Hi all, I'm a newbie and first time poster. I just started my first batch about ten days ago and will be bottling early - mid next week. I started with a pre-packaged kit that came with 2oz. Zythos pellets (boiled ~60 minutes) and 1oz. Hallertau whole hops (boiled ~8-10 minutes). The kit states the IBU will be between 18 and 24, but being an excel nerd, I want to have my own formula / grid that I track everything with and need to use and IBU formula. My question for you is what is the best formula? I have come across several variations and I am not sure which is considered "the best". I appreciate any feedback. Cheers!
Tinseth, hands down. Don't use anything else. Tinseth isn't perfect either, but it's pretty dang close. Maybe high by about 5% or something compared to actual lab data, but mileage may vary.
Different brewers report that one formula is more reflective of their homebrewery vs, another. It really depends on your personal homebrewery. One thing to keep in mind is that they are all estimators so they perform exactly that way: they give you an estimate. Cheers!
Nerd Alert; Check out this link to see how hop acid fades with time and poor storage conditions: http://brewerslog.appspot.com/HopAlphaCalc Who knows how accurate this is, but it does emphasis the need for proper hop storage (vacuum/sub-freezing). Kits have been known to be stored less than optimal for hops (and yeast). Well to the o̶b̶s̶e̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n hobby.
Whatever estimator you choose, you should stick with it. This way there is consistency in your personal evaluation of your beer. You'll begin to develop a sense for what a 30 (or 20 or 40...)calculated ibus, brewed on your system, means to your taste buds. Of course, you may alter your process over time, such that beers that calculated at 30 might result in less or more perceived bitterness, but as you hone your process, you'll develop some level of personal calibration relating what you expect to taste to the estimated IBUs.
