IBUs seem way off

I am looking at brewing a Duvel clone, and think that I will use Jamil's Belgian Golden Strong ale recipe. I see tons of great reviews for it, so yay me.

However, the printed recipe looks wrong to me. Jamil calls for 2.25 ounces of Czech Saaz hops. 3.5% AA, 90 minutes, 32 IBUs.

Only, if I punch 2.25 ounces of hops these into Beersmith, I only get 12.8 IBUs, which is way low for this style.

I see the recipe again and again online, and while some people bump the hops up a bit, it's not much. So what gives? How am I supposed to get 32 IBUs from this? Wgat stupid thing am I missing?

Thanks!

From what I see in this http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/ It seems right to me. Saaz isn't all that bitter. I'd go with Jamil's recipe.

Extract or all grain? Full boil or partial? If the OG is higher, then the IBUs will be lower. Also make sure you adjusted the hop addition to be the same AA% (as the ones you have) and the time to 90 minutes. Most of the time hop additions default to 60 minutes in BeerSmith. Are you using BeerSmith 2.1.x?

CBMbrewer said:

From what I see in this http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/ It seems right to me. Saaz isn't all that bitter. I'd go with Jamil's recipe.

Click to expand...

Huh. Thanks for the link.

So that makes me wonder... why is Beersmith so badly off?

Golddiggie said:

Extract or all grain? Full boil or partial? If the OG is higher, then the IBUs will be lower. Also make sure you adjusted the hop addition to be the same AA% (as the ones you have) and the time to 90 minutes. Most of the time hop additions default to 60 minutes in BeerSmith. Are you using BeerSmith 2.1.x?

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All grain. Full boil. I did adjust the numbers on the hops - Beersmith actually had Saaz defaulted to 4.0% AA, whereas Jamal was assuming 3.5%. So, if anything, the IBUs should have been higher, right?

I did adjust them to 90 minute addition per the recipe, though that naturally gives almost no boost over 60 minutes.

Yep, Beersmith 2.1.02, freshly downloaded today.

homebrewdad said:

All grain. Full boil. I did adjust the nmbers on the hops - Beersmith actually had Saaz defaulted to 4.0% AA, whereas Jamal was assuming 3.5%. So, if anything, the IBUs should have been higher, right?

I did adjust them to 90 minte addition per the recipe, though that naturally gives almost no boost over 60 minutes.

Yep, Beersmith 2.1.02, freshly downloaded today.

Click to expand...

You sure you have the IBU formula set the same? Post the recipe and I'll try it in my setup.

Golddiggie said:

You sure you have the IBU formula set the same? Post the recipe and I'll try it in my setup.

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I'm not at all sure, hence my questioning.

Recipe is simple.

11 lbs pils malt.
3 lbs cane sugar.
2.25 ounces Czech Saaz hops (3.5% AA), 90 minutes, 32 IBU.
WLP570 yeast.

Recipe assumes a 6 gallon batch.
OG 1.072
FG 1.007

homebrewdad said:

I'm not at all sure, hence my questioning.

Recipe is simple.

11 lbs pils malt.
3 lbs cane sugar.
2.25 ounces Czech Saaz hops (3.5% AA), 90 minutes, 32 IBU.
WLP570 yeast.

Recipe assumes a 6 gallon batch.
OG 1.072
FG 1.007

Click to expand...

Looks like Rager formula could have been used... That gives me 29 IBU with that list. I get 23 IBU with Tinseth. Sure you're not missing a hop addition? If you really want the 32 IBU then figure out how much more hops to add to get there.

it has to do with the equipment settings I would bet. plugged that recipe in under default equipment and it gave 20 ibus, swapped to the equipment profile I use and it went to 29

My guess was the ibu calculation formula was different, Rager vs Tinseth or some such. My other guesses would be batch size (gallons) or a long shot being the mash efficiency is set at 99 or something accounting for a higher OG and lower hop utilization.

??? That's all I got.

Jamil uses Rager.

You can set up your interface in Beersmith so that it shows you both Tinseth and Rager. Tinseth is supposedly more accurate, so I use that as my default, but then on the recipe page, on the right, click "select fields" and you can show the ibus for both Tinseth and Rager.

Maybe Jamil is assuming pellets and you're using whole hops? It shouldn't be that far off like you have here, though I haven't plugged it in myself.

I can live with minor variances. But an expected 32 versus the 12.8 I'm getting? That seems insane.

I just plugged in the recipe and it shows 31.3 ibus using Rager, 24.9 using Tinseth.

A few things to check:

The end volume should be 6 gallons, or 22.7 liters. I'll assume you're not that familiar with the software, but forgive me if you are. Under the "equipment" area to the top left of the recipe area, click that checkmark. Check there if the end volume is 6 gallons and that there's no waste listed. This is all just to get the recipe in the same shape, then you can adjust it to your system.

Check that you have pellets being used and that they are for sure set to 90 minutes and that the AA% is correct.

Given all of that, if you have an OG of 1.072 and 22.7 liters at the end with no waste, 64 grams of those hops @ 3.5% AA, pellets for 90 minutes, your numbers should come out the same as mine.

Here's a screenshot of my quickie test.

MattHollingsworth said:

I just plugged in the recipe and it shows 31.3 ibus using Rager, 24.9 using Tinseth.

A few things to check:

The end volume should be 6 gallons, or 22.7 liters. I'll assume you're not that familiar with the software, but forgive me if you are. Under the "equipment" area to the top left of the recipe area, click that checkmark. Check there if the end volume is 6 gallons and that there's no waste listed. This is all just to get the recipe in the same shape, then you can adjust it to your system.

Check that you have pellets being used and that they are for sure set to 90 minutes and that the AA% is correct.

Given all of that, if you have an OG of 1.072 and 22.7 liters at the end with no waste, 64 grams of those hops @ 3.5% AA, pellets for 90 minutes, your numbers should come out the same as mine.

Here's a screenshot of my quickie test.

Click to expand...

Thanks much. When all was said and done, the issue was in my equipment profile. I had set up my gear, but it had defaulted back to a 3 gallon extract pot and was ignoring my setup. I now see 29.5 IBUs, which is close enough.

Thanks!

Glad if I could help. Cheers!

homebrewdad said:

Thanks much. When all was said and done, the issue was in my equipment profile. I had set up my gear, but it had defaulted back to a 3 gallon extract pot and was ignoring my setup. I now see 29.5 IBUs, which is close enough.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

tried to point that out to you yesterday, but the important thing is you figured it out good luck with the brew

CityOChampBrew said:

tried to point that out to you yesterday, but the important thing is you figured it out good luck with the brew

Click to expand...

Thanks again. I Did check it yesterday, but apparently did not look in the right place.