Do most recipes assume leaf or pellets?

[BenB]

I've just realised the brews I've done from Clone Brews have been under-hoped due to my own incompetence- the book clearly says to use 10% more if using leaf. I didn't read that page! Many books don't specify- so do we assume pellets unless stated otherwise? Also- does 10% seem a slightly low compensation- I've heard hop utilisations of around 20-30% for leaf and 30-40% for pellet which would kind of suggest you'ld want 33-50% more..... I recognise hop utilisation will depend on wort SG etc etc but with all other things being constant I'd be interested to know what kind of pellet:leaf fudge factor people go for.

[BrannigansLove]

I would imagine British written books would generally assume leaf hops, and American ones, pellets. I always put a recipe into something like Beersmith or Brewers Friend to check them anyway, as the AA% of hops I buy never match those in any recipes. I'll then match IBUs for bittering hops, but generally keep the aroma hops quantities the same. If I'm trying to scale a recipe up or down, I'll do the same thing, but keep the wort volume/hop mass ratio the same for the aroma hops.

[BenB]

Aha- good point re UK/US leaf vs pellet- hadn't thought of that. I guess ultimately it's a case of trying a few recipes from the book and seeing whether they need more or less hops and taking it from there. I've brewed a few of the recipes from the Greg Hughes book and I'm reckoning a good 10-20% extra wouldn't hurt. Now it could be they were pellet based (hence I'm shooting under) but I'm not so sure. Guess I'll just routinely increase them. Whether it's to my tastes or to compensate for a recipe based upon pellets not leaf doesn't really matter I guess

I guess I've fallen into the trap of focusing too much on the numbers. With programs like Beersmith you get loads of lovely numbers to look at and to compare to "target IBUs" etc whereas it's probably better just to brew, drink and adjust

[BrannigansLove]

The numbers are useful as a guide, but you need to find what works to your tastes.

[Kev888]

Hops vary year to year, and even more long term. You should adjust accordingly, whether whole or pellets, to achieve similar bitterness to the recipe. If it specifies neither %AA for its hops nor IBUs then its going to be guesswork in any case.

[BenB]

Oh yes, for sure. I had to do some major compensating recently- the beer specified Tettnang as bittering and instead of the 5 something AA in the recipe the Tettnang I had was only 1.9!

After re-reading the Greg Hughes book it appears they do specify that hops are leaf. It's just hidden in a somewhat confusing place. They have a nice page detailing how to "read" the recipes, you would imagine that would be a good place to specify it rather than in the general section on hops in the pre-amble.... Still reckon they need a bit extra so I'll boost it for the upcoming Barley Wine- don't want it coming out under-bitter when it's supposed to be 50 IBU.

[Rookie]

I've just realised the brews I've done from Clone Brews have been under-hoped due to my own incompetence- the book clearly says to use 10% more if using leaf.

Which specific brews? If you brew an imperial IPA to 80 IBUs you'd get 72 and probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Most beer styles have a range of IBUs and even 10% less than planned would still be okay.

[Kev888]

Estimating IBUs is all very rough for homebrewers, but in some cases error may be cumulative so its probably best to do what one sensibly can. To that end, I too assume about 10% increase in utilisation for pellets and to my taste thats reasonable, though as always people's opinion and reality may all differ. (EDIT: fwiw I just looked it up in the 'Hops' book and that suggests 10% to 15%.)

If the recipe says what the IBUs should be then it obviously doesn't matter whether it refers to pellets or hops, since that will all come out in creating your recipe to the same values. Its only if it quotes the %AAs of the hops used that you need to know, as well as other factors like boil time and gravity, in order to understand the utilisation expected.