How to get 100 IBUs?

[D-Hutt]

I'm planning a 1.100 OG barleywine and would like to hop it to around 100 IBUs w/ bittering hops. I can get a vigorous boil in my 10g kettle, so is it possible to hit that number during my boil? I get that higher gravity worts decrease the efficiency of hop saturation - are there any calculators that take that into effect?

Also, what's a decent bittering hop combination? I was thinking primarily Chinook, but could I get some interesting differences by adding in Magnum or some other high alpha hop? I'll be dry hopping late in secondary with EKG and plan to use that primarily for aroma/flavor. Also planned to drop some EKG in at the end of the boil.

 

[Slainte-brew]

You could try adding extract later, either keeping half until the last 15 minutes or if you are AG mashing a 1.070 and then adding extract. That would help with hop utilization. I dont know about calculators that take that into account. Also you couldy try 90 minute and 60 minute additions?

Hops options: Columbus, Centential, Galena/magnum is balanced, Nugget, Northern Brewer Simcoe, Warrior

Chinook i feel is a more herby or earthy hop, opposed to something like Centenial which i think of as more citrusy. Maybe contrasting the two to get different flavors. Magnum is a fairly smooth bitter. Northern is sort of piney, might pair well with chinook.

EKG is a fairly versatile hop, so I think you are good with that. Personally with something stronger, there is already a ton going on. I think you could be fine with just a bunch of Chinook and EKG.

 

[bobbrews]

What flavor profile do you want from this beer?

Are you brewing via a Full Wort Boil?

 

[KuntzBrewing]

Also, what's a decent bittering hop combination? I was thinking primarily Chinook, but could I get some interesting differences by adding in Magnum or some other high alpha hop? I'll be dry hopping late in secondary with EKG and plan to use that primarily for aroma/flavor. Also planned to drop some EKG in at the end of the boil.

Summit hops 17-20% AA, pretty good bittering hop, and really nice citrus aromas

 

[ALF]

use zeus hops for bittering and shoot for 200 ibu's

 

[Piratwolf]

You may want to check for a thread here on the 50IBU bittering limit. Interesting discussion. Basically some recent scientific papers stating that under most conditions it's impossible to get more than 50IBUs (measured, not calculated) from your initial hop charge; to beat that level you need big late additions.

 

[Quaker]

Listen to one of the recent Basic Brewing Radio episodes on hopbursting where they measured the impact of an insane amount of late additions. That's how to hit the higher numbers. An earlier episode and experiment showed there is an upper limit on boil additions. They summarized that again in the recent one.

 

[D-Hutt]

Thanks - interesting stuff. I'll look for the 50IBU thread and see what that's all about. Also might try adding the extract later in the boil. I'll be doing an AG mash w/ Maris Otter to get into the 1.060-1.070 range.

I like the hop info too - since this is going to lean towards an English barleywine, i might tone down the citrusy/piney american hop flavors a bit. I want the malt aroma to really come through. Also I'm adding a tiny bit of smoked malt as well and i don't want that to get overpowered by strong hop aroma.

 

[Hanso]

Agreed about the american hops. Also if you really want an English BW then don't try to hit 100 ibus.

 

[D-Hutt]

That's where I'm breaking the rules a bit, lol. Plus, I plan to age it quite a bit and iirc hop bitterness/aroma decreases over time. I want to make sure that when I crack it open in a couple years that it's going to be where I want it in terms of bitterness.

 

[Bert1097]

You could always try the hopshot from northern brewer. They have a chart that adjusts you IBU's w/ the OG of the wort. It's how the big boys get their IBU numbers.

 

[ylpaul2000]

Not the Amarillo hop shop shot, I just bought the last 25 they had!

 

[KuntzBrewing]

According to the chart you would need 11 hop shots boiled 60 minutes or 9.9 if you boil them 90 minutes

 

[ylpaul2000]

According to the chart you would need 11 hop shots boiled 60 minutes or 9.9 if you boil them 90 minutes

Ok so I use hop shots a lot and this didn't make sense to me to I re-examined the data sheet I have, and I think there was an error in the last calculation. 11 and 9.9 are correct volumes, how ever they should be in milliliters (ml) not entire hop shots. There are 5ml in every hop shot, so instead of 11 and 9 hop shots it would be approximately 2.2 for a 60 minute boil, etc. 11 hops shots would put the beer at well over 400 IBUs (in theory). Hopes this makes more sense.

 

[KuntzBrewing]

That makes more sense! lol I was thinking of how expensive those hop shots would be compared to adding a few ounces of high alpha hops lol

 

[ylpaul2000]

I know, for a little while there I was thinking man I'm barking up the wrong tree with these hop shots. Then I remembered I made a 70 IBU APA and it didn't take anywhere near 11 hop shots. So for awhile I was stumped a well.

 

[nberna19]

Just read a Q&A article in the May/June 2012 issue of Zymurgy on whether it is possible for homebrewers to achieve 100 IBUs. It said it is highly improbable that you can achieve CALCULATED 100 IBUs; however, with the use of late hop additions, dry hopping, and hop extracts (none of whichs' flavors are volatilized/blown off by the boil) you can end up with a beer with hop characters that has all kinds of bitterness and can rival a commercial hop monster with 100+ IBUs.

I guess the difference is that these hop characters don't register as 'measured' or 'calculated' IBUs, but if the beer actually tastes like one that does then what the hell is the difference?

Also, fwiw, I remember reading somewhere that you can not even taste a difference in bitterness past 100 IBUs I want to say.....

 

[daksin]

Calculated IBUS, for the most part, are real IBUS. Your tongue physically cannot distinguish between 100 IBU, 110 IBU, or 3000 IBU. There's also a limit on the solubility of isomerized alpha acids, but that's not really important- a 200 IBU beer and a 100 IBU beer taste the same. As for variety of bittering hops, you absolutely boil off all of the flavor and aroma contributors, so if you're looking for the big IBUs, just grab your highest alpha hop. If you're looking for a certain "quality" of bitterness, try comparing different Alpha acid/beta acid ratios, and beta acid levels.