Adjusting for high hop AA%

[Heineken]

I got my ingredients for upcoming hefe and noticed the Hallertauer hops had a 8.7 AA%. My recipe has the hops at 3.7 AA%. When I input the 8.7 AA% in Beersmith, my IBUs are about twice what they should be.

Recipe calls for 1 oz -60 minutes. Can I simply use half (.5 oz - 60 minutes) the amount of bittering hops to get my IBUs closer to what they should be.

If so, any impact on the beer flavor / bitterness?

 

[weirdboy]

You are correct, just cut it in half. From what I have read on this subject, the amount of essential oils where the aroma/flavor come from are roughly proportional to alpha acid content, so a higher AA hop should have higher levels of essential oils as well. This may not be true in some cases, as there are hops being bred to contain higher levels of particular compounds (like alpha acids), but not others. I have also recently heard in an interview with a hops expert that the flavor and "rough" bitterness of hops cones tends to decrease in plants after a few years of harvest.

 

[VTBrewer]

That is a very high AA for Hallertau. Any chance the label is off?

 

[carbon111]

That is a very high AA for Hallertau. Any chance the label is off?

That would be my first guess as well...

8.7 sounds weirdly high.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Simple math really:

Your recipe calls for 3.7 AA and you have 8.7AAs...

Divide 8.7 into 3.7 for .425 of an oz.

If it were the other way around...divide 3.7 into 8.7 is would be 2.35 oz.

Class dismissed!!

 

[Heineken]

It is Hallertauer NZ which apparently has a higher AA%.