Putting Brewdog Punk IPA recipe into Beersmith shows IBU that is 30 over. Advice?

[eddiek85]

Hello,

I'm using Brewsmith and I've plugged in all the information to match Brewdog's Punk IPA recipe that they have on their website. However, when I put everything in to match the recipe, the IBU is 73 (in the software). It should be closer to 45 according to the recipe.

I was just wondering how it could be this off and where I should be making adjustments.

Brewdog has loads of recipes that they put out there, but they seem to leave out some pertinent information like alpha acid percentages. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[dmtaylor]

I calculate exactly 73 IBUs as well. Either Brewdog is totally wrong, or they used really low alpha hops, or possibly they really measured the IBUs and that's just how it comes out in real life. At any rate, I wouldn't change the recipe at all to adjust. Just assume they're wrong and it's actually 73 IBUs, which makes way more sense for an IPA.

Cheers.

 

[BryceL]

I had similar issues when I brewed their hardcore ipa recipe. Their hops/ibu's seem off with some of them. Maybe it's a Tinseth/Ranger issue, I'm not sure.

I remember the hardcore recipe calling for something around 14 ounces of dry hop...for 5 gallons...I went with 5 ounces. Even the dry hop for punk ipa is up there at almost 7 ounces.

 

[eddiek85]

I had similar issues when I brewed their hardcore ipa recipe. Their hops/ibu's seem off with some of them. Maybe it's a Tinseth/Ranger issue, I'm not sure.

I remember the hardcore recipe calling for something around 14 ounces of dry hop...for 5 gallons...I went with 5 ounces. Even the dry hop for punk ipa is up there at almost 7 ounces.

Was using 5oz instead just an arbitrary reduction or did you calculate it out to match the real ibu of the beer? How did it taste in comparison?

 

[dmtaylor]

Was using 5oz instead just an arbitrary reduction or did you calculate it out to match the real ibu of the beer? How did it taste in comparison?

You don't get much IBUs from dry hopping. There is something known as the point of diminishing returns with late hops and dry hops. You can use more than 4 oz in 5 gallons but you can't really taste it anymore, so it gets to where you're just wasting a lot of money and beer volume by adding all the unnecessary hops.

 

[BryceL]

You don't get much IBUs from dry hopping. There is something known as the point of diminishing returns with late hops and dry hops. You can use more than 4 oz in 5 gallons but you can't really taste it anymore, so it gets to where you're just wasting a lot of money and beer volume by adding all the unnecessary hops.

Exactly, no need to adjust for IBU's with dry hops. With the hops during the boil, I plug in the actual AA% of the hops that I get and add or reduce the weight until I match the IBU's of whatever recipe I'm using.