Mix "n" Match
Moderators: BlackDuck, Beer-lord, LouieMacGoo, philm00x, gwcr
Mix "n" Match
My lovely SWMBO bought me 1 each of every Mr. Beer HMEs for X-Mas. I wanted to use them up,so I matched up the OctoberFest and Bavarian Wheat mixes with W-o6 yeast. I next matched the Patriot Lager and American Ale with Cooper's yeast. I bottled them a month ago,and had 1st pour 5/10. Neither of the brews had anything special tastes.Basically both amber ales.But. If I'm correct,when mixing 2 HMEs,you add the IBU's together to get the total for the brew. Well the one with 40 IBU's had more of a bitterness than the one with 53 IBU's. I know everyone says that Mr. Beer's numbers aren't spot on,so maybe that explains it. Anyone have any ideas about that thought?
Re: Mix "n" Match
There are various possibilities.
Perceived bitterness is not the same as IBUs, which are a measure of the bittering component contributed by the hops only, not everything else that's in there. So other ingredients in the wort will affect how you perceive that bitterness. IE if the American Ale has crystal malt in it (and I think it does), then that malt would add sweetness to the resulting beer countering some of the extra bitterness. The Oktoberfest is malty but not sweet - they are two different things. Malty beers can still be dry. And wheat tends to taste "more tart", and "less sweet/dryer" then a barley based product with the same IBUs.
So that's one thing.
Another thing perhaps:
IBUs are directly proportional to volume, so if one of the batches was even a little bit different in fill volume then the other that would affect the "proportion" of bitterness that was contributed.
There are other possibilities too, but those are the most likely.
Perceived bitterness is not the same as IBUs, which are a measure of the bittering component contributed by the hops only, not everything else that's in there. So other ingredients in the wort will affect how you perceive that bitterness. IE if the American Ale has crystal malt in it (and I think it does), then that malt would add sweetness to the resulting beer countering some of the extra bitterness. The Oktoberfest is malty but not sweet - they are two different things. Malty beers can still be dry. And wheat tends to taste "more tart", and "less sweet/dryer" then a barley based product with the same IBUs.
So that's one thing.
Another thing perhaps:
IBUs are directly proportional to volume, so if one of the batches was even a little bit different in fill volume then the other that would affect the "proportion" of bitterness that was contributed.
There are other possibilities too, but those are the most likely.
Re: Mix "n" Match
Makes sense Mashani, I'm kinda a Malty preference guy,but I understand the need in beer to have a balance between bitterness and sweetness.So, all in all I have 2 more cases of a drinkable Amber ale. I do not see a "Re-Brew" with these 2 HMEs,but I have redone the Powerful Patriot twice,and have had great sucess with it.But as we all know,the powers that be(enter name of large commercial brewery),have made it impossible to get all of the ingredients needed to brew this beer.Oh well,onwards and Brewwards. 