IPA American or Imperial

[Jim1966]

I just bottled the IPA for a competition next month and I didn't plan very well. 14B American IPA is 5.5 to 7.5% ABV and 40 to 70 IBU. 14C Imperial IPA is 7.5 to 10% ABV 60 to 120 IBU. My beer is 7.1% ABV and about 300 IBU. Suggestions for which catagory to enter?

 

[jtrux]

From what you put, you are at the bottom of one range and the top of the other ABV wise. IBU's you are too high of both so it's a coin flip. Just my two cents

 

[cshamilton]

There's no way you actually have 300 IBUs - 100 is the realistic max. That said, what does it taste like to you? It'll be judged on style so you are probably closer to the imperial, so that's likely where you would score better.

 

[pm5k00]

With the high IBUs and the fact that the judges wont know the ABV, I'd say Imperial is the way to go, but I have not tasted it, so you would know better.

There's no way you actually have 300 IBUs - 100 is the realistic max.

He can actually have 300 IBUs, most people say after 100 the human pallet can not tell the difference, but that doesn't mean the IBUs can not be higher.

 

[Jim1966]

We just bottled it Saturday. The taste so far has me leaning a litle towards imperial. I used two different web sites to get the IBU's and one showed 260 and the other was 330 IBU's, so I'm not really sure which to use.

 

[pm5k00]

We just bottled it Saturday. The taste so far has me leaning a litle towards imperial. I used two different web sites to get the IBU's and one showed 260 and the other was 330 IBU's, so I'm not really sure which to use.

There a many different formulas for bitterness, the most common being tinseth and rager, both will give you dfferent values. I personally use tinseth, no particular reason other than I do, I don't know if one is more prevelent than the other.

It sounds like you don't have any brew software, I highly suggest Brewmate ( www.brewmate.net ) it is free and easy to use with lots of features.

 

[cshamilton]

With the high IBUs and the fact that the judges wont know the ABV, I'd say Imperial is the way to go, but I have not tasted it, so you would know better.

He can actually have 300 IBUs, most people say after 100 the human pallet can not tell the difference, but that doesn't mean the IBUs can not be higher.

Actually, since IBUs come from isomerized alpha acids, the solubility in wort tops out at around the 100 IBU level. Doesn't matter how many more bittering hops you add, you hit the limit. Software doesn't usually take this into account.

This is why when not doing a full boil for extract brewers it is really hard to make an imperial IPA - if you only boil 2.5 gallons, you hit 100 IBUs and when you top off to 5 gallons you only end up with 50 IBUs.

 

[jubelale]

Imperial IPA needs a ton of late and dry hopping as well. It should have over the top aroma and flavor of hops in addition to the 100+ IBUs. If yours has these aspects I would enter as Imperial.

 

[scottland]

Imperial -- you'll probably be knocked for not enough malt presence, and not enough alcohol warmth.

American -- you'll probably be knocked for it not being bitter enough.

Taste the beer. If it isn't extraordinarily bitter, i'd enter it as an American IPA.