IBUs?

[mtg4772]

Yesterday I compared an IPA (76 IBU) from Barrelhouse Brewing company to Tioga-Sequoia brewing company's IPA (62 IBU) and the latter was substantially more bitter. How can the beer with less IBU be more bitter?

I'll go grab that "joy of homebrewing book" off the shelf and read up on IBUs, but I've always gotten great answers on here before. So I figured I'd ask.

I'm thinking the less bitter with more IBUs has had more time to condition?

 

[flars]

It is probably the type and amounts of hops used and their corresponding alpha acid percentages plus boil times.

 

[tsl346]

It probably has a lot to do with the style of the beer. I don't know either of the beers that you had so I can't talk about them directly but a lighter bodied beer will seem more bitter than a full bodied beer because there is less to balance the bitterness. Sweetness and alcohol will "hide" some of the bitterness whereas in a lighter beer you don't have as much to "hide" that bitterness.

 

[chickypad]

As tsl said, it's all about the rest of the recipe. A higher gravity beer and/or one that finished with more residual sugars or more malt flavor could easily seem less bitter than another beer with less calcuated IBU's. I've had barleywines before in the 60-70 IBU range that seemed sickeningly sweet to me. I'd also agree with flars that some hops give a more harsh bitterness than others, that can change the perception.

 

[Exportjo]

There are various factors that change perceived bitterness AA%, cohumulon levels, dry hop techniques, malt bill and mash temps/pH...just a question to the original poster..are you from Fresno?

 

[Exportjo]

As for conditioning...I can promise you TS General Sherman is not conditioned for any length of time. Conditioning if anything decreases perceived bitterness because hop aroma dissipates over time...

 

[Yooper]

To me, more important than the actual IBUs is the "IBU/SG ratio".

That means the amount of IBUs per the OG of the beer.

For example, a beer of 40 IBUs doesn't sound bitter. But, if the OG is 1.037, that beer would be exceedingly unbalanced and bitter. If the OG is 1.095, the beer would be underbittered and overly sweet at 40 IBUs.

Also, some beer recipes may have sweeter grains in them, like crystal malt to counteract some of the bitterness from heavy hopping. A beer like a blonde ale with very little sweet malt and a relatively low OG would be pretty bitter at 50 IBUs. But an IIPA with tons of malt and an OG of 1.090 would be underbittered at 50 IBUs- by a lot!

It's all about the entire recipe as a whole, but mostly the IBU/SG ratio.

 

[logdrum]

Water (treatment) also plays a role.

 

[mtg4772]

Yeah. Fresno. TS general Sherman and the barrelhouse IPA are the 2 I compared. TSGS had less IBUs but definitely more bitter.

 

[shanecb]

One thing I didn't see mentioned was the freshness of the beer. Hoppy beers certainly lose some of that potency as time goes on, so that can be a factor as well.

 

[mtg4772]

I'm picking up a keg at TS today. If I see the brewer I'll ask.

 

[Sheldon]

Does anyone use a hop aging tool to develop the IBU content. I have started to use this in my Beer Smith recipes. There is obviously a difference in the quantity of hops you would need to achieve a specific IBU content when using 2013 vs 2011 (or older) hops. I find the results using the tool are not disappointing and not too bitter.

Looking for input.

Sheldon

 

[beergolf]

Like Yooper said the BU:GU ratio has a lot to do with it.

Secondly, it can also depend on what scale they used to measure the IBU's. I get a big difference between Rager and Tinseth.