I too believe that it’s too complicated to calculate, especially since IBUS are theoretical until you have it scientifically calculated.
@rustyhoover as I said earlier it’s probably negligible in homebrew as your talking 5 mins to chill from boiling to below 170° where the isomerization drops drastically. Plus you can get to pitching temps within 10-20 mins.
Another thing to keep in mind is actual bitterness vs perceived bitterness. Beers where most of the IBUS come from late hop additions show little perceived bitterness when they will actually have very similar IBUS to more bitter beers.
There is the mystery… Really, what is perceived IBU’s? I think this would be a great conversation for Denny and Drew! What one tongue perceives is not what another one does… So then the IBU’s become… a suggestion?
I like what Rustyhoover has for HIS concept… Although the data points towards an idea about what perceived IBU’s is, but not really bitterness/aroma/flavor… Which is the one IBU is pin pointing? I don’t care for a bitter “taste” on my tongue… Yet, with aroma/flavor, I’m in!.. is that actually masking the bitterness? I’ll go back to the tootsie pop cartoon many years ago… “the world may never know” !! Delightful thoughts my friends! Sneezles61
Well, for my hopbursted beer with my setup/process, the scenario where calculated IBUs of 42 might end up closer to 105 is not so unrealistic. With a plate chiller, the time it takes to get below 170 vs pitching temp is exactly the same
As you correctly point out, all those calculated numbers are approximations, but those approximations work pretty well in homebrewing in general, and probably a lot less well for this scenario. In most situations with more reasonable quantities of flavor/aroma hops, it would definitely be negligible.
At any rate, I totally agree that we’ll never have a perfect answer for this (and probably don’t need one) and I appreciate the thoughts/advice
