Quote from: Fire Rooster on April 05, 2023
Was looking for a little extra IBU’s since the Hallertau Mittlefruh AA is only 2.7.
Quote from: Homebrew_kev on April 05, 2023
If you’re looking to save a little money, you can use Columbus or CTZ as a bittering hop.
It’ll give a big bittering punch and take up less space. That’s the idea with those cryo/lupomax hops
less material same hop flavor.
With my experience or imagination, I don’t follow the prevailing thought
that 20 IBU is the same regardless of the hops used when boiled for 50 min.
Aren’t the aroma and flavor gone and only bittering characteristics remaining after a first addition of 60… or even 50 minutes? That has been my understanding anyway. So subbing a little high AA hops for a larger quantity of low AA hops to get the same IBU is something I do often.
That was my point. Almost everything I read believes all the aroma and flavor are gone.
I’m not convinced based on my taste buds, most, but not all, are gone.
I’ve tried different hops for bittering and am convinced that there is a difference in flavor. To me it seems like after being boiled for 50 minutes (or whatever), the aroma and flavor from the hop oils is gone. But there is something else. I don’t know the science behind it, but it’s different. As Bob357 said, there is a difference in smooth or harsh, but there’s something else, too. For instance, in a Nut Brown or Hefeweizen, it seems that the bittering hops really contribute to the overall flavor.
JMO
A relatively large amount of any low alpha acid hop used for bittering is absolutely going to give you a generally different character than a relatively small amount of a high alpha acid hop used for bittering. The notion that no flavor or aroma come through in the finished beer just doesn’t seem right to me.
How about the thought that you’re unlikely to be getting the IBU you think you are anyway? Ya know the Tinseth formula for calculating IBU? The one everyone uses? We talked to Glenn about it. He used only whole hops since pellets were bad back then. So unless you use whole hops, there’s no reason to think your IBU will match what the software tells you. Same for equipment and processes. Unless you use the same equipment and process, including chilling time, your results will necessarily match the prediction. To test it we had a bunch of different brewers brew the same recipe. We sent them hops that had just been tested, so the AA was known… They sent us beer back to be tested. Almost none had the predicted IBU. The rest were off by as much as 50% +/-. So don’t sweat it too much.
Definitely - IBU is a huge unknown. I still watch it (or my estimate of it) closely because it’s consistent with my process, but actual IBU could be way off from what I calculate.
Yes I’m aware of the formula. I use my own designed spreadsheet to calculate IBU.
When I check it against this one IBU Calculator
it’s off by one. I get in the ballpark with IBU, and I’m fine with it.
My point was that you can’t just use just any hop for bitterness, and expect the same results.
There is a aroma and flavor carry over, and what’s been described as harsh or smooth.
I brew a lite lager with 100% barke pils, and 25 IBU’s at 60 minutes. Ive used high alpha hops like magnum, columbus and Galena for bittering and some lower alpha hops like Liberty and Willamette and I can say with some confidence that the beers are different. Subtle but noticeable. Some character does survive the boil