I just received my 5 gallon PTE clone kit from their BOGO sale last week. I was inputting the Austin Homebrew recipe into BeerSmith and am questioning the IBUs I'm getting back. BeerSmith is calculating an IBU of 183 from the following: 90 min, 3.5 oz Columbus (133) 45 min, 0.75 oz Columbus (25) 30 min, 1 oz Simcoe (25) 0 min, 1.25 oz Centennial (0) 0 min, 2 oz Chinook (0) 0 min, 0.5 oz Simcoe (0) + DH AHS does not list the PTE clone kit on their website anymore so I can't check what their listed IBU is. As most of you know, RR lists PTE's bitterness as "high". Is it 183 high or is BeerSmith overshooting my bitterness? The bitterness seems high for such a high starting gravity (hop utilization).
The best I have seen puts the number at 80 to 90. The saturation point in beer is about 110 IBU. Vinnie has stated PtE measures at about 95 in the lab.
The beer software breaks down when tasked to compute super high IBU brews. I use Brewers Friend and for PtE it shows an IBU of 279. Of course there is a limit on how much alpha acid can be isomerized in the wort. If you look at Vinnie's published recipe for Pliny, it states an actual IBU of 90-95. Don't get too wrapped up in the numbers . . . it's a great brew . . . just do it. BTW, this recipe was published in 1999 (?). If you dig around, you can find interviews where Vinnie says he has substituted some Amarillo. That's how I made mine . . . Mmmm.
That looks like the one he handed out at the 2009 NHC. There was an earlier one, not sure when, that had Warrior and mash hops. He talkedof adding alittle Amarillo late around 2010 or 2011 on a BN interview.
IBU calculations are sketchy at best. Some of the most respected people in the homebrew world (Daniels, Tenseth, Mosher, etc) have come up with formulas that, in my experience often return laughably inaccurate IBU figures even on beers in the "normal" hopping range. Some software will let you configure your own utilization curve (I use beer tools pro) and with that you can at least come up with something that will give you numbers that reflect what you taste in the finished beer brewed on you particular system. All the popular formulas have far too low a utilization for late hops and mid boil hops.
Tinseth was very close on my system vs measured data. His work was on a converted keg, which I have also. I will agree that on high hopping rates (DIPA) and late additions it can be inaccurate. None address whirlpool hops or hop steeping.
Based on the oft-published PtE recipe from Vinnie...adjusted for batch size and hop alpha...my calculated IBU clocks in ~230. Still curious to know more about the Amarillo additon.
my PtE clone (pseudo-clone, that is) had different hops completely, but also had about 3oz of pretty high AA at 60 minutes, and had IBUs (calculated, tinseth) over 100. I totally agree, numbers be damned, just brew it now and ask questions later.
Calculated IBUs are just a number that you can have some internal meaning, within your own brewing system. If you use the same settings in BeerSmith, for example, you will gradually learn what 5, 10 20, 40, etc Beersmith IBUs means for your homebrewing system and your palate. It's a non-exact, system specific calibration. And at the higher end of the scale, in the territory you have ventured with this recipe, the value of this internal calibration diminishes because you likely will have a difficult time discerning between 100 and 183 calculated IBUs. But you might be able to discern between 80 and 100, and more likely will be able to discern between 50 and 100, etc.
Here's how I did it, substituted 1.5 oz. of Amarillo at 0 min and 5 day DH. 3.5 oz. Columbus 90 min 0.75 oz. Columbus 45 1.0 oz. Simcoe 30 1.0 oz. Centennial 0 1.25 oz. Amarillo 0 1.25 oz. Simcoe 0 1.0 oz. Columbus DH 12 days 1.0 oz. Centennial DH 12 days 1.0 oz. Simcoe DH 12 days 0.25 oz. Amarillo DH 5 days 0.25 oz. Columbus DH 5 days 0.25 oz. Simcoe DH 5 days If you are counting, that's 12.5 ounces of hops. For the OP: This was one of the worst tasting brews (early) I've ever made. I had trouble swallowing the OG sample. I tasted at both DH steps and at racking, didn't think it was fit to serve. Then at about the 5 week mark it started to shine. At 6 weeks I carried some to my homebrew club and it was so well received that two members tried to follow me home. I shook 'em . . . but now I live in fear.
