This is a direct quote from the linked podcast:
"I don't think that it's the actual concentration of the sugars in the wort that are necessarily the cause of the decrease in utilization but it's a strong correlation. The use of the words is more imporant. In science, we're always measuring correlations and we have no idea whether it's actually the cause, but if it works to make calculations, to be useful to us, then the correlation is fine; we don't have to know why, we just have to know it's correlated."
Earlier in the podcast Tinseth is agreeing with the common postulate that higher gravity = lower utilization, saying that "any brewer that you know knows that you're gonna have to add more hops if you're boiling 1.100 OG vs. 1.040 OG".
Hop utilization calculated using Tinseth's equations is defined as
decimal alpha acid utilization = Bigness factor * Boil Time factor
As stated in the podcast, the "Bigness factor" is calculated using wort gravity. Tinseth states that the equations are empiracally derived to fit his data, implying that there has been an experimentally-observed (negative) correlation between wort gravity and utilization.
So while the sugar that contribute to the boil gravity may not be the determining factor in hop utilization, boil gravity correlates with hop utilization, whether from break proteins or some other device.
"I don't think that it's the actual concentration of the sugars in the wort that are necessarily the cause of the decrease in utilization but it's a strong correlation. The use of the words is more imporant. In science, we're always measuring correlations and we have no idea whether it's actually the cause, but if it works to make calculations, to be useful to us, then the correlation is fine; we don't have to know why, we just have to know it's correlated."
Earlier in the podcast Tinseth is agreeing with the common postulate that higher gravity = lower utilization, saying that "any brewer that you know knows that you're gonna have to add more hops if you're boiling 1.100 OG vs. 1.040 OG".
Hop utilization calculated using Tinseth's equations is defined as
decimal alpha acid utilization = Bigness factor * Boil Time factor
As stated in the podcast, the "Bigness factor" is calculated using wort gravity. Tinseth states that the equations are empiracally derived to fit his data, implying that there has been an experimentally-observed (negative) correlation between wort gravity and utilization.
So while the sugar that contribute to the boil gravity may not be the determining factor in hop utilization, boil gravity correlates with hop utilization, whether from break proteins or some other device.
