Hop Utilization Adjustment at High Altitudes

[dulrich3d]

Hello,

Is there a way to adjust for hop utilization at elevation, say Denver at 5,280? I know you can adjust for FWH and whirlpool. It would be nice if there was a way to set it for my profile.

Thoughts?

 

[BOB357]

I'm at about 4,000ft. elev. and set my hop utilization to 90% rather than the default 100%. Nothing scientific about this, just that I feel the bitterness of my beers more closely match similar commercial beers with this adjustment.

 

[dulrich3d]

I'm at about 4,000ft. elev. and set my hop utilization to 90% rather than the default 100%. Nothing scientific about this, just that I feel the bitterness of my beers more closely match similar commercial beers with this adjustment.

Where do you do that in the program?

 

[dulrich3d]

I know I can change it for whirlpool and FWH but the option goes away when you select boil, would be cool if we had the option there too

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I found this on another forum posted by IowaStateFan

"Okay here is the formula that I use to adjust the hops utilization for altitude. I found it here: http://www.realbeer.com/hops/FAQ.html

Divide the utilization by ((altitude in feet/550)*.02)+1) so at 5000' you would divide your utilization by 1.18 which is a reduces your utilization by approx 15%.

For me at 9100' I get 25% less utilization."

 

[BOB357]

Based on what you are doing in beersmith, what percent reduction would you use? Thanks for your input. Hopefully, the developers are looking at this too

I use 90% instead of 100%, so you'd just reduce by 10%. Works well for me.

 

[BOB357]

I found this on another forum posted by IowaStateFan

"Okay here is the formula that I use to adjust the hops utilization for altitude. I found it here: http://www.realbeer.com/hops/FAQ.html

Divide the utilization by ((altitude in feet/550)*.02)+1) so at 5000' you would divide your utilization by 1.18 which is a reduces your utilization by approx 15%.

For me at 9100' I get 25% less utilization."

Looks like my WAG is almost spot on then. Ya gotta get lucky once in awhile

 

[Nosybear]

Hello,

Is there a way to adjust for hop utilization at elevation, say Denver at 5,280? I know you can adjust for FWH and whirlpool. It would be nice if there was a way to set it for my profile.

Thoughts?

I'm in Aurora at 6,000. Just go for the high end of the range for the style and you'll be fine.

 

[thunderwagn]

This is something I've never heard of or even considered? I'm a little over 5,000 here and the only adjustment I ever compensate for is keg carbing.

 

[jeffpn]

I’ll let you in on a little secret, thunderwagn. Homebrewers love to fuss over everything!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I’ll let you in on a little secret, thunderwagn. Homebrewers love to fuss over everything!

You should look at some of the purists post on home brew talk, say one word wrong and they pounce all over you with exact facts

 

[BOB357]

I’ll let you in on a little secret, thunderwagn. Homebrewers love to fuss over everything!

Hey, I resemble that remark!

 

[Nosybear]

You should look at some of the purists post on home brew talk, say one word wrong and they pounce all over you with exact facts

That's why I'm here, not there.

 

[Nosybear]

This is something I've never heard of or even considered? I'm a little over 5,000 here and the only adjustment I ever compensate for is keg carbing.

Water boils at about 200 degrees. Theoretically we should see a decrease in utilization. But they brew in Leadville at 10,200 feet so I don't worry about it here, I just use experience and it tells me to use the high end of the scale.

 

[Nosybear]

This is something I've never heard of or even considered? I'm a little over 5,000 here and the only adjustment I ever compensate for is keg carbing.

Lower carbonation, too.

 

[BOB357]

You should look at some of the purists post on home brew talk, say one word wrong and they pounce all over you with exact facts

I get a little sick of the LODO purists there. If I don't drink my home brew fast enough to circumvent the negative effects of O2, I'm probably ailing .

 

[jeffpn]

People have been homebrewing perfectly good beer for decades before LODO. As I said earlier today, some people gotta shake things up!!

 

[Hawkbox]

They're a big part of how I thought it was super complicated to get started. I look there occasionally but mostly to try and calm people down.

 

[Nosybear]

People have been homebrewing perfectly good beer for decades before LODO. As I said earlier today, some people gotta shake things up!!

Anything anyone tells me that you have to do exactly, that there can be no deviation, that the slightest deviation from the procedure and your DOOMED looks a bit too much like magic to me.