So I recently decided to try the free trial of beer smith. In the past I have used the brew pal app on my iPhone with ok success. The problem is that when I add an ounce of warrior into brew pal it gives me 26 ibus. Beer smith gives me a much lower rating. Any ideas why or should I just go with beer smith
Free app vs beersmith
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Hex23
Well-Known Member
There are several different formulas for calculating IBU's (Tinseth, Raeger, etc) and you can even select which one Beersmith uses. Also I think Beersmith is pretty sophisticated about how it calculates IBUs in cases where gravity changes mid-boil (e.g. late extract addition). Don't know much about brew pal. Also, remember that IBU calculations are just estimations subject to error.
brewski09
Well-Known Member
Check your equipment profile. I noticed this when I was playing around with it for the first time today. If you have the wrong equipment profile, it calculates it as a partial batch with top off water, thereby making it an increased gravity wort with much less extract efficiency. Hope this helps.
BrewCrewKevin
Well-Known Member
Also keep in mind that IBUs are just an estimate. In fact, most people can only distinguish in increments of about 5 IBUs.
Beer smith takes into calculation boil duration IBU extraction efficiency, I do not use brew pal so I do not know about them.
IBU Extraction Efficiency they longer you boil the more Bittering units you pull from the hops. A 60 minute boil does not mean a 100% extraction; at most it would be around 35%. Some think if you boil longer you will extract more hence 90min boils on IPAs, - I disagree with this as do other people, but some people will have a difference of opinion. I have tried and tasted and the difference I notice with longer boils on the same recipes is higher Alcohol content. I do not notice a dramatic increase of the Bitterness of the beer. (But again I dont send my beer in to be tested so I can only go by my taste comparison/ I have no scientific proof)
So this may be why they have different results the efficiency may be set different (or as previous post the Alpha Acids may be listed different)- I know that you can adjust beer smiths AA by editing the ingredient.
In the end I do use and like beer smith, but I also use beer alchemy and I am still comparing both of them, I think I am starting to like alchemy better. (Only reason for this is personal preference, I like the print out of Alchemy for my recipes and batches so I can put them nicely in my brew binder.)
IBU Extraction Efficiency they longer you boil the more Bittering units you pull from the hops. A 60 minute boil does not mean a 100% extraction; at most it would be around 35%. Some think if you boil longer you will extract more hence 90min boils on IPAs, - I disagree with this as do other people, but some people will have a difference of opinion. I have tried and tasted and the difference I notice with longer boils on the same recipes is higher Alcohol content. I do not notice a dramatic increase of the Bitterness of the beer. (But again I dont send my beer in to be tested so I can only go by my taste comparison/ I have no scientific proof)
So this may be why they have different results the efficiency may be set different (or as previous post the Alpha Acids may be listed different)- I know that you can adjust beer smiths AA by editing the ingredient.
In the end I do use and like beer smith, but I also use beer alchemy and I am still comparing both of them, I think I am starting to like alchemy better. (Only reason for this is personal preference, I like the print out of Alchemy for my recipes and batches so I can put them nicely in my brew binder.)
brewski09
Well-Known Member
cjones said:
You wouldn't notice too much of a difference boiling for 90 minutes. The Iso-acid utilization will only be increased a minuscule amount between 60 and 90 minutes. Are you adding more water to the boil ??? You shouldn't have a more concentrated wort if you are. Also, you can print out a brew sheet from beersmith.
I agree on the Iso acid utilization, that is why I said I disagree with longer boils adding more bitterness - no I did not add more water to the boil, I compared the exact same recipe just longer boil - so yes it did concentrate the wort - I also know you can print the brew sheet from beer smith, I just like Alchemys print out better - I can added pictures of the brew day.
