113 IBUs for an IPA....too much?

[wyobrewer1]

Working on scaling back an imperial IPA recipe and I've come up with an OG of 1.067 and 113 IBUs. Is this too much? Thanks for your feedback!

 

[alane1]

100 is generally the accepted max. As long as most of the IBU's aren't coming from early kettle additions 100+ is usually what I shoot for.

 

[revelation]

There is a lot of issue with calculated IBUs. At some point, the human palate cannot discern changes in bitterness - your taste maxes out and anything else over it is irrelevant. I've understood that to be somewhere around 70 IBUs. There is a lot of research going on about perceptions of "hoppy" - dry hopping with aroma hops can make the perception of a beer as more hoppy over a beer that is super bitter. The timing of additions makes a lot of difference too. Adding a large amount of high alpha acid hops at 60 minutes and then no late additions could get you to 113 but that will be quite a different beer than one with a small high alpha addition at the begining and a massive number of late addition of aroma hops to get you to 113 IBUs.

I tend to judge more on when I add versus the absolute IBU number. Plus when you throw in dry hopping for aroma, that adds no IBUs but sure does add to the beer.

 

[wyobrewer1]

When I put the original recipe into beersmith it calculates out to over 300 IBUs and an OG of 1.1. I'm wondering if 1.067 is enough malt to stand up to the IBUs or if I should scale it back more.

 

[beergolf]

That is a BU:GU ratio of about 1.7. I think you should scale it back to more in the range of 1.00 or slightly more.

 

[wyobrewer1]

I agree with what you said about amount of hops added versus IBUs. Total I'm at about 4-5 oz added between 60 and 15 minutes then dry hop with 3 oz.

 

[wyobrewer1]

what is BU:GU? Bittering unit to gravity unit?

 

[wyobrewer1]

Here's my recipe.

11.5 lbs pale malt
1 lb crystal 15

All hops are 0.75 oz.

Warrior @ 55min
Warrior @ 30 min
Simcoe @ 30 min
Warrior @ 15 min
Simcoe @ 15 min
Citra @ 15 min

Dry hop with 1.5 oz each Citra and Simcoe

 

[jrgtr42]

I brewed an IPA about a month ago now - it's been in bottle for a week, may not be able to wait more than another week to try my first tester bottle
My brew calculators gave me an estimated OG of 1.063, with IBU at 107. Measured OG came to 1.060 - close enough for government work. I don't have any way to test IBU.
I used 1.5 oz Homegrown Newport at 60min,
split 2 oz each of Mosaic, Citra and Falconer's Flight 3 ways, added at 10min, 5min and flame out (actually I gave it 30 seconds with power before shutting down the fire,
then added 2 oz of Cascade for dryhop for a week.
Smelled great as I was bottling, and even the small sample tasted great. Can't wait.

I have heard differeing opinions on the IBU threshold we can taste - anywhere from 70 to about 100, and I;ve also heard that the max extractable for most homebrewers was about 95 - 100 IBU no matter what else you do.
I don't think you really have to worry about having it too hoppy... depending on the profile you're looking for. You could drop the dryhop down by an ounce or so, and lose some that way, but those hops aren't really giving the bittering - it's more aroma and flavor.

 

[carton132]

If you like Stone Ruination, it's not going to be too much.

You might want to move a lot of those additions to between 15-0 minutes to preserve more flavor and aroma. Nothing going in for the last 15 will drive a way a lot of the aroma. Using later additions will lower bitterness but give you much more of the other attributes.

I tend to make additions at 60, 20, 15, 10, 5 and more shortly after I turn off the heat. Others might even say the 20 and 15 I use are too early and suggest keeping them even shorter.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[revelation]

I've tended towards one early and then serious late additions for flavor. The 30 minute additions don't seem to really add anything except bitterness, so I figure adding a bit more up front 60 minute high alpha acid hop is better than "wasting" a good aroma hop. My additions tend towards 60, 15, 10, 5, or 2. I also find about 1 oz of dry hopping is enough to get a great aroma (of course, they are not adding to IBU).