2 replies to this topic

[HVB]

httpss://www.experimentalbrew.com/experiments/writeups/ibu-lie-kind

 

big take away is:

"Learn what 15 IBUs, 30 IBUs, 50 IBUS, 70 IBUS from your favorite calculation means to your tastebuds when brewed on your equipment. Use those landmarks to hit what you want to taste. That’s the only value to the number, because frankly, the number itself is fairly taste-free." 

 

I have to agree with that.  While I think about IBU's when I come up with a recipe I am normally coming up with the amounts by past experience.  My spreadsheet does calculate the IBU number but I know it is not correct for anything after the boil.  I always thought too much was put into how many IBUs a beer has and I am glad that at least up here in New England that philosophy is going away.

 

 

[Big Nake]

Sometimes I design a recipe where I have my bittering IBUs and then some late hops and recently I was doing this for an Amarillo-Citra pale ale where 3 ounces of each were going to be added in the last 15 minutes. Citra was 13% or more and the Amarillo was maybe 8.2%. I clicked the CALCULATE button and had something like 95 IBUs. HOLY SHIZZLE! so I backed off a little and moved the 15s to 10 and then 10s to 5, etc. and then realized that it wouldn't make much difference. When people started talking about 0 IBU IPAs (all hops added after flameout), I realized that we should not be bowing to that number... it's just a number.

[EnkAMania]

In the IBU presentation at homebrew con, it was pointed out that Urqell and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale have the same IBU's.