Waste of hops after 100 ibu's?

[arborman]

I'm doing a surly furious clone tomorrow, and surly says the beer finishes at about 99 ibu's. after entering my hop bill into beersmith, its calculating around 140 ibu's. it's an all grain kit from northern. Should I reduce the amount of hops to hit 100 and to save on the hops as well? Or, just throw em all in?

 

[gcdowd]

I'd go with the recipe. I'm not sure about how beersmith calculates IBUs. I did a Pliny clone that was around 100 IBU and beersmith calculated 240 IBU. I just went with the clone recipe and it was awesome

 

[freisste]

Personally, I'd thow them all in. It probably won't be 140 because the water can only handle so much hop oils. After that point it becomes saturated (similar to water dissolving salt, at some point it just settles to the bottom).

At the same time, I'd throw the extra ounce or two of hops in because its only a few dollars and personally, I don't brew enough to make saving the hops very economical.

 

[boydster]

+1 for tossing 'em all in

 

[dlaramie08]

Don't forget that ibus are not the only thing those hops are contributing. If you hold back some of the recipe designated hops then you may alter, possibly significantly, the flavor of the beer over all. It's not with it to be frugal with hops IMO. Use em for what god meant.

 

[jfk69]

There are no wasted hops, only wasted hoppy beer drinkers! Put me in the "throw them in" and stay with the recipe.

 

[ThatGeekGuy]

Drown them evil hops, drown them!

 

[Gutpunch]

Dude at my LHBS once told me that the human palate can't detect additional bitterness above approx 95 IBUs, but I've never been able to corroborate it. Has anybody here ever heard such a thing?

 

[boydster]

Yes, have heard anywhere from 95-120 IBU's is the limit of the human palate. The calculated IBU's for a recipe are always going to be higher than the actual IBU's though, from what I understand, and plus you get flavor and aroma compounds from hops that are an integral part of the brew. If the recipe says to throw the hops in, and you want to know what the recipe is supposed to taste like, throw 'em in. You can always make adjustments the next time you brew it, once you know what you want to change.

 

[YtBoI]

Dude at my LHBS once told me that the human palate can't detect additional bitterness above approx 95 IBUs, but I've never been able to corroborate it. Has anybody here ever heard such a thing?

I was told it was 120 IBU to be the upper limits and about 4 IBU to be the lower limits of a person’s palate... That's why you see 120+ IBU on some bottles, But I could be wrong... Also hops add a lot to a beer, so just follow the recipes! Good Luck!!!!

 

[meltroha]

Another +1 for all in, move a little later to keep ibu calculation down, but keep all of them.