Beer Captured Recipes - incorrect IBUS?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by mclaughlindw4, Dec 29, 2013.

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  1. mclaughlindw4

    mclaughlindw4 Initiate (0) Jul 2, 2009 Maine

    Does anyone use these recipes and have you noticed the IBUs seem fishy? Example:

    Cream Stout (pg 113).

    10 oz Crystal 60
    8 oz US chocolate
    6 oz Roasted Barley british
    4.5 lb LDME
    1 lb Wheat dry extract
    1 lb maltodextrin

    1 oz Kent Goldings 5% AA at 60 min
    .5 oz fuggles 4.8% AA at 60 min

    .25 oz kent goldings at 15 min

    The books uses extract recipes, this one calls for an initial (partial) boil volume of 2.5 gallons. The recipe states that the IBUs should be 26. This would be true if it were a full boil. But with the partial, you would fall far short of that. Beersmith gives me around 14, and my own calculations using How to Brew confirm this. I've looked at one other recipe (biere de Garde) from this book and it's the same discrepancy.

    The book does contain all grain versions, here they say to use 22% less hops than the extract recipe, so that would be wrong too.

    Am I missing something? I am still learning and this is confusing the me.
     
  2. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    You should learn to go by your own numbers on your system, and it looks like you are.

    I will just say that those books are not my favorites, I have them but they stay on the shelf.
     
  3. mclaughlindw4

    mclaughlindw4 Initiate (0) Jul 2, 2009 Maine

    I used my own numbers for the biere de garde in the book which I brewed. I wanted to do a late extract addition and that is how I ended up realizing that I thought their numbers were wrong.

    It just seems odd that the authors would get something that basic wrong, and that there is no mention of it when I do a google search or look at reviews of the book. I can't be the only one that's seen it so was hoping for someone to confirm it for me.
     
  4. mclaughlindw4

    mclaughlindw4 Initiate (0) Jul 2, 2009 Maine

    I just discovered that if I switch the IBU formula in Beersmith to Rager, I get the IBUs from the book. So I suppose that explains it. Beersmith uses Tinseth as default and that is what how to brew uses too so that's why those two checks agreed.

    I didn't even realize there were different formulas, so that just got more complicated for me. :slight_smile:
     
  5. utahbeerdude

    utahbeerdude Maven (1,374) May 2, 2006 Utah

    A while back I checked the IBU's in this book for several recipes. They all came very close to what one would predict using Charlie Papazian's numbers in Complete Joy of Homebrewing. I just went back to the spreadsheet and put in the numbers for the Cream Stout. I calculated 26 IBU's, in agreement with the recipe. BTW, CP's numbers are very similar to Rager, and higher than Tinseth, as you have just discovered.
     
  6. mclaughlindw4

    mclaughlindw4 Initiate (0) Jul 2, 2009 Maine

    Great thank you for checking that for me.
     
  7. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    This.

    I too have this book, but don't really use it. It was more of a learning thing, to get general ideas for certain types of beers via their commercial clones according to one guy. Use the book for a general guideline or for ideas, but do not assume complete troof from every recipe. You always have to adjust for your own system anyway*.

    *and of course this means picking rager or tinseth and sticking with it. BS uses tinseth (well at least that was the default when I picked it up), so I stuck with it. I would be lost trying to use beer captured without converting the recipes to my system, using tinseth. None of the numbers would work out, and likely none of the recipes would either. I would suggest tinseth, BTW, since I think most people here use it. Also, learning general bitterness and hoppiness (taste verses numbers) is a bit easier to get a handle on with simple recipes than it is with complicated ones.
     
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