Brewers Friend option selection for recipe

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beer baron
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Brewers Friend option selection for recipe

Post by beer baron » Thu May 18, 2017 7:53 pm

Hi
when doing a recipe builder on brewers friend I know to select the boil option for the bittering hops at the beginning of the boil but what option do I select for the late additions say 10 or 15 mins do I select the boil still or aroma etc and will it affect the IBU calcuation ?
Thanks Pete

gnorwebthgimi

Re: Brewers Friend option selection for recipe

Post by gnorwebthgimi » Fri May 19, 2017 10:20 am

Hi Beer Baron!

When calculating my IBUs I ignore late additions of less than 10 minutes and generally my bitterness is balanced based on the usually much smaller amount of hops that are boiled for 60 to 90 minutes. I find calulators add way too much bitterness for this period of time. I use whole leaf not pellets, which take longer to infuse.

However, my expereince from the no chill days tells me that if you can't chill your beer quickly to below 50'c you will continue to isomerise hops.

So to clarify:

1) If you use whole hops and you chill to below 50'c in less than 15 minutes then your safe, then I would ignore late hop IBUs.

2) If you use pellets or your chilling method takes longer than 15 minutes (but less than 30 minutes) I would chuck the hops in a little closer to flame out and ignore late hop IBUs.

3) If you are not chilling or ice bathing and you won't be chilling is going to take hours then I would add the late hops into the IBU equation but maybe at 50-75%.

If I was not chilling then I would be tempted not to add the hops as a late addition.

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k1100t
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Re: Brewers Friend option selection for recipe

Post by k1100t » Fri May 19, 2017 10:59 am

beer baron wrote:Hi
when doing a recipe builder on brewers friend I know to select the boil option for the bittering hops at the beginning of the boil but what option do I select for the late additions say 10 or 15 mins do I select the boil still or aroma etc and will it affect the IBU calcuation ?
I used boil for anything that goes in while it's boiling. Otherwise it's First Wort for anything before it's boiling and Whirlpool for when the boiler has been switched off.

Cheers,
I like beer --- Currently rebuilding the brewery, this time with stainless...

beer baron
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Re: Brewers Friend option selection for recipe

Post by beer baron » Fri May 19, 2017 11:01 am

Hi
thanks for the info that is one of the reasons I was asking as the IBU calculation for the late additions does seem to add more than I expected
Pete

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k1100t
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Re: Brewers Friend option selection for recipe

Post by k1100t » Fri May 19, 2017 11:04 am

I always worked on the assumption that the actual IBUs were not going to be what the recipe suggested, but as long as they were in that ball park, then that would be fine. I've been pleased with the results of the last few brews I made using Brewer's Friend.

Cheers,
I like beer --- Currently rebuilding the brewery, this time with stainless...

gnorwebthgimi

Re: Brewers Friend option selection for recipe

Post by gnorwebthgimi » Fri May 19, 2017 11:07 am

If you can provide:

- boil volume (assumed 5 gallons)
- hop additions in grams at each stage of the boil (eg boil for 60 minutes, 10 minutes, flame out)
- alpha acid % for each hop addition.

Then I would be happy to provide an estaimated IBU based on my set up for you to cross reference to.

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Re: Brewers Friend option selection for recipe

Post by orlando » Fri May 19, 2017 11:41 am

Get BeerSmith. You can have a 21 day trial before committing.
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