OG:IBU ratios

[DOHM]

Back into brewing after many years off. Both partial grain and all grain and everything is great, love the software OG calculations are spot on etc. My only issue is the OG:IBU ratio does not seem to jive with recipes I have seen. My sweet spot for IPA's seems to be about 2.00 which seems very high. 1.0 to 1.5 has very little to no bitterness. Dry hopping works as expected(typically in the keg) but bittering/flavor seems poor. I do full volume boils, typically 8 gallons boiled down to 6.5-7gal on an electric induction heater with a circulation pump to keep things moving through whirlpool. I'm not looking for mega hoppy ipa's but definitely like SN Torpedo and Hop Devil level beers. Thinking the hops may be oldish so I just got some 2019 direct from Yakima Valley. Does anyone else experience this or have thoughts on the bittering levels for the boil.

[BOB357]

I find that, after adjusting utilization for my altitude, the IBU levels in BeerSmith closely match my perception of bitterness. The alpha acids do degrade with time, especially if you don't keep the hops frozen. There is also a chance that your taste has changed over time and you just don't perceive the bitterness you expect.

[Kevin58]

There are many factors at play here. Bob hit on one but you also have batch size to consider. I don't know what it was for the recipes you have seen but I'd wager that there were differences between them and your process. Also the methods used for calculating IBU could have been different between those recipes and what Beersmith uses. Basically it all comes down to a perception issue and you adjust your hop schedules to match your own tastes.

Just a side note, what is "oldish" to you? Brulosophy has a podcast out... their latest Q&A session... where they talk about hop age. The information they received from hop growers in the Pacific Northwest is that with modern packaging and storage methods there should be very little degradation in hop AA and oils over time. Even after you open them they say if you seal them reasonably and store them cold even those should remain very usable. Cold being more important that air tightness. I vacuum seal my left over hops and store them in a chest freezer in the garage. I have hops stored that way left over from the 2016 and 2017 harvests that I still use. I've started adding about 20% more of those but they have not been detrimental in any way in terms of flavor or aroma.