How many IBUs to you prefer with IPAs?

I have found there are beers I felt were bitter and ended up registering less IBU than beers that I felt were more balanced/lower bitterness. Therefore, I don’t pay much attention anymore. Cheers.

 

IBU's is mainly a measurement for the brewers if I'm not mistaken. Someone with more brewing knowledge could explain it.

Taste wise IBU's isnt a accurate scale. A beer can have higher IBU's but not be very bitter, vice versa for lower IBU's tasting like a higher IBU beer. The abv % also can have a play in how you sense those IBU's ime.

IBU's are pretty much useless information for the drinker.

 

That number is rarely available on beer labels, so I don't pay any attention. However, I've read that any IBU number above 65-75 isn't detectable in your tasting capability, so I'll max out and say 65.

P.S. Welcome to the BA site, @HRW01

 

Yeah, I generally find IBU's be pointless. How I perceive bitterness within a beer has to do with the type of hops and the malt base way more than the reported number of IBU's. Most of my favorites fall around 50-66, but don't really think that matters. Some beers with way fewer IBU's taste more bitter to me while others that supposedly have hundreds taste less so.

 

@Resistance88 recently discussed a beer with me that had unusually high IBU, but he found it to be sweet and balanced. Maybe he will post about it here.

 

I don't yearn for the highest hopkill IBUs (anymore, I'll be the first to admit) but I do pay attention to the balance between ABV and IBU (if the data are provided).

So I tend to like the beers that have a logarithmic balance, say a 5% ABV and 50IBU or 7% and 70IBU and greater. If the IBU is way lower than the ABV, I tend to think of them as too sweet or malty (if you prefer). *shrugs*

 

Brewers also use a BU:GU ratio. That gives them a good sense of how bitter the beer is expected to be based on the grains in the build. As @eppCOS said bitterness of a 5% abv is different at 7%. I still look at ibus and abv to get a general guideline though of what to expect.

 

OK, I will enter the fray here.

When a brewery ‘advertises’ IBUs for a given beer they could be just what an estimator (e.g., Tinseth IBU estimator) provides; there are online tools that do this. Well, an estimator is just that: it estimates. The values are not going to be precise.

A brewery could measure the IBUs of their beers. If they have a spectrophotometer in their lab they could conduct an assay (ASBC Beer 23 assay) to measure the IBUs. Or alternatively they could send to beer to a lab to have the analysis performed.

Now, a few people have brought up ancillary topics:

Perceived Bitterness

There are some proposed equations to quantify perceived bitterness but I am not aware that any industry body has ‘certified’ these equations. Perceived bitterness can be a factor of other substances beyond isomerized alpha acids (which is what the IBU is intended to quantify) which will also provide some bitterness to the beer.

There is also the aspect that some beers may have increased maltiness which can potentially offset the perception of bitterness to the beer.

IBU and bitterness saturation effect

A number of years ago there were the “IBU wars” where breweries were stating outrageous IBU values for certain beers. For example, Mikkeller produced a beer they branded as 1000 IBU

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13307/56842/

There is a point at which the human palate cannot ‘register’ additional bitterness in the beer. I have read varying values stated for the upper limit but it is around 100 – 120 IBUs.

Cheers!

 

I think a classic is when you don't feel the high IBUs is stouts. Much malt somehow diminishes the bitterness feeling.

I'd say I'm flexible when it comes to IBU. But there needs to be some, and suiting the style.

 

If it melts my tongue the ibus are perfect.

 

I want the IPA to strip the enamel of my teeth.

 

Time for Mikkeller to rebrew their beer 1000 IBU?

Cheers!

 

melted the top layer off.

 

I look for a BU:GU ratio of 1:1. 1.060 starting gravity? 60 ibus. Easy peasy.

 

And new taste buds will result!

Cheers!

 

haha. Yes. Now light lagers have a lot of flavor.

 

Poll:

troll post

not a troll post

 

I like bitter, the bitterer the betterer™. However, I've found that what the brewer says doesn't always jibe with my perceptions. One man's palate scorcher is another man's juice bomb.