Hops and a Beer's HBU

[jamie.forde94]

Hi All,

Very new to brewing and have only brewed using the beginner kits, all turning out well thankfully! I want to go further and start experimenting on my own with extract. I have spent more time reading in the past few weeks and think I am just confusing myself with information overload!

I suppose my question really relates to the calculation of AAU's in a recipe, or even the HBU's in a recipe. A rough guide told me that a pale ale would range in the low to high teens on the HBU scale. Are my bittering hops, the only hops that contribute to the HBU of my beer, or when making a recipe must I include all hop additions to calculate my HBU.

Thanks for any help and apologies if it is a silly question!

Just a note, I like a medium bitterness in my beers, but one that is bursting with aroma and flavour.

 

[Keith81]

I've used Beersmith long enough to forget how to do the calculation by hand but you would calculate each addition, the bittering addition usually contributes the most but they all contribute some.

 

[Keith81]

In addition, I also prefer flavor and aroma without a lot of bitterness. I'd suggest just a small bittering addition and then the rest with 15 min or less for flavor with a dry hop for aroma. The dry hop can be ignored in the bitterness calculation.

 

[RM-MN]

Any hops added while the wort is still above ~170F will add bitterness. I've seen estimates that 90% of the bittering happens in the first 30 minutes of boiling. That's the main reason for quick chilling of the wort after the boil, to stop the hops from adding bitterness.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

AAUs and HBUs are essentially the same calculation:

Alpha Acid Units (AAUs) or Homebrew Bittering Units (HBUs), are the weight of hops (in ounces) multiplied by the percentage of Alpha acids. This unit is convenient for describing hop additions in a recipe because it indicates the total bittering potential from a particular hop variety while allowing for year to year variation in the %AAs.

-- http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/hop-measurement

and are part of the calculation for IBUs:

AAU = Weight (oz) x % Alpha Acids (whole number)

...

IBU = AAU x U x 75 / Vrecipe

-- http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/hop-bittering-calculations

Hi All,
Are my bittering hops, the only hops that contribute to the HBU of my beer, or when making a recipe must I include all hop additions to calculate my HBU.

As noted by @RM-MN, most hop additions will contribute at least some bitterness (as measured in IBUs). Hops added early in the boil will contribute the most bitterness, those added at the end of the boil (or in a hop steep) will add a small amount of bitterness.

I have spent more time reading in the past few weeks and think I am just confusing myself with information overload!

It would be easy to add a number of recent articles on IBU calcuations here. But that doesn't seem fair to you (or my fingers ). If you are willing to mention (publicly or privately) what you've been reading, I can publicly offer some additional reading on IBU calculations. Others may also be able to offer a (hopefully) short list of reading on IBUs.

Or, as @Keith81 mentioned, brewing software like BeerSmith (or Brewers Friend) can help with understanding IBU calculations.

 

[jamie.forde94]

AAUs and HBUs are essentially the same calculation:



-- http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/hop-measurement

and are part of the calculation for IBUs:



-- http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/hop-bittering-calculations




As noted by @RM-MN, most hop additions will contribute at least some bitterness (as measured in IBUs). Hops added early in the boil will contribute the most bitterness, those added at the end of the boil (or in a hop steep) will add a small amount of bitterness.



It would be easy to add a number of recent articles on IBU calcuations here. But that doesn't seem fair to you (or my fingers ). If you are willing to mention (publicly or privately) what you've been reading, I can publicly offer some additional reading on IBU calculations. Others may also be able to offer a (hopefully) short list of reading on IBUs.

Or, as @Keith81 mentioned, brewing software like BeerSmith (or Brewers Friend) can help with understanding IBU calculations.

Thanks very much for all the information. I have been reading John Palmer's How to Brew, How to Brew for Dummies series (A present to mock me, but actually really helped at the start), and a lot of online articles, many from brew your own.

But from the information given on the thread, It has cleared up my uncertainty about the hops. I will just focus on few hops for bitterness and focus more so on the flavour and aroma hops. I'll also give beersmith a look into.

Thanks again for the help!