Bitterness in our beer is often considered as a single, quantitative measurement, commonly known as the International Bitterness Unit, or IBU. In reality, bitterness is far more complex and often poorly understood. Judging a beer’s bitterness solely by IBUs is similar to gauging one’s fitness level by merely looking at his weight on a scale. The perception of bitterness in a beer is influenced by a wide and diverse set of factors beyond the alpha acid content in hops. Malt, yeast, water chemistry, temperature, and process can also be manipulated to affect the final outcome. In the hands of a talented brewer, all of it comes into perfect balance. In this episode, I discuss all of this and more with a global expert, hop researcher, and professor to many of these talented brewers.
Those of us who desire more knowledge can find it through books, podcasts like this one, or formal training like that found with Dr. Shellhammer at Oregon State University. However we improve our education, it serves all of us to spread the word that, the better we understand our beer, the greater the experience we can have with it, and each other.
I hope you enjoy episode 21 of Good Beer Matters with Oregon State University professor and fermentation researcher, Dr. Tom Shellhammer