International Bitterness Units (IBUs) and Beer Recipe Design

[BeerSmith]

International Bitterness Units (IBUs) and Beer Recipe Design
https://beersmith.com/blog/2025/01/30/international-bitterness-units-ibus-and-beer-recipe-design/

Cheers!
Brad

 

[Kevin58]

I've been watching the Brulosophy YouTube channel and on more than one occasion they have sent their homebrew in to be tested at White Labs only to find out that the bitterness they thought they achieved was way lower than the actual test result.

 

[BeerSmith]

Not a huge surprise - this is probably the most interesting thread where I talked to the actual people involved in developing the estimates:
https://beersmith.com/blog/2021/07/22/some-surprising-thoughts-on-ibu-levels-and-beer/

 

[patpawlowski]

Interesting. I'm not an IPA fan and don't like particularly bitter beer. I mean, don't get me wrong, beer should be bitter I just don't like to see how bitter I can make it. So when I design a recipe in BeerSmith I just try to keep the bitterness in range for the style but behind the estimated original gravity. I was thinking maybe I should push it up a bit, but after finishing the article, probably not.