How accurate is Beersmith?

Ive been brewing for a few years now and just started using BrewSmith as a trial. How accurate is it? I think I may have found a huge inconsistency between est ABV and final ABV. Why is it reporting such a huge difference (7.5%) for such a simple recipe? A bug in software? Seems a bit odd.

none of your numbers are matching up.

Billy-Klubb said:

none of your numbers are matching up.

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yep

I know people swear by this software, I'm questioning it...

I'm questioning your ability to input numbers. why doesn't your measured pre-boil volume match the estimated (off by over 2 gallons)? and your OG is off by .062? did you forget your sugars somewhere?

17.4% measured efficiency? How about a screenshot of the Design screen?

no.... he meant literally, none of your numbers match up. Your input recipe also needs all output results for allot of the numbers. It also looks like you have some errors in your recipe or possibly your equipment setup. The errors you see on that page are not Beersmith's errors, it calculates depending on what you put in.

Beersmith is dead on if the input is dead on.

Billy-Klubb said:

I'm questioning your ability to input numbers. why doesn't your measured pre-boil volume match the estimated (off by over 2 gallons)? and your OG is off by .062? did you forget your sugars somewhere?

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Me too...ill check it again in the afternoon. It's likely I messed up somewhere. I'll check numbers later...need sleep.

There are a lot of things to tweak in Beersmith. From grains, hops, yeast add-ons, etc to your equipment profiles. Boil offs, etc. It takes a while to set up right, but will be close or dead-on when you do. Patience & attention to the details will go far here.

Like others have said Beersmith is not a fortune teller. You have to plug numbers in and brew a batch for it to accurately predict ABV,SRM,SG,OG,etc. Once you put the work in Beersmith will do the rest for you.

unionrdr said:

There are a lot of things to tweak in Beersmith. From grains, hops, yeast add-ons, etc to your equipment profiles. Boil offs, etc. It takes a while to set up right, but will be close or dead-on when you do. Patience & attention to the details will go far here.

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+1

It takes some effort and a bit of tweaking based on your actual brewing results from a few batches, but once you've got your numbers dialed in BS is very accurate, at least that's been my experience. YMMV.

I love beersmith! Best $25 bucks I ever spent on equipment. I took me forever to get it setup right but once I did, like others have said, it's dead on. SRM, IBU, ABV, SG, etc...

One thing I have been having issues with is adding new hops and grains to the database. I've done a little googling on but nothing has seemed to work... I don't want to hijack the thread here... Just a side note!

BeerSmith is only as accurate as you make it. IF you take the time to accurately set up the equipment and mashing profiles to reflect how you brew and input your process variables, then tune it by taking careful measurements and adjusting the profiles to match your results, the program becomes very accurate for your brewing process and method. In my experience, it takes around 3 to 4 brews for a given set-up to get the program accurate.

I move between 10 liter BIAB for most batches and a 20 liter traditional mash tun system for established recipes. I can brew consistently with my 10 liter batch and then use the program to scale the recipe to my 20 liter set-up and hit the numbers solidly.

In short, BeerSmith is only as accurate as you allow it to be.

Your planned OG is 1.1+

Your measured OG is 1.046

It simply a case of garbage in garbage out.

This software is a tool and its usefulness is predicated on you the brewer feeding it accurate data. The better the data you supply the more accurate the predictive tool becomes.

You fed it a recipe and an equipment profile for a 1.1+ beer at 72% efficiency

You brewed a 1.04 ish beer at a near 0 efficiency (17%)

That's the problem.


It is an extremely accurate tool to have in the brewhouse. The primary factor in determining its accuracy, is the brewer and his/her data.

It does seem weird that the pre-filled values in for actual are so random compared to the estimated values. I guess it does force you to put data in to get your calculated values back. Maybe if it put in the same values as estimated into the measured fields when you create a recipe it would be less confusing.

Just like any software, as the usefulness/potential of the software goes up, user friendliness goes down. If you take the time to implement and configure beersmith correctly it is deadly accurate and crazily useful.

I use it for complicated mash schedules (step mashes, decoctions) all the time and it is spot on.

cmoewes said:

It does seem weird that the pre-filled values in for actual are so random compared to the estimated values. I guess it does force you to put data in to get your calculated values back. Maybe if it put in the same values as estimated into the measured fields when you create a recipe it would be less confusing.

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open up a 'new recipe' and blank out all the user entry fields that are filled out on brew day. Now on the second menu ribbon, you select the button 'set as default' and this recipe format will become your new default recipe that opens whenever you enter an new recipe.

thx

Well, it shows the measured OG on the last pic as 1.046. That could be it?

cmoewes said:

Maybe if it put in the same values as estimated into the measured fields when you create a recipe it would be less confusing.

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This is what I do. I then input real actual values when I brew it.

I'm starting from scratch. I just set up my kettle profile and about to input data again. I got a bit frustrated last night. Today is a new day :rockin:

twisted-brew said:

I'm starting from scratch. I just set up my kettle profile and about to input data again. I got a bit frustrated last night. Today is a brew day :rockin:

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ftfy

17!

Yep It was as simple as adjusting the Measured inputs on the same screen. What a long week!
Can't wait until the rest of my ingredients get here!

That's the thing. You have to fiddle with the one's you can input until they all work out right together.

I've got it figured out and have 3 recipes in there so far. I was leaning towards using Brewers Friend at frist. It is very easy to use but a bit simplistic. Purchasing BeerSmith2 became a no brainer once I got past the learning curve, and there is not much to learn. It's a bit overwhelming until you play around with it for a few hours. It's easier than making the damn beer.