Surly Furious Extract kit IBU question

[SurlyBrew]

According to Surly's website, the Surly Furious is rated at 99 IBU's. I plugged the recipe for Northern Brewers Surly Furious in Beer Smith and the IBU's came out to 82.8 for a 2.5 gallon boil. I am planning on doing a 5 gallon boil. I'm debating on upping the IBU's to match Surly's 99 IBU rating instead of following the recipes IBU of 83. Is there much difference between 83 and 99? I was planning on shooting for 99 IBU's anyway, but I am curious what your thoughts are on this.

On a side note, 8.5 oz for a dry hop is nuts! Seems a bit overkill. Needless to say this kit should be interesting. I might have to get an ale pale for a secondary so I can dry hop in fine mesh bags, instead of using my glass carboy.

 

[dukes]

I am planning on doing a 5 gallon boil. I'm debating on upping the IBU's to match Surly's 99 IBU rating instead of following the recipes IBU of 83.

What do you mean by "upping the IBU's"? As in adding more hops to the boil? If so, I wouldn't do that. You're going from a 2.5 gal boil to a 5 gal boil; your hop utilization is going to go through the roof, and I garuntee you'll end up with way more than 99 IBUs (probably low to mid 100's). Since you already have the recipe in BeerSmith, just adjust your batch size and boil volume to what you plan on using, and your bitterness calculation should show you what to expect.

Is there much difference between 83 and 99? I was planning on shooting for 99 IBU's anyway, but I am curious what your thoughts are on this.

This one is a bit trickier since IBUs don't tell the whole hop story. IBU's is a measure of bitterness and is not an indication of how "hoppy" a brew might be since late hop additions (20 minutes or less) provide the hop aroma and flavor, and contribute very little to the overall bitterness (IBU) of the beer.

I made the mistake of basing my hop schedule of my first IPA solely on my calculated IBU, and I ended up with a very bitter beer up front with an overly sweet finish and no hop flavor or aroma.

 

[Sloobie]

From the Norther Brewer site: "Note: The absolutely insane 8.5 oz of dry hops (not to mention the 4.5 oz of boil addition hops) make the hop aroma of this beer off the charts. Simcoe, Amarillo, Warrior, and Ahtanum combine to make a pine-y citrus whirlwind that can be detected a few feet away from the glass."

I've had Surly Furious a few times and I don't seem to recall an overwhelmingly bitter beer. I think it's a well-balanced beer with most of those hops going towards flavoring and aroma as the description hints at. Maybe try a 3 gallon boil? I don't think a few IBUs high or low will hurt much, but as Dukes says, 5 gallons might change it drastically. Surly makes some great beer, so I'd just follow the kit instructions to get it as close as possible.

 

[SurlyBrew]

What do you mean by "upping the IBU's"? As in adding more hops to the boil? If so, I wouldn't do that. You're going from a 2.5 gal boil to a 5 gal boil; your hop utilization is going to go through the roof, and I garuntee you'll end up with way more than 99 IBUs (probably low to mid 100's). Since you already have the recipe in BeerSmith, just adjust your batch size and boil volume to what you plan on using, and your bitterness calculation should show you what to expect.

This is exactly what I was saying. I plugged the recipe following all of Northern Brewer's instructions (2.5 boil) with all the hop additions. The IBU came out to 82.3, I think. I adjusted the recipe to a 5 gallon boil and IBU came out to 123... So I adjusted the IBU & bittering hop additions, to make the IBU's come out to 82.3. BUT, Surly's website said the IBU in Surly Furious beer is 99. NB Surly Furious = 82.3 IBU. Wondering if I should add more bittering hops to make it 99 like their website said, or match NB's recipe.