single hop brews - ideal IBU?

[barry44]

Gents,

apologies if this is a silly question.

My friend and i are starting out on extract brewing and as such have made 2no single hop brews, my friend's was citra and i made the brewuk 'way to amarillo'

I carried out some research from the expected IBU for the way to amarillo recipe and found that a lot of people were brewing it to around 45 IBU, which i used in brewmate as a calculator to assess my hop profile based on the AA of my pellets. The description on the brewuk website is that way to amarillo is an american style IPA. Brewmate sets the IBU range for that style of drink at 40 - 70IB, so the calculated IBU is to the lower end of the range.

We are quite interested in doing more single hop brews to allow us to understand the flavour of each hop and as such i was wondering if each type of hops benefit from a specific IBU range to get the best from the hop, i.e. amarillo - 45 IBU, cascade - say 50 IBU, simcoe - say 60 IBU?

Is that correct or should i continue going to the 45 IBU?

Apologies if i am havering with clearly no idea about what i am talking about!!

Cheers,

Barry

[kebabman]

In my humble opinion what is important is the ratio of bitterness to original gravity( BU:GU or IBU to OG). If you like your beers fairly bitter like an APA/IPA then a 1:1 ratio is a good starting point to work from so obviously that would be brewing an OG 1045 beer to equal your IBU of 45.
If you have a recipe book, such as Graham Wheelers, he generally lists the IBU and then you can work out the BU:GU ratios for beers that you know and like and work from there but it will not be an exact science due to several factors such as how much bitterness you get from your equipment, what yeast you use etc.

[simon50]

hello,

IBU is simply a measure of the bitterness of beer and not to do with hop aroma / flavour yadyadya

you can have a massive IBU with little to no aroma if you wanted by excessive boiling, i wouldn't get too caught up with the IBU if you want to encourage the flavour of a given hop to come through but add an excess of your hops very late and/or after the boil and then dry hop (in effect "trying to keep the IBU down" whilst using more hops).

i think the whole "massive IBU" IPA thing is more of an american phenomena (gimmick) intended for the different breweries consumers (i may be wrong). generally, i usually tend to keep to just under 30 IBU's for 5% alcohol myself because thats a level i like (i don't often make variable style recipes).

there's no specific IBU range more suited to given hops i don't think, but some hops can be overbearing when used en mass. if you are following recipes it may be best to stick to the hop boiling schedule but if you are making your own and you find 45IBU a bit too bitter then obviously tone it down for the next.

[barry44]

Thanks for your response,kebabman.

I had noticed the ratio you mentioned on the brewmate program but never looked into it. The brew I made was a higher og, around 1.055 with the IBU of 45 so it was not a 1:1 ratio, it was less from memory. What will this do to. The bitterness of the brew? I assume that it will be less bitter given the amount of malt I used, 3kg?

Therefore over 1 shall result in a bitterer, is that a word?, brew?

Thanks in advance, I will check out the john palmer book that you mention

[kebabman]

An IBU of 45 divided by an OG 55 is obviously 0.82 which is bang on what my last brew was and I would say is around the perfect level not to be undrinkably or challengingly bitter, which is what I was trying to avoid when you mentioned an IBU but no OG.
If you want to get the most hop flavour then adding at stages towards the end of the boil is the way I'd experiment but I always add some at the begining of the boil too.
As I say there are so many things that will affect hop flavour and bitterness, especially at this time of year when new seasons hops are available with differing AA from last last years crop which will have lost bitterness and flavour in storage!
If you just want to get a taste for different hops then I would personally brew a medium strength pale beer, the simpler the better really, and obviously only change the hops for each brew.

[orlando]

i think the whole "massive IBU" IPA thing is more of an american phenomena (gimmick) intended for the different breweries consumers (i may be wrong). generally, i usually tend to keep to just under 30 IBU's for 5% alcohol myself because thats a level i like (i don't often make variable style recipes).

And therein for me lies the point. What is it that you like? I find the ratio a very good guide as I find once the bitterness gets up to 1:1 I need to have a lot of malt sweetness to balance it or it becomes overpowering. Perception of bitterness appears to be an individual thing so experimenting using the rubric of ratios is the way to go.

[jimp2003]

I would say that the IBUs in a beer should not be dictated by what hop you are using. Decide on your target IBUs and add the hops at the various stages to reach that target (as well as adding them late on for flavour and aroma of course).

I don't totally agree with the whole IBU:OG ratio thing although it is a starting point. A better ratio to use is IBU:FG. The effect of 45 IBUs on a 1.050 beer finishing at 1.008 will be different to the effect on a 1.050 beer finishing at 1.018...

[killer]

Some good points raised above...
I had some of the mikkeller single hop beer series recently. They are all the same grain-bill, heavily bittered (possibly excessively), late hopped and dry-hopped with a single hop.
You could try a few bottles to get an idea.... Easier than brewing twenty odd litres of beer with each type of hop !
I find that I don't like certain hops used in bittering. Cascade for example, over about 50IBU tastes like washing up liquid to me, but I like it added late. On the other hand, Amarillo, Citra, Nelson Sauvin and others I can comfortably go up 80 IBU without a problem.

Nowadays I tend to bitter to about 40 IBU with lots of late additions to get an idea of a hops full flavour, I think it's better than bittering for the sake of keeping within a beer types profile

[barry44]

gents,

many thanks for your responses, i learn more about brewing every day.

I used the majority of the hops in the 60 minutes boil, 40 grams and then added 10 grams for 15 minutes then added, and steeped, a further 10 grams.

The ratios were generally as per the brewuk instructions but i think the instructions related to a higher AA% in the crop of hops that the recipe was written for, this i aimed for the 45 IBUs, adding the majority of the hops early to achieve this without having to add an excessive amount at 45 minutes.

Would it be better, in future, to add more at a later stage rather than for bittering or use a specific, high AA bittering hop for the majority of the boil to provide the majority of the bitterness and then provide the 'speciality' hops for flavour late in the boil? Would this bring the full flavour of the hops or am i best to continue with the single hop brews to get a true reflection of the hop?

My friend and i were discussing trying to find a 'bittering' hop which would provide the majority of the IBU in future, to save both hops and money, is there a preferred hop for this that allows the flavours of the late hops to shine?

I started with kits in August and am now doing extract brews, mostly due to the lots of great advice i have gotten on this site from yourselves. If you had said in August that i would have an understanding of how to actually make beer, albeit extract, i would have laughed.

Many thanks for all the help guys.

Barry

[simon50]

Would it be better, in future, to add more at a later stage rather than for bittering or use a specific, high AA bittering hop for the majority of the boil to provide the majority of the bitterness and then provide the 'speciality' hops for flavour late in the boil? Would this bring the full flavour of the hops or am i best to continue with the single hop brews to get a true reflection of the hop?

My friend and i were discussing trying to find a 'bittering' hop which would provide the majority of the IBU in future, to save both hops and money, is there a preferred hop for this that allows the flavours of the late hops to shine?

i think you would denfinately be best off doing that.

the longer you boil, the more the flavour diminishes, hence being called "bittering hops" in recipes; they are mainly only for achieving desired bitterness, people usually add flavour / aroma hops from 30 minutes downwards.

my knowledge on the various hops is very limited, i have been buying columbus just for bittering but some hops are apparently too crude for various styles (inc columbus apparently); my tastebuds are obviously not refined enough,

if i wanted to make a very hoppy beer i would probably do a bittering hop @ 60mins then ram aload of my chosen hop in @ 20, 10 and 5 mins and then dry hop (while obviously paying attention to IBU's), you can add too much though! (you know you have gone overboard when can still "taste them" at the back of your nose when you wake up hungover the next morning).

here is a basic chart:

[orlando]

Something else to add is the effect of ageing on a beer and how the bitterness fades. This is a double edged sword as a beer that starts out with a perfect balance of bitterness, aroma and flavour will fade over time so need to be drunk relatively early. A beer that is overly bitter can be left for some months and may well be acceptable much much later. The history of India Pale Ales is the perfect example of this. They were heavily hopped to survive the journey to the sub-continent and would arrive in perfect condition.