haeffnkr
Well-Known Member
Hello
I am trying to perfect my process and tune my brews to my liking. I generally like lighter beers and some medium amber brews that are balanced. IPA beers are not on my radar.
I have searched and have not found a clear answer, because maybe there is not one, regarding what all plays a part in making a beer balanced?
I dont see a calculator to determine beer balance.
Does OG play a bigger role in making a beer balanced than FG?
I would assume you need to factor both in? I would expect a beer that finished at 1.010 would "hide" more bitterness than the same recipe that ended in 1.005, yes?
But I also read some where that a human can only determine differences in bitterness every 5 IBU additions, do I have that right?
But again I would assume 16 to 18 IBU is detectable in a 4% ABV, light hybrid brew.
I have found the below chart in several places and to my taste apparently I like slightly malty, but I can still taste bitterness in beers in this range?
I brewed Yooper's Fizzy Yellow Beer... awesome recipe and beer... anyway... I ended up with brew that was
OG = 1.048
FG = 1.011
IBU = 19 (my target for this brew)
That puts this beer squarely in slightly malty range, but I can still taste hop bitterness, not like IPA bitterness.. but this brew is not like a BMC beer for sure.
Maybe my perception of balanced is off ? Is Budweiser balanced?
Interested in your thoughts.
thanks Kevin
I am trying to perfect my process and tune my brews to my liking. I generally like lighter beers and some medium amber brews that are balanced. IPA beers are not on my radar.
I have searched and have not found a clear answer, because maybe there is not one, regarding what all plays a part in making a beer balanced?
I dont see a calculator to determine beer balance.
Does OG play a bigger role in making a beer balanced than FG?
I would assume you need to factor both in? I would expect a beer that finished at 1.010 would "hide" more bitterness than the same recipe that ended in 1.005, yes?
But I also read some where that a human can only determine differences in bitterness every 5 IBU additions, do I have that right?
But again I would assume 16 to 18 IBU is detectable in a 4% ABV, light hybrid brew.
I have found the below chart in several places and to my taste apparently I like slightly malty, but I can still taste bitterness in beers in this range?
I brewed Yooper's Fizzy Yellow Beer... awesome recipe and beer... anyway... I ended up with brew that was
OG = 1.048
FG = 1.011
IBU = 19 (my target for this brew)
That puts this beer squarely in slightly malty range, but I can still taste hop bitterness, not like IPA bitterness.. but this brew is not like a BMC beer for sure.
Maybe my perception of balanced is off ? Is Budweiser balanced?
Interested in your thoughts.
thanks Kevin
This chart is a good place to start, and you may be able to reverse engineer it to fit your question a little closer. As a rough guess, a 10% difference in attenuation would only merit a 5-10% difference in bitterness.
EDIT:
After a little math, a beer with an OG of 1.060 would finish at 1.017 for an apparent attenuation of 70%. It would finish at 1.011 if the apparent attenuation increased to 80%. That's a difference in FG of .006. Using the chart above as a guide, a difference in OG of .006 equates to a change in IBU of about 4-5 to achieve the same balance. It's not a perfect answer because I'm mixing FG and OG in order to determine the answer, but it seems about right.