Beersmith IBU calculation

[meirion658]

Afternoon all.

I am trying to do a clone of the Ghost ship and have searched through the different recipes on line. Most if not all have and EBU rating of around 45. http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=1018

When I input the exact recipe into Beersmith my EBU/IBU jump up to 65 which is far to bitter for me. (see Attachment Brew 65 IBU below)

This is the profile of the recipe in Beersmith.

I have adjusted the IBU scale in Beersmith to 45IBU. (attachment 45 IBU) This drastically reduces the hop content and I'm worried that I will loose the flavors? Any ideas

 

[TartanSpecial]

eeh...I think something has gone wrong !
edit: oh..its working now.

 

[TartanSpecial]

Can you post the recipe (inc batch size and hop additions).?

 

[MickDundee]

I CBA to plug this into Brewers Friend to compare (I know BF assumes no utilisation from the glamour additions), but what about moving the chinook addition to 40 minutes instead of a full hour? That would bring your IBUs down without reducing the hop.

 

[TartanSpecial]

or move the Amarillo 10minutes to 5minutes??

 

[TartanSpecial]

Running through my beersmith, the 10 minute Amarillo addition gives much less IBUs that yours...40g Amarillo 10 min only gives 14 IBUs and I get 0 IBus for the 0minute additions..

 

[TartanSpecial]

there's definitely something wrong with your beersmith output...I normally brew pale ales where I add 20-25 grams bittering hop (13% usually magnum)at 60minutes, then 30-40gram flavour at 10 minutes and 30-50 grams aroma at flame out....and the beer I produce tastes like it has 40-45 IBU's which is what my beersmith output says. Something odd going on.

 

[meirion658]

there's definitely something wrong with your beersmith output...I normally brew pale ales where I add 20-25 grams bittering hop (13% usually magnum)at 60minutes, then 30-40gram flavour at 10 minutes and 30-50 grams aroma at flame out....and the beer I produce tastes like it has 40-45 IBU's which is what my beersmith output says. Something odd going on.

I been looking at it all day and cant get my head around it all.I have done a few pale ales before on this profile and have been hitting the correct numbers and IBU. Back to drawing board I go. I don't want reduce the quantity of hops any suggestions apart from the adjustment of times?

 

[TartanSpecial]

I think the original recipe looks OK for a 40-45ish IBU pale ale. I've adjusted (reduced) the grains in my recipe to match yours and your original recipe in my beersmith comes out bang on 45 IBUs (44.6). Am sure there is something wring with the later hop addition calculation outputs...but why?..no idea.

 

[TartanSpecial]

you definitely shouldn't be getting all these IBUs from the 0 minute additions.

 

[TartanSpecial]

hope you got my PM reply...not sure if I pressed all the correct buttons. Must be something in the Grainfather profile set-up but don;t see how... the 60 minute boil is only slightly more than in my beersmith output, but the 10minute is a lot more and I get IBU for 0 minute additions. Not sure what part of the profile editing could have this impact.

 

[meirion658]

Will have a look at it now and see what i can fiddle with. Are you able to send me a copy of the recipe in your beersmith ?

 

[lancon]

I would just reduce the initial hops if anything. Interestingly on your Beersmith it gives an IBU reading when there are 0 minutes boil, mine gives a reading of 0 IBU until I put a specified time, and I use steep/whirlpool settings.
There is an article around about IBUs and their actual relationship to bitter taste, which is interesting or look for BU:GU which I think is the bitterness ratio shown in the bottom right hand column.
I have a 122 IBU pale that*whilst bitter is not off the scale when tasted by any means. And if you try Mikkellers*1000IBU ale then that*is almost disappointing in its bitterness, (as you do expect something massive).

 

[TartanSpecial]

try this (sorry for delay..never done a screenshot before)

 

[TartanSpecial]

fine tuned the grains to match exactly and end up with 42.8 IBU....should be perfect....42 is my favourite target IBU
signing off ...need to watch TV with the wife.

Note: Ive over written a recipe for an Armadillo pale ale from last year...experimental hop...so its not a spelling error.

 

[DoctorMick]

In your Grainfather equipment profile do you have the estimate bitterness from steep box ticked?

 

[MickDundee]

I would just reduce the initial hops if anything. Interestingly on your Beersmith it gives an IBU reading when there are 0 minutes boil, mine gives a reading of 0 IBU until I put a specified time, and I use steep/whirlpool settings.
There is an article around about IBUs and their actual relationship to bitter taste, which is interesting or look for BU:GU which I think is the bitterness ratio shown in the bottom right hand column.
I have a 122 IBU pale that*whilst bitter is not off the scale when tasted by any means. And if you try Mikkellers*1000IBU ale then that*is almost disappointing in its bitterness, (as you do expect something massive).

I read somewhere (probably on here) that the human tongue can only taste up to about 80 or 90 IBUs anyway.

 

[BeerCat]

Ghost ship has Rye in it. Don't know how much though.

 

[meirion658]

In your Grainfather equipment profile do you have the estimate bitterness from steep box ticked?

Should this be ticked?

 

[peebee]

Did this get resolved?

I also went to the trouble of putting it through Beersmith and got 26.8, 16.2, 1.2 & 1.6 IBUs respectively (46.3 total). How did those huge numbers for late hop additions arise?

(EDIT: I did have "Estimate Boil Hop Util in Whirlpool" ticked and "Whirlpool Time (above 85C)" set to 10 minutes. "Whirlpool" can be interchanged for "steep" or the cooling time following boiler switch off for all the difference it makes - i.e. not much. I mean "not much" between steeping and whirlpooling - the contribution either makes to IBU calculations is significant).

(EDIT - again: Just to make that clearer, some folk here are claiming zero IBU for zero minute boil hops because they do not have "Estimate Boil Hop Util in Whirlpool" ticked, but in reality those hops remain steeping for a few minutes as the wort is cooled and therefore do contribute some IBUs. This might be the source of the problem if "Whirlpool Time..." is set to an outrageously high figure?)