Adjusting on the fly?

[Ski12568]

I recently watched the latest Chop and Brew episode and they mentioned that during the brewday the had to make some hop adjustments on the fly because their efficiency was way better than they planned.

How much extra efficiency do you need before you have to adjust the hops? Is this something common or are they on another level?

I ask because I watch these and many other videos not only for the entertainment, but also to become a better brewer. Thank you

 

[billl]

Just to clarify, they were adjusting because they screwed up. Getting "extra efficiency" sounds good, but it really isn't. You want to have consistent efficiency so you know what you are going to get each time you brew.

As for "how much is too much", that really depends on the style and your preferences. The general idea is to keep the bitterness to gravity a constant ratio. eg a 20 IBU beer with an OG of 40 points would scale up to a 30 IBU beer with an OG of 60 points. That would be closer to the original balance even if its a different beer. Of course, most people can't taste IBU's particularly accurately. If you overshoot by 10% and want to raise a 20 IBU beer 10%, that is only 22 IBU. Essentially nobody can taste the difference between 20 and 22.

 

[TastyAdventure]

I wish I would have taken a pre boil gravity reading on my stout. Got a terrible efficiency and it turned out too bitter.
There's the OG:IBU ratio as mentioned above, but on top of that, a higher Gravity boiling wort will extract less IBUs than a lower gravity from the same amount of hops! This essentially doubled the problem.

 

[Ski12568]

Great answers, thank you both!