IBU Help Is this raiting the bitterness

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lamby

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Hi All,
Done a few more brews and finaly got one thats not too bitter "Magrove Jacks Juicy Session IPA" IBU 22 - 28, I have also done a couple of "Magrove Jacks Pink GrapeFruit IBU 35 - 45". Now to me im looking for a brewdogs IPA typ beer hense the Pink Grapefruit which i was informed was similar. I have also done the Coopers Mexican Cerveza larger IBU 18. I have also bought a tempriture controller which may have helped.

So I am i correct in looking for lower IBU number to get less bitterness or is there someting else i need to learn (every day is a school day lol). The question is how do i get rid of the bitterness.
Also can anyone recommend a brew which may suite. I have the "Magrove Jacks Mango Pale Ale IBU 22 - 28" ready to brew.
Thanks for the advice as normal.
Regards
 
Bitterness comes from alpha-acids extracted from hops added to the boil. The higher the IBU, the higher the bitterness of the beer. If your brewing kits, the acids are in there already. You could try dosing a beer with a small amount of Calcium Chloride solution. Increasing the chloride content of the water will suppress the perceived bitterness of a finished beer.


I do this if i think a brew will be improved by altering the water profile.
Method:
Grind up 0.5g of CaCl in a pestle and mortar and dissolve in 10ml of water in a water bottle. It's not the most soluble so I gave it a good shake several times during the afternoon. I then add 1/8 teaspoon of this solution to a 500ml pour of the beer I want to improve. Each 1/8 teaspoon is very roughly the equivalent of upping the Cl concentration by 50ppm.
 
IBU is the amount of bittering substances in the brew, which for most of us is an approximated value calculated from the IBU values of the hops, the quantity of the hops, the volume being brewed and the time they are boiled and/or steeped for. A "brewing calculator" does this hard work for you. What you really want is a perceived bitterness which is approximated by dividing the bitterness (IBUs, or BU) by the original gravity (OG, or GU, the OG - 1 * 1000 e.g. so 1.044 becomes 44). This BU/GU ratio gives a more consistent bitterness across-the-board.
 
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Thanks all really interesting information. At present i brew from a kit and just looking to find the beers i like without much interferance but it is nice to understand the chience behine it.
 
Since you are brewing with malt extract, be aware that the extract already contains minerals from the process of making the extract, which when combined with your own water can essentially double the mineral content of the finished beer and increase bitterness. SO.... try using distilled or RO water, if you haven't tried that already, to prevent over-mineralization in your finished beer. This should reduce bitterness to minimum levels for the kit.
 
Thanks dmtaylor never thought of doing that will give it a go thanks
 
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