Mellowing IBU's

[Boor]

I jumped on the bandwagon and did a 120 minute IPA and hopped the buhjesus out of it with 9 oz in the boil, and I did 5 oz as a dry hop for 1 month. I am trying to find the maximum threshold for hop flavor, character, and bitterness but obviously it will need to mellow out quite a bit.

I calculated roughly 135 IBU's for the hops that I used. I know that anything over 100 IBU's is basically undetectable, but right now I am hoping it will mellow down to something that is just bold and not lethally bitter... What timeframe (months) can I expect for it turning into something more palatable? I know I am pushing some limits with almost 1 pound of hops for a 5 gallon batch. Don't worry about hurting my feelings, if it's 6 months to a year in the bottle that's fine. I can just brew something else in the meantime :rockin:

JB

 

[unionrdr]

From my experience,hops start to mellow out in as little as 4-5 weeks. 7 or 8 weeks should be pretty good,if you want it really mellow,imo.

 

[mcaple1]

I just did one with 6 oz in the boil (60 min) and 8 oz of dry hops for 5.25 gal. According to brewtarget, that's 101 IBU's. I am going to dry hop for 2 weeks, bottle a gallon and keg the rest. I'm going to drink the kegged stuff immediately. Honestly though, you hit the nail on the head with the 100 IBU max comment...so why on earth would you go past it?

 

[Boor]

Mostly by accident. I am hoping that pushing the hop content way up and then letting it mellow has a positive effect... Is that what you are shooting for?

I have seen other people on the site that have pushed a similar hop content. I am kind of anxious to see what would happen with the recipe for a huge IPA... time will tell. It seems like it will take longer than a couple months to mellow it out??? I have as much hop content as a Barley Wine, more in some cases actually. Those are meant to sit for a year though. I have recarbed with champagne yeast to offset the huge flavor with some carbonation, but this beer is ultra bitter. How does yours taste?

 

[gratefuldisc]

I recommend training your palate... push yourself until you can handle more ibus... I recommend Stone's Ruination and Lagunita's Hop Stoopid.


Also, this is completely tongue in cheek and I have no actual positive input to this thread...

 

[abrdnck]

Randy Mosher talks about that it Radical Brewing, in the chapter Big Honkin' Brews. In his experience, hop flavours dissipate at a rate of about 25% per year of aging. So, after 1 year of aging, your beer will be roughly 135 - 34 = 101 IBU. Another year will put you in the 75 IBU range.

 

[Calder]

There ain't nothing wrong with a lot of IBUs, providing there is plenty of flavor to go with it.

 

[mcaple1]

Mostly by accident. I am hoping that pushing the hop content way up and then letting it mellow has a positive effect... Is that what you are shooting for?

I have seen other people on the site that have pushed a similar hop content. I am kind of anxious to see what would happen with the recipe for a huge IPA... time will tell. It seems like it will take longer than a couple months to mellow it out??? I have as much hop content as a Barley Wine, more in some cases actually. Those are meant to sit for a year though. I have recarbed with champagne yeast to offset the huge flavor with some carbonation, but this beer is ultra bitter. How does yours taste?

OK, so for mine, I had 14 lbs of pale 2 row, 8 oz of crystal 120 and 8 oz of victory malt, as well as a late addition of 2 lbs of pale LME (and that's a 5 gallon batch). So that's a lot of fermentables, plus some residual body. I hopped the bejesus out of it to balance that out, and when I too a sample out of the carboy it seemed right on for the style, minus the huge hoppy aroma, which is going to be achieved through dry hopping. It was bitter, but surprisingly balanced for such a young/heavy/strong beer. Keep it up man...I support hop heads all around the world!