounces of both the SA and the Glacier so cheap that I couldn't pass it up, which is why I have them as a combo. However, if it's relatively agreed on that these two together are a poor/odd combo, I may either just do a single hop (SA) IPA, or pick up something else on Monday when I go to pick up my yeast and specialty grains at my LHBS. Suggestions for replacements for the Glacier if it should be replaced?

I ended up throwing an ounce of simcoe too at the suggestion of my local brew dude. .5oz at 60 and .5 at 10.

I love simcoe! That sounds really good.