I understand that wort is acidic. According to what i've read, I "know" that higher gravity beers have poorer hop bitterness extraction. Bitterness comes from alpha acids, which I surmise are weak acids. So if the gravity of wort were higher, it would theoretically be more acidic, and there for cause lesser alpha acids to disassociate.
As long as this theory is accurate, which it very well may not be, I pose an issue:
Most IBU calculators reduce the IBU # when you add glucose (corn sugar) to the pre-boil recipe. Glucose is a neutral organic compound. It does not contribute any H+ (acidity) to a solution. Why then to IBU calculators reduce the bitterness extraction when glucose is added to the recipe?
My reference for this is beer smith, which dramatically increased the IBUs when I deleted the addition of dextrose.
Is this a falsity in the software, or am I misunderstanding bitterness extraction?
As long as this theory is accurate, which it very well may not be, I pose an issue:
Most IBU calculators reduce the IBU # when you add glucose (corn sugar) to the pre-boil recipe. Glucose is a neutral organic compound. It does not contribute any H+ (acidity) to a solution. Why then to IBU calculators reduce the bitterness extraction when glucose is added to the recipe?
My reference for this is beer smith, which dramatically increased the IBUs when I deleted the addition of dextrose.
Is this a falsity in the software, or am I misunderstanding bitterness extraction?