IBU adjustment - or not

[TahoeRy]

I need some advice from the forum! I brewed an experimental IPA a month or so back and its awesome, but its not an IPA. Its more along the lines of an ESB with an IPA twist and its very bold and good. At the end of the day this beer sits at about 150 IBU's, 70% of which is all in the bitterness (60 min addition). Surprisingly its smooth and very well balanced. I know that studies have found that anything over 80 IBU's is undetectable to human taste buds. So heres my question. I am making a few slight corrections to this beer and I am contemplating on reducing the IBU's to around 80, while still keeping to the same hop ratio's / percentages. Do you think that doing this would change the overall taste and balance of this beer? I know that its extremely hopped but its so balanced that even beer drinkers cannot guess the real amount of IBU's in this beer. I don't want to hurt my balance or overall appeal of this beer, but if I can get the same result by reducing the IBU's to a cheaper level that would be ideal. What are some thoughts?

 

[Cyclman]

I would try to reduce the bittering hops, and if you don't like the flavor, add more dry hops in secondary. @ 150 IBUs nobody is tasting all those hops.

 

[TahoeRy]

That's my gut feeling as well. I'm think I'm going to keep the same hopping percentages but plan to top out at around 80 IBU's. thanks for the input.

 

[bobbrews]

ESB and IIPA are two of the most different styles around. I'm not sure how you could ever meld them as one.

ESB = The epitome of balance
IIPA = The ultimate beauty in unbalance

If you like hops, but want to tweak this recipe, then try to alter your hop schedule by weight as follows:

21-28% early (60 min)
8-17% middle (30 min)
25-28% late (0 min)
30-44% dryhop (7 days)

IBUs are not sensed on our palates more around the 90-110 range. But you're not only adding early & middle hops for the IBUs. You are also adding them for flavor... not the same type of juicy flavor as late additions and dryhops, but flavor nonetheless. -- It's almost like brushing oil on a steak before you cook it. There's surely enough fat in the steak where you don't need the oil, but it helps to make things better, and gives you more flavor and texture in the end as opposed to not using it.

 

[TahoeRy]

I know my description doesn't make sense but its one I thought to describe it. I guess it could just be a bitter ipa but it is really balanced. Most ESB recipes I see are around 25 - 50 IBU's where this is overly hopped. It's probably a bad description on my part but its the first thing I thought after tasting it.

 

[badlee]

I would say that it was a decent enough description mate. I tend to hop my ESBs and even ordinary bitters like they were IPAs.
But it does seem that 150IBUs is a bit over the top.
The most I had in an homebrew was 75 in a 4% beer.

 

[chri5]

I'm of the opinion that you will absolutely change the flavor by reducing the amount of hops in the beer.

You might not be able to detect bitterness above 100ibu, but we're not really talking about bitterness here. We're talking flavor.

Cutting the amount of hops almost in half has to change the flavor.

Sounds like something to experiment with. In the name of science of course.

 

[TahoeRy]

Thats my fear as well. Going from 150 IBU's to say 80 IBU's is a huge reduction. Adjusting the hops to that degree has to do something to my balance. I am afraid that I will have to adjust the grain bill as well in order to match the balance. I am going to tweak it a bit and see what happens. I can always go back to the insane hopping again if its not the same. The keg is now gone, emptied within 4 days with just a few able to experience it. This is one of the reasons I love brewing though. So many ways to make different kinds of beer by just altering ingredients, process and quantities.