EBU's and IBU's

[bod]

whats the difference?

i've got a couple of books that use EBU's for measuring the hop bitterness, but when ever i make my own recipes, the software uses IBU's, which seems to be drastically different from EBU's but i cant find any info on the calculations.

for example, one recipe in marc olsens book uses 93grams of goldings which has a bitterness rating of 30 ebu's, but in beertools, the recipe came up with 50 or 60 IBU's.

maybe its just the calculations are different on the software, but i've tried several of the different formulas but they still dont come close to the ebu rating. any one got any info on this?

cheers,

bod.

[steve_flack]

IBU's and EBUs are the same. There are a number of methods of calculating IBUs. The extraction of bitterness from hops depends upon many factors - for example it varies with wort gravity, whether or not the hops are bagged, pellet, whole etc., contact time with the wort. Just saying I use 93g doesn't really allow you to determine the resulting bitterness without knowing the rest of the recipe.

[mysterio]

Assuming a full wort boil with a moderate gravity, with loose whole hops, I find Beersmith's 'Tinseth' calculation for working out IBU's pretty accurate.

93 grams of Goldings isn't very helpful, but 30 IBUs/EBUs in a 1.050 recipe is your average pale ale bitterness.

[bod]

right, cheers steve! i know how the different gravities of wort can cause a difference to the extraction rates, it just seemed such a huge difference on the same recipe that i thought maybe the two were calculated differently.

[Frothy]

Yeah it really annoys me these recipes that specify quantities of hops rather than bitterness. I enjoy the fact that this brewing business is a bit technical sometimes, or at least technical enough to keep out the riff raff

Matt

[fizzypop boy]

what graham wheeler says about ebu calculations
edited by DaaB (sorry fpb)

[NzDan1]

Yeh i spent 4 hours just last night trying to calculate ibu,s, and every formula or software gave me differing results, anywhere from a total ibus of 73-101, at first when i got 101 it seemed a little scary so i tried others and most of the time got 70-85 total for my recipe, in the end i just chose some software which was easy to use and seems accurate.
Here is a link to the page which has the ibu calculator download which is based on tinseths formula, has anyone used it?
http://www.brewery.org/Software.html

[Seveneer]

I enjoy the fact that this brewing business is a bit technical sometimes, or at least technical enough to keep out the riff raff

Sorry but I'm still here

[bitter_dave]

I enjoy the fact that this brewing business is a bit technical sometimes, or at least technical enough to keep out the riff raff

Sorry but I'm still here

Me too! But it is the stuff to do with John Guest fittings etc that get me scratching my head (John who?)

[Seveneer]

I use JG stuff. Does than mean I'm no longer "Riff raff"?

My mum will be so proud of me

/Phil.

[bitter_dave]

I use JG stuff. Does than mean I'm no longer "Riff raff"?

My mum will be so proud of me

/Phil.

Yes Phil, you have been elevated out of riff raff status - go phone your mum

I haven't got a clue what people are talking about in the brewing equipment section a lot of the time - it sounds like avant garde poetry to me I'll get my coat

[Seveneer]

No, Dave, you hang around. We don't need all this technology to brew beer. We just like it

BTW, went to college in Brighton. Got thrown out of the market diner for drinking concealed alcohol

/Phil.

[bitter_dave]

BTW, went to college in Brighton. Got thrown out of the market diner for drinking concealed alcohol

You got THROWN OUT of the market diner??? That is some acheivement Phil - well done Perhaps they were insulted that you conceiled the booze i've seen some pretty crazy behaviour in there when eating a fry up at 2 am

[Seveneer]

But I was, of course.......very drunk at the time...