MDB

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I was going to brew this recipe for a porter but I'm getting concerned, my LHB mentioned he thought this would be a real big beer (I originally had 9 lbs LME), which didn't jive with my Beersmith calculations. I went into Beersmith and got all profiles accurate, and I'm still coming out low compared to LHB estimates, so I ran the same recipe in Hopville. Recipe is below but here is the discrepancy:

OG -- BS =1.047 / Hopville = 1.068
FG -- BS =1.015 / Hopville = 1.022
ABV - BS =4.2% / Hopville = 6.1%

this is a wide discrepancy and I want to figure it out before I go an brew it. If BS is right, I want to push up the OG, if Hopville is right I'm good. PLEASE HELP!!

1 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 14.5 %
1 lbs 3.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 2 11.5 %
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.7 %
6.1 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.7 %
4.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.4 %
9 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 6 58.2 %

Note the yeast (brings down the FG from if you use US-05)
1.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 ml]

Ply318ci

Recipes 

Hopville automatically is set to calculate your efficiency at 75% unless you change it beersmith looks like it is calculating at a different efficiency Hopville is also a much simpler program. I use both but like beersmith more and feel that it is more accurate once you got it set up to your specs. Hope this helps.

Draken

Recipes 

I am showing 1.064 with 70% efficiency for 5 gallons straight up. That's not adding in for kettle trub loss and assuming you meant 6lbs of PLE not 9.

bobbrews

Recipes 

9 lbs of LME, all those spec malts, and WLP002 starting at 1.047 OG seems completely ridiculous to me.

Hopville is definitely more right here. Beersmith would be right too, but your settings are off.

By the way, you don't need carapils. It's already inherent in Extract. No need for the insignificant amount of pale malt either unless you're mashing it with the carapils.

Yooper

Recipes 

Remember that you aren't mashing your specialty grains, so you won't get much in the way of SG points out of them.

Even using Beersmith, 9 pounds of LME should equal 1.065. That's what I get when I put 9 pounds of LME in to the program. Efficiency doesn't matter- so make sure you have "extract" as the type of brew in Beersmith.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

MDB

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THis is why I'm head scratching, I have 5 other recipes loaded into beersmith THAT I'VE ALREADY BREWED and the numbers are roughly matching the MEASURED gravity readings that I recorded from those batches, so while I can't say I'm a pro with all the settings, it can't be that far off. Maybe I'm going to have to just brew it and see what happens but my concern is the yeast, if my OG is much over 1.070 yeast will be stressed. Maybe I should make a starter just in case?

strambo

Recipes 

Check the top up water field, that can throw it way off. A setting has to be off somewhere with that much extract.

BBL_Brewer

Recipes 

IMHO, you should learn how to do the calculations manually before you start relying on software. The math is really pretty simple. Palmer's book explains it very well.

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Slots Down Brewery
Stick with the plan....not the sparge.

Never Ending Liquid Yeast - How to Farm Yeast and Freeze it.

Yooper

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Well, certainly. If you're using liquid yeast, you should be making a starter routinely anyway if the OG is expected above 1.040 or so.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

MDB

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Yooper really? (I mean, I believe you, just surprised a little the package says it's good to 1.070)