BU-GU Ratio

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wombil

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Hey Guys,
I am doing an Irish Red and brewmate gives me a bu-gu ratio of 0.82.
I have made quite a few of these and they come out pretty good but I have never thought about this ratio thing.I don't like to complicate things unnecessarily.
Anyway, what does this thing mean and what should the ratio be ?
Mine is 0.82 and the beer is good so perhaps 0.82 is the perfect percentage.
I've been wrong before tho.
Cheers.
 
I think the BU:GU ratio is not worth watching. It's just a number made up from two important numbers. Also it does not take into account what the grain bill actually is. Malts like munich and dark malts need more IBUs to compliment them. I prefer to stick within the BJCP style guidelines.

But if you go by the guidelines for 9D Irish Red Ale, you are allowed IBU 17-28, and OG 1.044-1.060. So avg 23 IBU and avg 52 OG, 23/52 = 0.44, even using the extremes highest IBU 28 and lowest OG 44, 28/44 = 0.63; therefore you are very bitter for the style, and outside of the acceptable range.

I would prefer to see the IBU and OG listed, along with the actual recipe.


edit: Does brewmate allow you to select the style sheet for the brew and see how it compares to the guidelines.
 
Here's a pic from Beersmith of what I mean, "Style Guide Comparison"

Recipe-design-web.png



So in this example, the BU:GU is high but within the acceptable ranges.
 
Thanks Kev for that,
I think your first thought "",not to worry about"" that is my idea too.
See if I can get a shot of my brewmate screen up here.
Not worried about style guidelines Kev. only if the results are ok for me.
Last one hadmore cara red and caraaroma and was more black than red so we'll see how this one goes.
It's always a good drink..
Thanks,
wombil.

IRA.jpg
 
I don't worry too much about BU:GU value. With Brewmate, if you're out of style for a particular value, it will turn from grey to yellow (such as it has for the IBU value in your screenshot). If you hover the cursor over the field it will display the range for that value, as per the style guidelines, ie if you hover the cursor over the IBU value field, a small square will appear saying 17-28, indicating that is the IBU range in the style guidelines for an Irish Red Ale.
 
What FG do you normally get when brewing this beer? I prefer to mainly focus on a ratio that compares the FG as a real extract ratio (REU - basically the FG corrected for the skewing affects of alcohol) to bitterness.
 
I normally get about 1.016 / 1.014.
I really am not concerned about guidelines for a specific style.
I just didn't know what that ratio meant.
Basically I just want to make beer that I like.bjcp (whatever that is )styles etc. are of little matter to me.
Thanks for the answer and interest
 
Thanks mosto,I didn't know about hovering the cursor.
 
wombil said:
I normally get about 1.016 / 1.014.
I really am not concerned about guidelines for a specific style.
I just didn't know what that ratio meant.
Basically I just want to make beer that I like.bjcp (whatever that is )styles etc. are of little matter to me.
Thanks for the answer and interest
Ok when looking at the FG side of things it still comes out more bitter than an average Irish red style beer. More like pale ale bitterness really but if you say it tastes balanced then that is great!

The ratio is just how your bitterness compares to your original gravity. In general, a higher OG will leave a higher residual sweetness hence needing a higher amount of bitterness to balance it. That is why people often look at BU:GU (bitterness units:gravity units) or BU:REU (bitterness units:real extract units) ratios.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks danestead,
I can understand it more now after that.
I usually aim for an OG of i.050 but it has gone up to 1.056 which I thought was a bit high.
 
I actually find IBU:SG rather important.

Its one of the fundamentals of designing a beer.
 
even thou we have style guidelines which list the IBU and OG range?
 
I own a copy of and have read it...

To clarify what I mean, is the style guidelines give us the valid range for both IBU and OG. So why then take a number that is derived from the initial two numbers to say is the beer is valid. It does show us the bittering Vs the malty sweetness to get a theoretical idea. But we need to stay within the guidelines for the style.

Can you clarify why the number is so important to you once you understand the beerstyle.
 
I could, but you will only want to argue the point, so no, I wont.
 
So you are happy to say it is a fundamental idea of designing a beer as Ray once wrote, but wont back it up why you said you find it important. Not meaning to be argumentative, I am honestly interested why you find it a key.

If we stay within the style guidelines wont we always meet the ratio?
Wouldn't a BU to FG be a better number for designing a great beer?
 
It's just another guide people can use. Not everyone gives a crap about the bjcp. I mean, do you think the Belgian monks, or the guys at pilsner urquell gave 2 fucks about brewing to a certain style?
 
mje1980 said:
It's just another guide people can use. Not everyone gives a crap about the bjcp. I mean, do you think the Belgian monks, or the guys at pilsner urquell gave 2 fucks about brewing to a certain style?
Wasn't the guidelines written based on real world examples for the style? Hence the monks didn't care for a style guideline, but the guidelines were based to reflect their examples?

Also if you don't follow the style guidelines how do you know what a valid BU:OG would be for a style?

Ducatiboy stu said:
BJCP...meh...
will leave it at that then.






For the record, I do brew beers that don't meet style guidelines. My house APA is outside the APA guideline.
 
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