IPA bittering..

[KJG..]

Hi all, I have a couple of questions regarding IPA bittering and some pics to share of an electric build me and buddy completed a few years back that some of you may appreciate... Although I understand it is a matter of taste, is there a general rule of thumb for initial units of IBUs in beer and specifically IPAs to lay down a nice bittering platform? Also is there any guidelines for IBU/SG? Or does this just come back to preference? Thanks for any help and cheers to Nick Jones from Malt Mechanics for putting up with my pesky questions over the years!

[KJG..]

Pics

[KJG..]

Pics

[Crusader-Rob]

For me IBU is a matter of taste, but it should be known that the more malt presense in your beer (i.e more crystal etc.) that the more bittering you hould allow to compensate for ABV and sweetness.

an IPA though should be dry, and malt presense relatively low. (particularly Crystal malts)

I think alot of articles auggest for IPA's a total bitterness ratio of 0.8 - 1 for IBU/SG.

 but it comes down to your own tastes., so if you like the more bitter hop bombs or the more fruit forward, resinous hop flavour IPa's it will all depend.

I've actually begun lowering my bittering charge a little bit to compensate for additional hops late in the boil. even adding layering hops at 30min or 20 min.

my standard house APA only has 10g of Pac.Jade at 60, with the remainder at 10 and 0 with a big dryhop.

The key is balance though, so big hop flavour with balanced bitterness makes an ipa come out much more rounded and drinkable.

(Just finished up a IIPA with no crystal (Only Pale, Munich and Vienna) with 30g at bittering, and layered additions throughout (30g @ 30 - 50g @10 - 80g @ 0 - 120g Dryhop)

[KJG..]

Thanks Rob, your reply echoes my thought process and what ive been doing.. my initial IPA brews have had a strong malt backbone which ive been slowly working on dialling down to let the hops become more pronounced.. its backwards brewing I know in terms of not brewing a 100% base malt recipe first and then dialling in specialtys but its all learning and just how I do things I guess! May the crusade be long and prosperous....

[Crusader-Rob]

What I've been trying to do recently Is simplify my profiles. (I've done a few now)

For example:

Instead of a Porter brewed with pale - munich - pale crystal - pale choc - black - and possibly medium crystal

I use pale - medium crystal - pale choc

My now standard House Pale Ale is Pale and Supernova.

Hops are pretty much a free  for all on the other hand, I brewwed a couple of clone beer which use about 6-7 hops which were good, but for my tastes i found that the use of 2-3 hops, with the possibility of a 4th layering hop works well enough for what i want to acheieve.

[nofizznofoam]

In a recipe o have Without any hops earlier than 10mins the ibu number comes in at 38. OG 1.059. Tastes more bitter than 38 due to steep hops and you need to remember the ibu number is just a number calculated by a formula