[rodwha]

So it’s been said/shown that there is still some isomeritization of the hop oils below the boil temp where people do their whirlpools. When making hop forward beers I’ve generally used a 21 min flavor and 7 min hop drop and then worked on a whirlpool starting at 185* and going for 48 mins. What is happening with the oils from those earlier additions?

These beers have always been very hoppy like many west coast styles, but then for my IPAs I’ve targeted 100 IBUs with what went into the boil and used about two to three times the hops in the whirlpool and dry hop not even bothering with any IBU contribution they may add.

I’m now thinking maybe I should try bringing those numbers down so that the whirlpool gives them the 21/7 effect. Maybe a 12-14 min and 3 min addition.

[Bob357]

I've gone to pretty much a reduced 60 minute addition, a whirlpool for 20 or 30 and keg hopping for APAs and IPAs.  I feel the savings on bittering hops pays for some of the whirlpool addition and since I'm getting both IBUs and aroma from the whirlpool I use less for keg hopping, so cost wise, it's pretty much a wash.

If I do flavor and aroma kettle additions I omit the whirlpool addition. As a rule, I don't see a bunch of difference overall. I use BeerSmith and use the Tinseth formula. In my equipment profile, set Large Batch hops utilization to: 90% rather than the default of 100% . This adjustment allows me to use published IBUs of many commercial beers for my recipes and have my bitterness come out very similar to theirs.

[rodwha]

I’ve read often enough that people will forgo late boil additions in favor of a whirlpool and dry hop and increase the bittering hops to hit their desired IBUs.

I typically use 1/2 oz of Warrior for bittering, but my IBUs (or higher) with the remainder and still do anwhitlpool and dry hop, and that has given me my nice over the top hop flavor that many west coast styles have. I guess I’ve just been reluctant to try a no late addition beer, especially when I haven’t seen anything definitive on the IBU contributions.

[klickitat jim]

In IPAs and APAs, where we are using gobs of hops at various stages, I think people are way too attached to IBU calculations. They are fine to get a ballpark idea on a new recipe or when playing with new hops, but when it comes to trying to figure out exactly what is going on with bitterness... not so much. Especially with end of boil hop-stand, whirlpool, and coldside hops. It should be all about how you perceive the bitterness. If the beer tasted perfect, but you had no idea what the IBUs were, would that bother you? If so, I might be looking at you...

[rodwha]

Indeed. That’s why I don’t care that my calculations are showing 100+ IBUs. They aren’t bitter whatsoever. I guess I perceive IBUs to equate more to flavor/aroma when it comes to IBUs in west coast style IPAs, which certainly isn’t accurate per se. But when I’m getting <20 IBUs from a bittering addition all of the additional “IBUs” are coming in as flavor and aroma.

I once tried an IPA with no true bittering addition but did a large 30, 20, 10, and 5 min (and dry hop) additions and it came out strange, as though it were lacking a quality bitterness.