Kama Citra IBUs

[brandondrury]

Hello all,

I'm still new to brewing. We've finished one beer and have 3 more in fermenters.

I was eyeballing Kama Citra Session IPA, but I can't get its IBUs to add up in Beersmith. I'm coming up with 21.9 IBUs. That sure seems low or an IPA, but I see no mention of the bitterness in the recipe or advertising.

It calls for 0.5oz of Centennial at 60 minutes, 1 oz of Cascade at 20 minutes, and 1 oz of Cascade at 10 minutes with 12oz of Caramel 10L pre-boiled and then 6lbs of Golden Light Extract at 60 minutes.

You can see the full recipe here: http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/KamaCitra.pdf

Even with a full oz of Centennial at 60 minutes, the IBUs only go up to 32.5 IBUs.

I'm generally a pretty wild experimenter, but I'd like to get a few more beers under my belt before I go off the rails and start dumping ice cream and toothpaste into my beer. I'm debating if I should just make this beer the way it is.

I debated holding off on 3lbs of the extract for 30 minutes. Beersmith says this will get the IBUs up to 41 with a total of 1oz of Centennial @ 60min.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Brandon

 

[Kingbogart]

I personally have the all-grain version of this on tap right now, and I think it's good as is. Its a well-balanced and fruity, mildly bitter. Low end IPA, upper end Pale ale bitter. I doubled the dryhop for a little more umph, and because I had 4 oz each of citra and cascade, and no current plans to use them otherwise. If you are looking for something with a lot of bitterness, this might not be the best choice, as it is fairly balanced overall.

That being said, the allgrain version calculates out at 45ish IBU, in general if you're not doing a full boil, you are likely getting less hop efficiency. I'm a little surprised these kits don't take that into account.

 

[ntculenuf]

I have the 5 gallon extract recipe (un brewed) I put the recipe in beer smith for a full boil, 5.5 gallon batch size. Beersmith shows a 64.8 ibu (rager scale). Also adding LME at 5 minutes to flame out. I also am upping the dry hop amount and 2 different additions. 1 ounce ea cascade and citra for 10 days and 1 ounce each cascade and citra in the keg. 2 ounces of citra at flame out will whirlpool for 15 minutes

 

[Yooper]

Are you doing a full boil? If you're doing a partial boil, that will reduce the IBUs due to dilution because water has 0 IBUs in it. boil the most you can, and that will help a lot.

Also, hold out the bulk of the extract until flame out, and add the majority of the extract when you turn off the flame. That will help as well, and give a fresher cleaner flavor to the finished beer with less of a 'cooked extract' taste.

 

[brandondrury]

I personally have the all-grain version of this on tap right now, and I think it's good as is. Its a well-balanced and fruity, mildly bitter. Low end IPA, upper end Pale ale bitter. I doubled the dryhop for a little more umph, and because I had 4 oz each of citra and cascade, and no current plans to use them otherwise. If you are looking for something with a lot of bitterness, this might not be the best choice, as it is fairly balanced overall.

That being said, the allgrain version calculates out at 45ish IBU, in general if you're not doing a full boil, you are likely getting less hop efficiency. I'm a little surprised these kits don't take that into account.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but when I follow the directions (60 min boil for all extract), I'm getting way less IBUs. I'm much closer to 45 IBUs when I save the extract for the ending.

The question is whether this beer is "right" at 20ish IBUs or 45 IBUs.....or whether I'm just goofing up somewhere.

Also, hold out the bulk of the extract until flame out, and add the majority of the extract when you turn off the flame. That will help as well, and give a fresher cleaner flavor to the finished beer with less of a 'cooked extract' taste.

Sounds good. I'm guessing we can count on extract to be sanitized, more or less.

 

[ntculenuf]

Also make sure your alpa acid % is corret (I have 3 different percentages on my citra) also if I change the steep/whirlpool time of my 2 ounces at flame out to 0 from 15 minutes it drops to 33 ibu. amazing what a few minutes will change. After some reading I will drop my wort temp to a lower temp (160ish) before adding flame out hops. no adjustment in beer smith for this. from what i have been reading about hop stands and whirl pooling a cooler temp will add more aroma less ibu

Have at it and experiment away