The high IBU fever: myth or reality?
In the current beer world, the IPA are not only a style, but a scenario of competition to see who achieves the most intense, lipulate and, of course, with a bitterness that challenges the limits. The tendency to overcome the 100 IBU, actually, has turned bitterness contests into a science and chemistry game rather than creativity.
What is that about IBU and what really tells us
The acronym IBU means ‘International Bittering Units’, or in Spanish, International Bitter Units. It is a kind of chemical thermometer that indicates how bitter a beer is, but be careful: it is not a measure as simple as it seems. An IBU equals a milligram of bitter compounds in each liter of drink. That sounds direct, but magic is how that bitterness occurs.
Hops: precursor in the bitterness chain
The hops does not bring in itself the compounds that make beer bitter; Actually, it carries precursors, who need a touch of heat to become what we call ISO-ALFA acids. The key here is in the isomerization reaction, a chemical process that transforms alpha acids into their ‘bitter’ versions.
What limits the intensity of bitterness?
Here is the trap: the solubility of those alpha acids in beer is not infinite. So, no matter how many kilos of hops you put, only one fraction will dissolve, and that baseline limits how much bitter can be generated. Although theoretical calculations suggest that a beer could reach 300 IBU, in practice, chemical reactions and solubility dictate a much lower stop.
The race to cross the limits of brewing chemistry
In the elaboration process, ISO-ALFA acids occur initially, but are also prone to degrade due to heat and other factors. This generates a kind of tense balance; The more you try to increase bitterness, the faster these unwanted compounds begin to disappear that, in theory, make beer lose its lupulate character.
The final result of this chemical competence is a dead point: the reactions of creation and destruction of bitterness reach a kind of balance. And what does this mean for brewers? That, regardless of how much hops they add, the level of effective bitterness will hardly exceed the 100 ibu using traditional techniques. Chemistry, in its sovereignty, imposes an unbreakable stop.
What if you want more? The alternative to standard chemistry
Can that limit be skipped? The answer is yes, with a somewhat technical trap: buy iso-sour acids preformulated and pre-isomerized, that is, chemically extracted and prepared for use. Thus, you break the solubility barrier and, practically, you can have an IPA with ‘more than 300 ib’ without breaking your head with the chemistry of the moment in the pot.
But, in the artisanal and traditional world, this option is usually considered a trap or cheat. Most prefer that this lupulate sensation come from their own ingredients, the typical process and creativity in the mixture. It’s like magic with natural ingredients, instead of buying already made tricks.
What does this mean in beer reality?
When a bar or brewery announces an IPA with more than 100 IBU, what is actually saying is that they have approached the limits of the possible with traditional methods. On many occasions, that difference between 90, 100 or 110 IBU is more noticeable by other factors such as the balance of malt, the flavor profile or even mouth perception, than by an exact numerical scale.
So, the next time you meet a beer that promises to challenge the limits of bitterness, remember: In many cases, those numbers are more a sample of beer ambition than of an absolute chemical reality. The magic of IPA remains a dance between science, technique and creativity, and chemistry only marks the rhythm.
