Beer Smith Question

How come when I change between a partial mash and a extract it doesn't add any gravity for my steeped crystal grains.

I am trying to replicate a recipe based off two others so I am trying to get the amounts right for the extract/steeped grain recipe I am doing.

What way do I do it for accurate OG's? I thought crystal grains added not only gravity but fermentables right? But if I put it in extract mode I can move the amount of crystal grains up and down with no effect on the OG whatsoever.

Can someone help please?

Thanks

Steeping doesn't really get you any fermentables. It does get material into the wort, which increases original gravity, but none of that material is going to turn into alcohol. Also, it is only going to just slightly alter your original gravity to have crystal malt. Increase the amount by about a pound, and you might get a0.001 or 0.002 increase in original gravity.

Wow, Why does it only increase it so little? I can physically see it adding something, whether or not its fermentable must make the liquid denser, I am just having trouble grasping how it has so little effect when I can see the flavors and colors pouring our of the crystal malts lol

Do crystal malts actually do something as far as gravity and fermentables when mashed rather than steeped then? Because the gravity does go up about 12 points when I change it to being mashed rather than steeped....

I went straight to partial mashes when I brewed so take this with a grain of salt. From the Third Edition of How to Brew, page 135, Palmer lists the extract potential of steeping grains. Medium crystal yields 18 gravity points per pound per gallon (ppg). In a 5g batch that works out to 3.6 points per pound so you do get some gravity points out of it. I have no experience with it myself but those were the results of Palmer's experiment. Not all the sugar leeched out will be fermentable but some are. Torchiest's estimate may not be far off. It depends on different factors, including the crush of your grain. You could check out the on-line version of his book if you do not have it at www.howtobrew.com and check out the section on steeping grains.

pirate252 said:

Wow, Why does it only increase it so little? I can physically see it adding something, whether or not its fermentable must make the liquid denser, I am just having trouble grasping how it has so little effect when I can see the flavors and colors pouring our of the crystal malts lol

Do crystal malts actually do something as far as gravity and fermentables when mashed rather than steeped then? Because the gravity does go up about 12 points when I change it to being mashed rather than steeped....

Click to expand...

Like paul_beer said, they contribute a little, but not much. Post your recipe.

Yeah I did bump up the grain amount a lot just to see, and it did raise the gravity a few points per pound, guess its close enough because I put some known recipes out of a book I have into it and looked at then OG's, they were pretty close I Extract is pretty accurate for extract/steeping grain recipes.

But here is the recipe as it stands right now, I am gonna call it 12 Below. I am pretty sure this is what I am gonna do, the only thing I am still thinking about is the flavor hops, the SA Winter Lager recipe I am basing a lot of this from doesn't use any flavor hops, just bittering and aroma, but I am thinking about adding some, as I have listed below as the 1/2 oz of tettenager... what do you guys think?


12 Below Winter Ale
Brew Type: Extract Date: 2/17/2007
Style: Specialty Beer
Batch Size: 4.50 gal
Boil Volume: 2.43 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Equipment: Brew Pot (5 Gallon)


Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 10.5 %
7.00 lb Munich LME (6.5 SRM) Extract 73.7 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 15.8 %
1.75 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.20%] (60 min) Hops 21.2 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00%] (15 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00%] (2 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
1.00 oz Tettnanger [4.50%] (2 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
0.25 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.50 gm Sweet Gale (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Cinnamon (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Cloves (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
3.00 tsp Ginger Root (Boil 12.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs East Coast Ale (White Labs #WLP008) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.067
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Estimated Color: 16.0 SRM (5.0-50.0 SRM)
Bitterness: 24.6 IBU (5.0-70.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 2.9 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 6.5 % (2.5-12.0 %)
Estimated Calories: 275 cal/pint