Whats the Hop-to-OG balance?

[WishboneBrewery]

Whats the Hop-to-OG balance?

Is there some rule of thumb for a limit of EBU's to hop a low gravity ale?

[vacant]

hop bitterness balance guide: grams x aa% = 5 x OG

I dug that out from my notes, not sure where it came from and I assume it's for 23 litres

[WishboneBrewery]

So is that the combined weights of hops and average of their AA%?

[Scooby]

hop bitterness balance guide: grams x aa% = 5 x OG

I dug that out from my notes, not sure where it came from and I assume it's for 23 litres

I'm not sure where that came from either. If you go to brewing calculators in the guestbook and look at Daab's hop rate calculator
you'll see this;

Stronger, higher gravity beers require a higher level of bitterness to balance out the sweet malt flavours.

When designing a recipe a rule of thumb is that IBUs/OG should equal 1 or less to avoid excessive bitterness.

So a beer with an og of 40 would have a max IBU of 40

[WishboneBrewery]

That'll do... thanks

I was wondering about trying a low OG beer and didn't want to be over bittering it.

[WishboneBrewery]

I wonder if that would be OG as 1030 or 1.030 ?

[Scooby]

Rocket fuel or orange juice

[WishboneBrewery]

yeah, there's a bit of a difference!

Either way I'm not sure I understand the calculation IBU *divided?* by OG to be 1 or Less (which ever way round I pump the numbers into the calculator it doesn't give a sensible figure).
Or... is that meant to be stated as a Ratio, ignoring the 10, so a 1030 wort should have no more than a 30 EBU bittering being 1:1???

Chris???

[steve_flack]

It varies from style to style but I find aiming for a IBU around three quarters of the gravity (so 30IBU for a 1.040 beer) seems to give a nice balance in a bitter.

[WishboneBrewery]

OK

So this might work:

Code: Select all

Three Percent

Fermentable	Colour	lb: oz	Grams	Ratio
Golden Promise	5 EBC	5 lbs. 15.1 oz	2700 grams	84.4%
Crystal Rye Malt	150 EBC	0 lbs. 10.5 oz	300 grams	9.4%
Wheat Malt	3.5 EBC	0 lbs. 7.0 oz	200 grams	6.3%

Hop Variety	Type	Alpha	Time	lb: oz	grams	Ratio
Target	Whole	11.4 %	60 mins	0 lbs. 0.4 oz	10 grams	16.7%
Challenger	Whole	7.6 %	15 mins	0 lbs. 0.7 oz	20 grams	33.3%
Target	Whole	11.4 %	0 mins	0 lbs. 0.4 oz	10 grams	16.7%
Challenger	Whole	7.6 %	0 mins	0 lbs. 0.7 oz	20 grams	33.3%

Final Volume:	23	Litres
Original Gravity:	1.031	
Final Gravity:	1.008	
Alcohol Content:	3%	ABV
Total Liquor:	31.5	Litres
Mash Liquor:	8	Litres
Mash Efficiency:	75	%
Bitterness:	23	EBU
Colour:	19	EBC

Then experiment on EBU from the results of that.

Cheers

[196osh]

Always thought it was 1:1 or less. But when you get into higher abvs you can do what ever you want.

[WishboneBrewery]

I'd have to say I think I prefer the higher EBU'd beers pretty fresh and young so you get a full-on kick.
Some brewing experiments will have to take place

[196osh]

Happy days.

I have enough bottles to make a few single hopped pale ales.

[WishboneBrewery]

I have enough bottles (loads with the annoying Plastic labels that don't come off that easy) but a lack of conditioning space.
I'm going to have to 'try' resist the temptation to brew this weekend... Hmm!
I've had a good run lately ha ha