• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Bitterness Ratio

wolfej50

Apprentice
Joined
Jul 13, 2014
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Brad,
I just read your article (thanks) on the Bitterness Ratio and I had a question.  According to the article, the ratio is based on the IBU and the OG.  However, I would have expected a better ratio to be based on the FG or the difference between the OG and FG, since the 'sweetness' described by the OG can be metabolized by fermentation.  Does anyone calculate the Bitterness Ration using these other numbers?
 
Two reasons come to mind quickly; 1) the OG affects hop utilization, e.g., higher OGs reduce utilization, lowering bitterness.  The BU:GU tracks that relationship properly.  And 2) the general range of OG across most styles is 1.045 to 1.80 and higher, so it's a wider range that yields some differences.  Using FG which compresses to a narrow range of roughly 1.010 to 1.020 would shrink the results quite a bit and reduce the usefulness of the ratio. 
 
Back
Top