How much bitterness is too much?

Been doing some recipe browsing in preparation for my next IPA. I consider myself a hop head, but I'm not a fan of overly bitter brew. I prefer a strong hop flavor and aroma, along with some bitterness that is quickly mellowed by the underlying malt character - I guess you could call it a malty IPA.

So my question is: how much bitterness is too much?
The IBU range for IPA recipes goes all over the place from low 40's all the way to 70's and above. I guess the real problem is that I don't have any point of reference as my first IPA hasn't finished conditioning and I don't ever know what the IBU of my favorite commercial IPA's is.

For reference here is my current recipe plan:

CACA IPA
partial mash
final volume: 5 gallons
OG: 1.063
desired FG: ??? maltyness is definitely wanted so... 1.014+ ?

grains:
3# American pale 2 row
1/2# dark munich
1/2# crystal 50-60L

5.5# light LME

5 quart mash @ 153 F
sparge w/ 6-7 qts and top off kettle to get to desired volume
Boil vol. 3.25 gal

0.5 oz Columbus pellets (13.8%) 60 min
0.5 oz Columbus pellets (13,8%) 45 min
0.5 oz Amarillo pellets (8.9%) 30 min
0.5 oz Amarillo pellets (8.9%) 15 min
1 oz Cascade leaf(7.8%) 5 min
1 oz Amarillo pellets (8.9%) dry hop

wyeast 1056 Am. ale - 1L starter

This link - http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator - gives IBU = 56 with the given info. But, I'm considering doing a late extract addition and I know that could raise the IBU's significantly.

So, what are your thoughts, opinions, meandering tales of tongue timidry? How much is too much?

(should this thread be in recipes/ingredients instead?)

When formulating a recipe there is a rule of thumb that ibu/og should equal less than 1.

With an IBU of 56 and an OG of 1.063 (63 GU) your BU to GU ratio is .88. For an IPA you might want to be right at 1, I think this puts you more in the pale ale category (.9). Don't worry, you're nowhere near too much.

That's the kind of info I was looking for. With a late (30 min. or less) extract addition, I should be relatively on target.

Muchas gracias.

Based on your current profile (without late addition), your right on the narrow edge of an IPA. Most IPA’s are much further off the chart than this one.



If you want a maltier profile, raise your mash temp to 155-156.

You can make a very malty IPA, IMHO. Dogfish Head 90 Minute doesn't taste that bitter to me, but it has enough hops to offset the high gravity so the IBUs are high and it still has a strong malty characteristic. IBUs don't really mean anything unless compared with the OG. The ratio of BU:GU will tell you the perceived bitterness.

Nice graph biermuncher, that should come in handy.

Running the numbers again, boiling with just the 1 oz. Columbus for 30 min. and 0.5 oz amarillo for 15 min. in the the projected sparge runoff gravity of 1.034 already puts me at 62 IBU. So I think I should be pretty good with adding the extract at 30 min.

But hey, if it's not enough then there is always the next one!

Thanks for all the help.

Not a true hophead, I drink everything full of flavor, but do love the hoppy IPA's. Just bottled a dogfish 60min, and Ive noticed that the aroma can really offset strong IBU, you may want to consider a coontinuous hopping schedule, I just tossed hop pellets in every couple of minutes throughout the schedule, and cold hopped as well. If you are a hophead you may want to consider looking at the techniques described in the 60min clone recipe on this forum. Drink up!