How to "measure" your IBUs

[Ancient_Hopus]

I just brewed and sitting in fermentation my first IPA. This is only my 2nd batch ever.. With that said.. How can you determine the IBUs of the final product?

 

[waldzinator]

There is no real clinical way available to the homebrewer to measure IBUs. I'm gonna take the lazy approach and point you towards the online Jedi-brewer resource by John Palmer. This should help. You'll notice through research that hops vary quite a bit in their alpha-acids (one Magnum will be x, another y). Take the average alpha acid.

This should get you started in the right direction. Going forward, you can plan out your IBUs ahead of time to get more consistent and reproducible results.

 

[Ancient_Hopus]

dziękuję for that site; going to help me answer some of my other questions!

 

[501irishred]

If you don't already have/use a brewing software, I would highly recommend it (i.e. BeerSmith). Not only will it give you your expected IBU's, but alcohol content, water temps etc. Not to mention it's a great way to create a history of beers you've brewed and keep a list of ones you want to brew.

 

[reverendj1]

Here's an IBU calculator too. Most brewing software includes this in the recipe formulation. I personally use Brewtarget, but many people prefer BeerSmith. There are others too.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Some dish recipes specify X tsp of salt. Others say "salt to taste". IBUs are just one of those things.

You brew a beer to a recipe with a theoretical IBU value, and taste it. Do that a few times for a few different brews and you can calibrate your taste receptors to "know" what a certain IBU tastes like. Not very precise, but then again different IBUs will taste different to different people. It also ignores flavor and aroma hops which can alter the drinking experience dramatically.

 

[waldzinator]

Here's an IBU calculator too. Most brewing software includes this in the recipe formulation. I personally use Brewtarget, but many people prefer BeerSmith. There are others too.

+1 for Brewtarget. Go open-source and freeware!

 

[501irishred]

I just brewed and sitting in fermentation my first IPA. This is only my 2nd batch ever.. With that said.. How can you determine the IBUs of the final product?

BTW - WELCOME to the obsession!!

 

[Ancient_Hopus]

Here's an IBU calculator too. Most brewing software includes this in the recipe formulation. I personally use Brewtarget, but many people prefer BeerSmith. There are others too.

Thanks for the BrewTarget; going that direction.

 

[sweetcell]

a recipe creation tool/recipe calculator will give you an estimate of your IBUs: put in your hops, and when you add them to the boil, and the program/website will give you a number. BeerSmith is really popular, Brewtoad (formerly Hopville) is online and free.

if you want to measure actual IBUs in a finished beer, you're going to need to send it to a lab.