Give me some IBU reference points?

[SamWise72]

I'm going to try an extract brew fairly soon (more questions on that to follow), and I'm futzing about with the recipe calculator, but I need to get a handle on the bitterness side of things. I suspect I taste bitterness more strongly than most people, because I find in many beers it just overwhelms the other tastes for me. I also like sweet things generally, and the beers I prefer tend to be on the sweeter, fruitier side, including some that people tend to think are cloying. Still, that's the beauty of homebrew, isn't it? That you can make exactly what you prefer?

So, what I'd like is for someone who has experience to give me a decent guesstimate of the IBU of a few well known beers, so I can start off with some idea of where I'll end up.

Favourites of mine are Badger Blandford Fly and Golden Glory, so a shot at either of those would be nice.

Also, last night I took a selection of ales to the party I went to, and found all of them too bitter (not horrible, I enjoyed them a reasonable amount, but the bitterness overwhelmed all the other flavours the bottles were making claims for, so that hoppy bitterness was all I was getting). The beers in question were Spitfire, Bishop's Finger, Hobgoblin and Goliath. If anyone wants to have an educated guess at the IBU of any of those, I'd be most grateful.

 

[keith1664]

Can't help you with the IBU's of specific beers, but you might find this link useful.
http://brewsupplies.com/hops-gravity.htm

 

[Vossy1]

Hi Sam,

So, what I'd like is for someone who has experience to give me a decent guesstimate of the IBU of a few well known beers, so I can start off with some idea of where I'll end up.

Most Home Brew 'clone' books will give you a great idea regards IBU levels in their target beers :thumb: Have you got some other beers that you enjoy for reference and I'll see if they're in my books.

Also, last night I took a selection of ales to the party I went to, and found all of them too bitter (not horrible, I enjoyed them a reasonable amount, but the bitterness overwhelmed all the other flavours the bottles were making claims for, so that hoppy bitterness was all I was getting). The beers in question were Spitfire, Bishop's Finger, Hobgoblin and Goliath. If anyone wants to have an educated guess at the IBU of any of those, I'd be most grateful

TBH you might be in trouble finding a beer to your preference in a bottle. Hobgoblin is about 35 IBU (IIRC) but those IBU's are well balanced with the malt profile of the beer, the same goes for Goliath regards 'balancing'. It sounds to me that you're quite sensitive to bitterness, so for me I'd start at 30IBU and take it up/down from there :thumb:

EDIT, Bishops Finger around 40 IBU, Spitfire around 35 IBU, Clone Brews Tess & Mark Szamatulski.

 

[SamWise72]

Thanks Vossy, that's just what I needed. On that basis I'll probably start with a gallon around 20 and see where I go from there. I'm undecided as to whether to go with something from a book or just busk it (which is more my style!). Keith - that page was great too, cheers!