HELP: misread the recipe, crazy high IBU?

[TheParent]

Sooo, I brewed my first BIAB all grain beer today. ingredients:
- 900 gram Pale Ale
- 150 gram Munich Dark
- 50 gram Biscuit
- cascade hops
- columbus hops
- yeast safaleS-04

Prepared everything, made the recipe with brewersfriend.com. All went well. exept for my hops... I misread the amount and boil times and did the following: 20 grams of cascade (8,2 AA) for 60 minutes boil and 20 grams of columbus (15,5 AA) for 15 minutes boil... Resulting in an absurd IBU of 138.

Is it worth it to ferment, or should I consider this a mistake and fail?

Further info:
7 liters water start
5,5 liters wort end
steeping for 1 hour at 67 celsius
boiling for 1 hour
OG: 1.041

 

[AlexKay]

The bitter iso-alpha acids are only soluble to a degree, so there’s a ceiling on bitterness, rather less than 138 IBU. But whatever that ceiling is, you probably hit it.

If it were me, then given the batch is small, and if I had ingredients ready to brew again, I’d dump it and make something else.

But especially if you like a very bitter IPA, you could go ahead and ferment. Bottle it, try one every month (bitterness fades with time), and all you’ve lost is a little time and a little shelf space.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Let it age on brett and call it a historic inspired stock pale ale (OG IPA).

 

[TheParent]

Thanks for the responses! I don't mind extra bitter beer... But I'm also down to experiment. how does aging on Brett work @Erik the Anglophile ?

 

[DBhomebrew]

An introduction to brett...

All about Brettanomyces

Greg Doss from Wyeast is putting together a presentation on brewing with Brett and asked if I could answer a few practical questions on my ...

www.themadfermentationist.com

Roughly...

Ferment your beer normally. After 2-3 weeks rack to a secondary vessel and pitch the Brett (C, for a UK stock ale). Then you wait, and wait, and wait. 6-12 months later, you package.

 

[AlexKay]

An introduction to brett...

All about Brettanomyces

Greg Doss from Wyeast is putting together a presentation on brewing with Brett and asked if I could answer a few practical questions on my ...

www.themadfermentationist.com

Roughly...

Ferment your beer normally. After 2-3 weeks rack to a secondary vessel and pitch the Brett (C, for a UK stock ale). Then you wait, and wait, and wait. 6-12 months later, you package.

Your secondary vessel is out of commission for 6-12 months, after which you can use it again … but only for more Brett.

 

[TheParent]

ok that's a bit too much for me. I'm a humble beginner.

Thanks for the recommendations though! I will wait till fermentation is done and see how bad it is.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Brett can be cleaned and sanitized just as sacc can. It's not like souring bacteria.

 

[DBhomebrew]

ok that's a bit too much for me. I'm a humble beginner.

Thanks for the recommendations though! I will wait till fermentation is done and see how bad it is.

Time itself will help an over-bittered beer. It may not be enjoyable when first carbed, but let it age and it might be delicious. Better forget it for a while on the shelf than dump it in the trash.

 

[TheParent]

Time itself will help an over-bittered beer. It may not be enjoyable when first carbed, but let it age and it might be delicious. Better forget it for a while on the shelf than dump it in the trash.

Cool, will do! I'll clear out a shelf, luckily it's only 5 liters

 

[VikeMan]

Resulting in an absurd IBU of 138.

Above about 65 IBUs, the standard IBU calculations overestimate IBUs. Real life utilization curves start to flatten at that point, but the models don't know it. (High IBU beers weren't studied when the models were developed.)

Many years ago, I compared actual measured IBUs to Tinseth predicted IBUs for a bunch of high IBU commercial beers, fitted a curve to the data, and spliced it onto the Tinseth model above 65 IBUs. My formula would predict 80 IBUs for a beer that would get 138 using the standard Tinseth model.

 

[TheParent]

Above about 65 IBUs, the standard IBU calculations overestimate IBUs. Real life utilization curves start to flatten at that point, but the models don't know it. (High IBU beers weren't studied when the models were developed.)

Many years ago, I compared actual measured IBUs to Tinseth predicted IBUs for a bunch of high IBU commercial beers, fitted a curve to the data, and spliced it onto the Tinseth model above 65 IBUs. My formula would predict 80 IBUs for a beer that would get 138 using the standard Tinseth model.

Oh very interesting study! Who knows, maybe this beer turns out super special and tasty ;-)

 

[AlexKay]

Above about 65 IBUs, the standard IBU calculations overestimate IBUs. Real life utilization curves start to flatten at that point, but the models don't know it. (High IBU beers weren't studied when the models were developed.)

Many years ago, I compared actual measured IBUs to Tinseth predicted IBUs for a bunch of high IBU commercial beers, fitted a curve to the data, and spliced it onto the Tinseth model above 65 IBUs. My formula would predict 80 IBUs for a beer that would get 138 using the standard Tinseth model.

Actual measured ... extracted into iso-octane, absorbance at 275 nm?

 

[VikeMan]

Actual measured ... extracted into iso-octane, absorbance at 275 nm?

As I recall, there was more than one method among the various beers. I didn't do the measurements. I just used numbers others had published.

 

[AlexKay]

As I recall, there was more than one method among the various beers. I didn't do the measurements. I just used numbers others had published.

Fair enough! How did you figure out the predicted IBUs, without access to the recipes?

 

[VikeMan]

Fair enough! How did you figure out the predicted IBUs, without access to the recipes?

In a couple cases I had access to the recipes. But in more cases, I had the "theoretical" IBU number that the brewers advertised before they (or someone else) measured them.

 

[juggle08]

The bitter iso-alpha acids are only soluble to a degree, so there’s a ceiling on bitterness, rather less than 138 IBU. But whatever that ceiling is, you probably hit it.

If it were me, then given the batch is small, and if I had ingredients ready to brew again, I’d dump it and make something else.

But especially if you like a very bitter IPA, you could go ahead and ferment. Bottle it, try one every month (bitterness fades with time), and all you’ve lost is a little time and a little shelf space.

Might be able to brew another batch, same recipe, little to no hops and blend the two before bottling? Try to dilute the bitterness a bit. Let the first sit in the fermenter if you have the means.

 

[Zambezi Special]

Just brew it and taste
Then if way too bitter, brew a low IBU beer and mix. Just in the glass till you get something you like.
Or mix with bought lager or maybe even sprite for a bitter shandy
(Trying to think out of the box)

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Isn't the maximum threshold for what most humans can percieve about 100 IBU's? In the sense that after that you won't realise it is more bitter, it just is "really bitter" after that point?

 

[bwible]

Above about 65 IBUs, the standard IBU calculations overestimate IBUs. Real life utilization curves start to flatten at that point, but the models don't know it. (High IBU beers weren't studied when the models were developed.)

Many years ago, I compared actual measured IBUs to Tinseth predicted IBUs for a bunch of high IBU commercial beers, fitted a curve to the data, and spliced it onto the Tinseth model above 65 IBUs. My formula would predict 80 IBUs for a beer that would get 138 using the standard Tinseth model.

Exactly - and then there’s even the question of different hop utilization models predicting different values. I think most people seem to use Tinseth. Which I also do now. For awhile I had been using Mosher, which seems to predict the lowest IBU value out of all the models. They always say everybodys equipment and systems are different so you have to use what works for you. I’d take the 138 ibu number with a grain of salt. I have made beers that were supposed to be 80 ibu by software prediction and found the hops underwhelming. Maybe you will actually have a decent ipa.

When I first started brewing around 1997, we were shooting for much lower ibu values in our ipas. I remember my club actually having a very long email discussion back then as to whether 100 ibus was even achievable. Nobody was doing that back then.

 

[bwible]

So many variables too when it comes to hops, hop utilization and predicted ibus. Aside from which software model you choose. Where did you get your hops? How old are they? How have they been stored? Some hops we’re buying now may still be from the 2021 growing season. They were tested then and an AA% number was assigned and printed on the label. How have they held up? Have they been frozen the whole time or just stuck in a refrigerator? Does your shop guy sell individual ounces of hops in nitrogen flushed packages or does he buy hops by the pound and break them down into one ounce packages himself?

Short of sending your beer to a lab for ibu analysis, none of us knows what the “right” number is and any number we come up with is nothing more than a guess. Unless you’ve sent your beer to a lab you have nothing to base anything on and nothing for any real comparison.

 

[Grizwold1]

I don't remember exactly when this was, but early on in my odyssey I brewed Sister Star of the Sun--estimated IBU level at 135. As I recall it was quite tasty. Maybe I should try it again?