Hitting IBU's for Style guidlines

OK, here is the deal. I have been brewing all kit form this far....Northern Brewer or Brewer's Best. These are extract kits designed around ~2-gallon boil (per directions). They always list the starting gravity target and the IBU's (which they say meet AHA style guidelines). However, when i plug the recipes into Beersmith, it shows way lower. What gives? For example...

Brewer's Best Red Ale: Hop IBU's: 35~40
1.0 oz Williamette (Bitering) 60min boil
1.0 oz Williamette (Finisheing) 5min boil.

WHen I plug this into Beersmith I get 13.9 IBU's. Again...WHat gives?

-Todd

i get 25.7 on ProMash. may have something to do with the ~2 gallon boil then adding water to that?

It is totally the 2-gallon boil. if you use a 5-gallon boil in Beersmith you end up with ~26 IBU if I remember correctly. However, my issue is 1) I can't do a full boil on my electric stove and 2) the dang kit instructions call for 2-gallon boils. They should know that for a 2-gallon boil you need way more hops to meet guidelines.

Grrrr.

yea, but an easy fix. just hop 'er up! i'd get a larger brew kettle as soon as you can......

DeRoux's Broux said:

yea, but an easy fix. just hop 'er up! i'd get a larger brew kettle as soon as you can......

Click to expand...

It just irks me, as the kits come knowing your going to do a smaller boil.

As for the larger kettle, it won't happen any time soon. I have a 5-gallon stainless pot now, but my indoor electric stove can't handle much more that a 2~2.5 gallon boil.

-Todd

gotcha. missed that part above.

do you have a local HBS you can do into and maybe get some ingredients for them, and they can help get you where you need to be on IBU's?

Yeah. Its actually where I get my BB kits at. I was more on a soapbox rant about the kit makers than anything.

Sounds like it's time to get a turkey fryer.

Boil the first hop addition for 30 minutes in water. Then add the extract, bring it back to a boil and finish.

Sometimes, I'll make a hop extract this way for adding to a barley wine.

I think the people that make some of these kits are not the people who run the calculations.