Imperial I P A.Hop query

[davereal]

First off, a big hi to all.Still been keeping an eye on the forum but took a brewing breather for awhile, with moving/not moving house, job change and the big hiding of 3 brews going bad on me. By the time i opened the 1st , the next was bottled and 3rd in the f.v. Ouch. All's well now thou after a deep clean and now with a couple of decent porters under my belt, fingers crossed. What i have now is quite a few opened bags of hops and looking at Greg Hughes's recipe for an i p a fits the bill to use my Simco Chinnock and Williamette also have Challenger and Target.My query is, it's a bit to pokey for me, coming in at avb 8.6% or o.g1.083. I've worked out the grain bill to bring it down to 1.054/56 for an avb of 5.6% ish. Which is roughly a 3rd less grain. So would i also do the same with the hop bill ,which is quite heafty.50g chinnock start boil,28g simco 10 mins and 50g each of simco and williamette at flame out.Could/ should i bring down by a 3rd also. Picked this recipe cos it fitted my left overs and am still quite novice but also up for any other suggestions ,help regarding a recipe/s. thanks in advance. dave

 

[clibit]

First off, a big hi to all.Still been keeping an eye on the forum but took a brewing breather for awhile, with moving/not moving house, job change and the big hiding of 3 brews going bad on me. By the time i opened the 1st , the next was bottled and 3rd in the f.v. Ouch. All's well now thou after a deep clean and now with a couple of decent porters under my belt, fingers crossed. What i have now is quite a few opened bags of hops and looking at Greg Hughes's recipe for an i p a fits the bill to use my Simco Chinnock and Williamette also have Challenger and Target.My query is, it's a bit to pokey for me, coming in at avb 8.6% or o.g1.083. I've worked out the grain bill to bring it down to 1.054/56 for an avb of 5.6% ish. Which is roughly a 3rd less grain. So would i also do the same with the hop bill ,which is quite heafty.50g chinnock start boil,28g simco 10 mins and 50g each of simco and williamette at flame out.Could/ should i bring down by a 3rd also. Picked this recipe cos it fitted my left overs and am still quite novice but also up for any other suggestions ,help regarding a recipe/s. thanks in advance. dave

Reduce the IBUs by reducing the first hop addition, and leave the later hops the same. What are the IBUs in the recipe?

 

[davereal]

A whopping 75. I thought 56g with chinoock at 13% pretty high, is that cos the hefty grain bill. 8.3 kg could cope?. Only done 5ish % beers before and one when i 1st started brewing got my cals wrong and added a good 3rd to 1/2 more of bittering hops. Chewy to say the least. but from tips on here, as in ,never throw a beer away unless it's undrinkable,after nearly a year , mellowed and and was a cracking ale. thanks.

 

[clibit]

Yes 1083 is a lot of malt, so the 75 IBUs isn't that high. It's a ratio of 0.9. If you brew it with a gravity of 1055 you should reduce the IBUs to 50. So take the Chinook down to 35-40 grams.

 

[Toredan]

Yes 1083 is a lot of malt, so the 75 IBUs isn't that high. It's a ratio of 0.9. If you brew it with a gravity of 1055 you should reduce the IBUs to 50. So take the Chinook down to 35-40 grams.

I learn so much just from Clibit's posts.

 

[davereal]

Yes 1083 is a lot of malt, so the 75 IBUs isn't that high. It's a ratio of 0.9. If you brew it with a gravity of 1055 you should reduce the IBUs to 50. So take the Chinook down to 35-40 grams.

Brilliant.Had rough idea about that amount but was also looking to reduce the other additions also, which thankfully won't do now.As i've been away from brewing for awhile and also a bit computer non savvy i've half winged it with calcs only by basics as in hop substitutes with equal A.A's and adding a bit more crystal etc.So need to look more in to I. B. U.'s .Did notice a thread today regarding. Thank once again, i,ll keep posted on out come, cheers. Dave

 

[ManseMasher]

http://beersmith.com/blog/2009/09/26/balancing-your-beer-with-the-bitterness-ratio/

I find this really helpful. Simple explanations win for me every time!