Muntons Hopped Light Spraymalt - Help re IBUs please!!!

[G-Town Brewer]

I've trawled the internet and have emailed Muntons directly to no avail as I'm trying to work out how much bitterness will be added to my brew if I use solely Hopped LDME (got it cheap as it's near it's BBD). It says on the 500g pack that it has 30-42 EBUs, so am I to conclude therefore that it then works out at 60-84 EBUs (IBUs) per kilo? If I punch that into Brewfather (it doesn't have a specific entry for HLDME), using an average of 75 IBU/KG, in a 23l brew using 3KG of Hopped LMDE, the total IBUs imparted is 16 IBU.

Does this sound correct, or does anyone have specific experience with using HLDME that cares to share their knowledge?

Many thanks

 

[dmtaylor]

Hmm... they sure don't make it easy to calculate, do they...

It seems like you might get about 35 IBUs from 500g as a 10% solution of the extract, which would be in 5 liters of water. So in 23 liters, you'll have 5/23 as much, which is 35 * 5 / 23 = 7.6 IBU from one 500g pack.

Then if you use 3kg, which would be 6 packs, you'd have 46 IBUs.

However, I've never used this extract or even heard of it, and I'm not exactly sure about the 10% solution thing. It seems it might allude to something like that on the package with respect to colour, which is why I infer that it *might* also apply to the bitterness.... but it might not.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Best thing is do a brew other than that i can't you, i have used un hopped dme

 

[G-Town Brewer]

Hmm... they sure don't make it easy to calculate, do they...

It seems like you might get about 35 IBUs from 500g as a 10% solution of the extract, which would be in 5 liters of water. So in 23 liters, you'll have 5/23 as much, which is 35 * 5 / 23 = 7.6 IBU from one 500g pack.

Then if you use 3kg, which would be 6 packs, you'd have 46 IBUs.

However, I've never used this extract or even heard of it, and I'm not exactly sure about the 10% solution thing. It seems it might allude to something like that on the package with respect to colour, which is why I infer that it *might* also apply to the bitterness.... but it might not.

Thanks for your reply. Yeah it really does seem to be a guessing game with Muntons products specs - crazy really as it doesn't exactly encourage people to use them as they have no idea how to apply them. I'm only brewing with the hopped DME as I got it for £1 a 500g pack and the skinflint in me couldn't resist such a bargain so I grabbed 12! I'm sure it will be good if I can actually figure out how to use it properly.

Your calculations make much more sense than mine, so hopefully it works out that way and I get a beer in the region of 46 IBUs. I'm planning on steeping some hedgerow hops in a hopstand so hopefully the DME provides enough bitterness. Anyway, I'll report back in a few weeks.

 

[Sandimas]

It's more than just IBUs too, if there's no info on the hop used then you've no idea if it's a "clean" bittering hop like Magnum or one which imparts a degree of flavour like Target: there is a difference.

Personally, I'd use unhopped spraymalt then you'd have more control.

 

[G-Town Brewer]

I just received a reply back from Muntons on this, so the official response is as follows:

To Calculate Total Bitterness from Muntons Hopped Light Spraymalt

1g of the product dissolved into 1l would deliver 0.29IBU. From this you can calculate your total bitterness as you change the amount you add and the total volume.

So, for 500g dissolved into 1l would give 145IBU (0.29 x 500 = 145).

If you were to use 2.5kg for a 23l batch, then 0.29 x 2500 = 725 725/23 = 31.5IBU

 

[dmtaylor]

Oh good, so my math was right. I used the middle of the range provided on the package, whereas Muntons’ rep used a lower value of 29 to my 35.

 

[G-Town Brewer]

Oh good, so my math was right. I used the middle of the range provided on the package, whereas Muntons’ rep used a lower value of 29 to my 35.

Yep, nice one. Damn sight closer than my calculations! Cheers.