Adjusting for hop bitterness

[MrBJones]

So here's my dilemma. LHBS was out of EKG, so I'm going with Fuggles. The recipe calls for 2oz 5%AA at 60 minutes and 1oz 5%AA at flameout -- a total of 39.8 IBU. The Fuggles pellets I bought are only 4.4%AA...and unfortunately, I only bought 3oz. According to BeerSmith, that only gives me 36.1 IBU. So do I

1. Put the flameout hops in at 5 minutes? According to BeerSmith, that'll give me an extra 3 IBU (BS says that putting it in at flameout gives zero IBU). But would it affect flavoring?
2. Go with what I have, and follow the 60/0 schedule? Maybe it won't be noticeable?
3. Wait for LHBS to open in three hours and buy more hops? Definitely a drag, brew day wouldn't end until tonight...and SWHBO might not be happy.

It's Jamil's ESB, if that matters.

Ordinarily I pay attention to AA% and buy more as needed. The whole "which hops to substitute" thing got me off track.

Thanks

 

[kh54s10]

I doubt that you would notice a 3.7 difference. But if you want to target the IBU, change the timing on the late addition hops to get the increased IBU. There is some debate about how much bitterness comes from flameout additions and whirlpool additions. It partially depends on what the temperature of the wort is when these are added and in the case of a flameout, how quickly the temperature drops.

 

[BLL]

to expand on what kh54s10 said about your late additions making a negligible contribution to bitterness, adjusting later additions will alter your flavor and aroma profile more than bitterness. I'd leave them alone. If you don't have enough of your early additions to hit the target IBUs you could lengthen your boil just enough to get that IBUs you need out of that early addition.

 

[kh54s10]

to expand on what kh54s10 said about your late additions making a negligible contribution to bitterness, adjusting later additions will alter your flavor and aroma profile more than bitterness. I'd leave them alone. If you don't have enough of your early additions to hit the target IBUs you could lengthen your boil just enough to get that IBUs you need out of that early addition.

I didn't think of boil time to increase the effect of the 60 minute addition. That provides an even better solution than moving the timing of the late addition. The extra boil time would probably have less of an effect on the flavor and aroma, than moving the late addition.

 

[MrBJones]

to expand on what kh54s10 said about your late additions making a negligible contribution to bitterness, adjusting later additions will alter your flavor and aroma profile more than bitterness. I'd leave them alone. If you don't have enough of your early additions to hit the target IBUs you could lengthen your boil just enough to get that IBUs you need out of that early addition.

I didn't think of boil time to increase the effect of the 60 minute addition. That provides an even better solution than moving the timing of the late addition. The extra boil time would probably have less of an effect on the flavor and aroma, than moving the late addition.

I thought of adding to the boil time. But as I lengthened the time for bittering hops on BS, it didn't change the IBUs at all...guess I figured at 60 there was nothing else for it to give. If there is more, how can I determine how much more time is needed?

 

[BLL]

Couldn't say for sure w/o knowing the IBU target for the 60m addition, but going from a 60 to 75m and adding a few grams extra (I weigh hops in grams) would cover a good amount of your 3.7 IBU discrepency in the end.

As was pointed out, 3.7 IBUs is not something you're going to notice. Just going with it will be the easiest option in the end.

 

[MrBJones]

Couldn't say for sure w/o knowing the IBU target for the 60m addition, but going from a 60 to 75m and adding a few grams extra (I weigh hops in grams) would cover a good amount of your 3.7 IBU discrepency in the end.

As was pointed out, 3.7 IBUs is not something you're going to notice. Just going with it will be the easiest option in the end.

Total of all IBUs is supposed to be 39.8, all from the 60 minute addition. My thinking was that the 3.7 represents nearly 10% of the total. But if it isn't going to be noticeable, I just won't worry about...if I do anything, maybe increase the boil by 5 minutes or so.

(The only extra hops I have are REALLY old. In the freezer, but I don't know how old they were when they went in, or how long they've been there. In any case, far from fresh. Probably should toss them)

 

[BLL]

Making it a 75m addition would take it from 3.7 to a hair over 2 IBUs difference if you didn't change the weight. If you have a little bit of some other fairly neutral hop laying around like Magnum then you could calculate a 60m addition @ 3.7 IBUs and add it to your Fuggles. Such a small amount that early in the boil would have virtually no impact on the finished beer aside from bumping bitterness up slightly

 

[Northern_Brewer]

So here's my dilemma. LHBS was out of EKG, so I'm going with Fuggles. The recipe calls for 2oz 5%AA at 60 minutes and 1oz 5%AA at flameout -- a total of 39.8 IBU. The Fuggles pellets I bought are only 4.4%AA...and unfortunately, I only bought 3oz. According to BeerSmith, that only gives me 36.1 IBU. So do I

...RDWHAHB is the correct answer!

The ability of the human tongue to detect differences in bitterness is pretty limited, 3 IBU is reckoned to be the limit - and that's with the two side-by-side. On a one-off beer, you're not going to tell the difference. It's also the kind of variation you'll get between different packets depending on how they've been stored etc.

There's no harm in lengthening the boil by half an hour just to maximise extraction and isomerisation, but that's all I'd do. If you're really bothered, as others have said, a bit of A.N.Other bittering hop would be fine - or do what I do and use alpha extract to tweak bitterness if it's not quite right. It works out at about the same price as bittering hops, but you can add it at any stage up to packaging. It's potent stuff - 1ml of the one I use in 5 gallons is roughly equivalent to 3 IBU.

RDWHAHB.

Personally I have more of a problem with the idea of substituting Goldings with Fuggles as a late-copper hop, but then I'm a bit of a Goldings nut. I appreciate you've got your Fuggles now and it'll be fine, and that you're probably restricted in what British hops you have access to, but I'd have replaced Goldings with one of the more modern Wye varieties.

 

[MrBJones]

My boil off rate is just about one gallon per hour. What if I added a quart of water and extended boil for 15 minutes?

 

[BLL]

My boil off rate is just about one gallon per hour. What if I added a quart of water and extended boil for 15 minutes?

The increase in volume will have the effect of lowering the IBU contribution of all of your hop additions which obviously won't solve your problem. Unless you augment that early addition with another hop variety you're going to have to settle for a slightly less bitter beer, but again the difference will be negligible. You're best bet is to just roll with it as planned and deal with coming up a few IBUs short.