Mismatch in IBU Winter Wassail

[DocAnna]

Hi, I'm putting together a brew based on a recipe I have for a winter 'Wassail' beer by the Full Sail Brewing company.
The recipe in the book quotes 56 IBU but I've tried two calculators (Brewfather & Brewer's Friend) both with the original and mine tweaked for the hops I have, and the IBU is half what is expected! I've adjusted the hop quantities for AAs though have slightly increased the Northern Brewer hops. The only thing I can think of is that hops at flame out are being counted since that's where the largest hop addition is. This shows as 0 on the calculators though for IBU. I've already ordered the grains so my question is on the hop timing and whether it would be better to add more earlier in the boil, or should I just have faith and stick to the recipe?

All help really appreciated, this is my first foray into adjusting recipes, previously I've worked with AG kits or adding hops to extract.

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain) OG = 1.070 FG = 1.014 IBU = 56 SRM = 18 ABV = 7.2%
INGREDIENTS
13.75 lb. (6.2 kg) 2-row pale malt
9 oz. (0.27 kg) crystal malt (60 °L)
2 oz. (57 g) crystal malt (120 °L)
2 oz. (57 g) chocolate malt
1 oz. (28 g) roasted barley
1 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
2.5 AAU Northern Brewer hops (75 min.) (0.36 oz./10 g at 7% alpha acids)
2.5 AAU Styrian Golding hops (75 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 5% alpha acids)
3.75 AAU Hallertau-Hersbrücker hops (15 min.) (1.1 oz./30 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
3.75 AAU Styrian Golding hops (15 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 5% alpha acids)
7.5 AAU Hallertau-Hersbrücker hops (0 min.) (2.1 oz./61 g at 3.5% alpha acids)
7.5 AAU Styrian Golding hops (0 min.) (1.5 oz./43 g at 5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale), White Labs WLP002 (English Ale), or Lallemand Winsor Ale yeast

WASSAIL
Winter Seasonal Beer 7.2% / 19 °P
Batch Volume: 20 L Original Gravity: 1.078 Final Gravity: 1.023 IBU (Tinseth): 27 Color: 40.5 EBC

Malts (6.64 kg)
6.2 kg (93.4%) — BestMalz Pale Ale — Grain — 6 EBC
270 g (4.1%) — THBC Crystal - Crushed grain 113 EBC — Grain — 113 EBC
57 g (0.9%) — THBC Minch Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1060 EBC
57 g (0.9%) — Thomas Fawcett Red Crystal 340 EBC — Grain — 340 EBC
28 g (0.4%) — Warminster THBC Black crushed (Warminster) — Grain — 1400 EBC
28 g (0.4%) — Minch Minch Roast Barley — Grain — 1400 EBC
Hops (196 g)
18 g (7 IBU) — Styrian Goldings (leaf) 3.9% — Boil — 75 min
12 g (9 IBU) — Northern Brewer 7% — Boil — 75 min
28 g (6 IBU) — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 3.8% — Boil — 15 min
27 g (5 IBU) — Styrian Goldings (leaf) 3.9% — Boil — 15 min
56 g — Hallertauer Hersbrucker 3.8% — Boil — 0 min
55 g — Styrian Goldings (leaf) 3.9% — Boil — 0 min
1 pkg — Wyeast Labs 1968 London ESB Ale

Thanks

Anna

 

[DocAnna]

Ok I know it's not the done thing to reply to your own threads and I hope it's ok, but it was just to note that I've worked this one out. From my reading it looks like hops at flame out and about 77 deg will contribute some bitterness but it's not as predictable as in the boil. So I guess I'll just have to find out ☺

Anna

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Hi, I'm putting together a brew based on a recipe I have for a winter 'Wassail' beer by the Full Sail Brewing company.
The recipe in the book quotes 56 IBU but I've tried two calculators (Brewfather & Brewer's Friend) both with the original and mine tweaked for the hops I have, and the IBU is half what is expected! I've adjusted the hop quantities for AAs though have slightly increased the Northern Brewer hops. The only thing I can think of is that hops at flame out are being counted since that's where the largest hop addition is. This shows as 0 on the calculators though for IBU. I've already ordered the grains so my question is on the hop timing and whether it would be better to add more earlier in the boil, or should I just have faith and stick to the recipe?

All help really appreciated, this is my first foray into adjusting recipes, previously I've worked with AG kits or adding hops to extract.


Thanks

Anna

Really like the sound of this recipe but would like to dial down the alcohol a bit… do you think just reducing the amount of base malt and upping the water volume to 25L would work? I’ll have to do some playing around with BeerSmith

 

[DocAnna]

Really like the sound of this recipe but would like to dial down the alcohol a bit… do you think just reducing the amount of base malt and upping the water volume to 25L would work? I’ll have to do some playing around with BeerSmith

The Wassail ended up being one of the best beers I think I've brewed and really improved with a couple of months cool conditioning. I really think it was the specific yeast that finessed this beer, it was genuinely wonderful to smell while it was fermenting. I think my hop utilisation at flame out was really poor due to using my hop spider and it having poor circulation at that stage of the brew. But yes... I reckon reducing the base malt to make it a bit milder would make a lot of sense.

There's a bit of me that feels a bit bad claiming any credit for this beer given that I based it on a recipe from a book... it was delicious though.

Anna

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

There's a bit of me that feels a bit bad claiming any credit for this beer given that I based it on a recipe from a book

IKWYM, but even as an obsessive fiddler and ‘start from scratch’ bloke I’m happy to take proven recipes and tweak them to make them my own... “Standing on the shoulders of giants” and all that :-)