HI, In general, if I add an extra pound of DME, how additional hops should I add to keep the beer in balance with original recipe/flavor. Want to bump up the ABV just bit but want to keep the taste as is. Help is appreciated. Thanks.
There’s no simple answer just based on that… but here’s a quick and dirty discussion of “balance” from a relatively new brewer who is tinkering with recipes (me).
Google BU:GU ratios… the idea being that you divide bittering units by gravity units to get a ratio. If one is increased, the other is then increased, but you want to keep the same ratio.
So let’s say the beer you’re adding extract to is 1.050, and is supposed to have 40 IBUs to start. Your ratio is then 40/50, or 0.8. If you increase the OG to 1.060, you now need 48 IBUs to keep the same ratio. Head off to your handiest brewing calculator to find the best way to add IBUs. That’s a discussion in itself…
If you want specifics, what is the original OG and BU of the beer you are modifying?
I would get in the habit of calculating a BU/GU ratio on every beer
BU= IBU’s. 90 for instance on an IIPA.
GU= Gravity with just the raw numbers, not a decimal. For the same IPA with an OG of 1.075, GU=75
The BU:GU ratio for that beer is 1.2 (90/75)
If you add 5 more GU to the beer so it is 1.080 (80 GU’s) and want to keep the balance the same, to find your new BU:
x/80=1.2
or 96 IBU’s.
How you get there is another matter. For minor adjustments like the above, I tend to add more late hops.
Depends on the original recipes BU:GU ratio. You want to maintain same balance ratio.
For example if you BU:GU ratio was originally 0.76, you will want add the amount of hops that will give you the ibu increase to get you back to that BU:GU ratio.
Totally depends on the original recipe.
Holy WOW! You guys just blew me into another relm of brewing. Smiling as I type this. I love math & beer!!! but more time for beer than math. Been brewing Kits mostly for a couple yrs, recently did a partial mash jsut to see how it works. Current batch in the fermenter is NB, “Dead Ringer” I added 4 cups Gold DME plus 1 cup Corn Sugar, Did an additional 1oz Centennial Hops “Hop Stand” for 10 min. at end of boil. Kit calls for OG of 1.064, my OG was 1.075 
Was thinking about adding an additional 1oz of Centenial hops (2oz total) in the secondary, one week before bottling. So, total of 2oz, extra hops (1oz “hop stand”, 1oz “dry hop”) ratioed to 1.6# fermentables. Will take me awhile to figure this math problem out, but Thank You Very Much for the info. really appreciate it. Love brewing and this forum is pretty cool. THANKS!!! Main research now will be; BU=IBU ??? Finding that I like hops more and more-hops! Have a great day and Thanks again.
With my software, with an 1.064 OG and the original hop additions called for, you have BU:GU of 1.08.
With your amended recipe, and og of 1.075, and the 1oz flameout addition you get a BU:GU of 0.86. You shouldn’t get any ibu’s with the flameout addition. If you would have added it at 20 minutes you would have ended up pretty close with a BU:GU of 1.07. Or even better FWH the 1oz which I scale as a 20 minute addition in ibu’s.
FYI: Using 9.7% alpha centennial.
Thanks Guys, Appreciate your help very much, especailly the math already done!!! Just did a little reading and learned some more, but more to learn I guess. Have a great day.
