Easy Partial Mash Brewing (with pics)

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Newb questions, which may be answered elsewhere in this thread, but it's sooo long! lol.

OP says he does partial boils and adjusts the hops accordingly... am I understanding correctly, this means he is using recipes that call for a full boil, and adjusting due to using a smaller brew pot? And the hops adjustment is done via a tool like Beersmith?

And where he says he shoots for a certain starting gravity, but doesn't test this until everything is topped off... am I understanding this to mean that he figures his process will get him to the desired gravity... but if it's off, he just leaves it, as there is nothing that can be done to alter it once topped up in the fermenter?

If you are using software like Beersmith it will help you with both your questions.

1-hop utilization is lower in a partial volume boil so you need to increase the hops to get the desired hop character once you have diluted the wort.

2- software will also give you where your numbers should be pre-boil, post-boil (before topping up) so you can make adjustments if you need to, and then where you should be after adding X amount of water.

I wouldn't know what to do w/o Beersmith! And this is where a refractometer comes in VERY handy so your not trying to chill a big sample to use a hydrometer only to find out you undershot your gravity by 10 points and extending your brew day figuring out what to do about it 🤘
 
Thanks, yeah I more or less understand the deal with hop utilization and boil volume, as well as target gravity.

My questions are more about OP's specific comments....

For #1 - he only would need to adjust the hops IF he was changing the boil volume of the recipe, correct? ie. if doing a partial boil recipe or kit, the hop amounts are (or should be) already setup to work with the partial boil, right?

And for #2, he OP tops up and then tests gravity... which makes sense... but if you have undershot your target gravity after diluting in primary, you are stuck with it, right?
 
Thanks, yeah I more or less understand the deal with hop utilization and boil volume, as well as target gravity.

My questions are more about OP's specific comments....

For #1 - he only would need to adjust the hops IF he was changing the boil volume of the recipe, correct? ie. if doing a partial boil recipe or kit, the hop amounts are (or should be) already setup to work with the partial boil, right?

And for #2, he OP tops up and then tests gravity... which makes sense... but if you have undershot your target gravity after diluting in primary, you are stuck with it, right?

Yes, if the recipe was designed for partial boil you would not need to adjust. And if you only measure gravity after topping up in the fermenter and you undershot your gravity you could make adjustments by boiling some extract or sugar in water and adding it to the fermenter, or you live with it.

What I was saying is you will get post-boil, pre-top up gravity estimates in Beersmith. For example I created a recipe this morning for a Belgian pale ale (because the low here was -36° F FML) in which the post-boil gravity estimate is 1.068 and the starting gravity after top-up is 1.051. I can take a refractometer reading before transferring to the fermenter and make adjustments if needed.
In that same recipe, the IBU in the partial volume boil version is 21.1 and if I change it to full volume boil it bumps up a couple of points to 23.6 ...Not much of a difference and I wouldn't mess with adjusting the hops myself in this situation.
 
Got it, thanks! I think I need to give Beersmith a try, even just to input random recipes and play with the variables to see what happens to the final numbers. I feel like seeing the effect that various alterations have might help cement this kind of thing in my brain.

Is Beersmith "useable" without having an accurate equipment profile put in? Because I would have no idea about a lot of the variables that I believe the equipment profile asks for. Would have to guess at much of it (eg. efficiency)

Maybe a more basic question is... can Beersmith even be used for Partial mash or extract + specialty steep recipes? Because that's what I'd be doing. Or is it built around all-grain?
 
Brad has been fantastic about not charging for updates so even if you don't get a ton of use out of it now, I promise you'll get your money's worth! You'll find yourself using it more and more--adding recipes you find online or in brewing publications, creating your own, tweaking recipes for what you have on hand. Either you'll find an equipment profile that is close enough or, with a little fiddling, you'll figure out how to add your equipment.
 
I think I edited as you were responding, so to make sure the question is seen.... can Beersmith be of use for partial mash, or extract + specialty steeping, as that's what I'd be doing. Or is it mostly of use for all-grain brewers?
 
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