Underhopped?

So-
we brewed an Irish Stout w:
Cascade Bittering hops 1 oz w/ AA of 5% @60min
Cascade Aroma hops .5 oz w/ AA of 5% @5min
Our IBU calculation turned out as 15.49. The recipe is calling for 35-38 IBUs. We followed the directions exactly. Did we do something wrong? We are 1st timers on this and were following all the directions.

Thanks

For the style it's technically "underhopped" but if you like it better who cares? Is it a five gallon batch? What's the beginning s.g. of your wort? Do you have a hydrometer?

Hi Quigsnshad,

That seems like a fine amount of hops for an Irish Stout.

Your IBU calculations may be low if you used a program like Beersmith and were doing an extract batch with a concentrated boil.

Beersmith calculations are based on an assumption that a high concentration of malt extract in a partial boil will decrease the extraction of bittering alpha acids from your hops. Some people argue that adding half, or most, of your extract near the end of the boil will increase the IBUs. I usually add most of my extract at the very end of the boil.

On the other hand, the relationship between concentration of malt extract and hop utilization is not very well understood. Some folks have concluded that the concentration of your boil makes no difference on IBUs, but that most alpha acids are lost in other ways....

In the end. Don't worry too much about it. Whatever you used to calculate IBUs may not be based on the best science. Your beer will probably be great.

Hope that helps.

Yes it is a 5 gallon batch. OG is 1.050. It was a Brewer's Best kit and we are not overly worried but confused how the recipe can possibly state such a higher number expected and give the ingredients for what we figure is around 15. It may be a little more sweet than originally hoped for but there is a stout in Joy of Homebrewing using 1/2 oz. Cascade for boil and 1/2 oz. Wilamette for aroma and we're above that so ...

You will be fine at that ibu amount with such a low gravity, the beer will just be very malty. I refer to this graph occasionally. Save a few for aging as they usually get better with age.

I got 20.14 IBU. The recipe might not be right.

I think Brewer's Best messed up here.

The Irish (Dry) Stout style is supposed to have between 30-45 IBUs.
They should have given you an ounce of hops with a higher alpha acid for your first (60 minute) addition. Something like Nugget would work.

Also, I question why they would give you Cascade, which has a citrusy, west coast flavor in an Irish Stout recipe. Odd. Also odd is the late (5 min) addition for this style. This give you hop aroma, which also isn't right for this style.

That being said, it will probably still be a good beer. Enjoy!

I'm a noob myself, and have only brewed two brewers best kits myself. From what i've read on here and other places the amount and type of hops provided with those BB kits doesn't really make sense. Seems to me there should have been more hops. I've even wondered with the porter I have in primary if it would be worth throwing some extra hops in the fermentor. But then porter isn't a hoppy beer anyway. Any thoughts?

brewmadness said:

I'm a noob myself, and have only brewed two brewers best kits myself. From what i've read on here and other places the amount and type of hops provided with those BB kits doesn't really make sense. Seems to me there should have been more hops. I've even wondered with the porter I have in primary if it would be worth throwing some extra hops in the fermentor. But then porter isn't a hoppy beer anyway. Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

If you add hops to your fermenter you will only add aroma to your beer not bitterness. Its called dry hopping.

brewmadness said:

I'm a noob myself, and have only brewed two brewers best kits myself. From what i've read on here and other places the amount and type of hops provided with those BB kits doesn't really make sense. Seems to me there should have been more hops. I've even wondered with the porter I have in primary if it would be worth throwing some extra hops in the fermentor. But then porter isn't a hoppy beer anyway. Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

Those kits are dumbed down so the "average-joe-I-only-like-miller-lite"
person can segway into craft beers. If you like hoppy porter do it. That's the point of homebrew, to make the stuff you want to try.

^ You really couldn't be more wrong about the brewers best kits. If you looked at the recipe its a very solid stout recipe just because its an extract kit doesn't mean its dumbed down.

The only thing i don't like about these kits is how the describe their hopping schedule as bittering, flavor, aroma hops. I don't remember do they actually say the strain of hop for each addition?

You don't strain until the end. That way you get as much bitterness from the bittering hops as possible. They discribe the hops in that way because that's what you get from those hop additions.

Thats not what i meant at all, the name/strain of hop ie. cascade, centennial, fuggles. I cant remember if they label the individual hop bags as bittering, flavor or armoa or if they include the name of the hop or not.

The recipe says hops only no specific strains and I guess it's up to the guy at the HBS to give you the correct or what you want. Cascade was probably not the best choice but we're new at this and it isn't gonna kill it. Good new is that stuff is bubbling every second into blowoff pot even using the Nottingham dry yeast packet after about 12-14 hours. Thanks everyone for your help...love the graph on previous page..it's a keeper.

Kahuna said:

I think Brewer's Best messed up here.

The Irish (Dry) Stout style is supposed to have between 30-45 IBUs.
They should have given you an ounce of hops with a higher alpha acid for your first (60 minute) addition. Something like Nugget would work.

Also, I question why they would give you Cascade, which has a citrusy, west coast flavor in an Irish Stout recipe. Odd. Also odd is the late (5 min) addition for this style. This give you hop aroma, which also isn't right for this style.

That being said, it will probably still be a good beer. Enjoy!

Click to expand...

The type and timing of the hops is what stuck out at me most. Doesn't sound like a great kit. By the way I hop the crap out of my dry irish stouts for bitterness (45-50 IBU) but I always use traditional english bittering hops.

No, that's not what I meant. They are simplified is all I'm saying. Everyone starts out with a kit of some kind. Just like 99% of people's first beer was one of the big three. Which brings me back to the point I was trying to make, the ease with which a person can pick up a kit and make a respectable batch of beer is the allure. It's what gets people saying "I can do that".