Janets Brown - Beersmith vs Classic Styles

So, I entered in the recipe in Beersmith exactly as it is in Brewing Classic Styles (only adjustment was replacing 4 lbs base malt with DME) and the gravity is WAY off. OG is 77 instead of 66. IBUs and SRM are really close though. I'm wondering if it has something to do with my base malt to DME conversion...

Recipe called for 12 lbs American 2 Row. I Substituted 4 lbs of that for DME using the .67 X 4 conversion.

Ended up with 8 lbs 2 Row plus 2.68 lbs DME. Did I figure this wrong?

Also, my equipment profile in Beersmith is set up based on the assumptions in Brewing Classic Styles...

7 gallons pre-boil
6 gallons post-boil
5.5 into the fermentor
5 into the bottle

This is the same question that a few others have had of late. I am not sure with the substitution of extract but make sure your at 70 percent efficiency on the program and that your batch size is set to 6 gallons.

I'm brewing the pumpkin spice ale in the book tomorrow. Using the same grain bill for a 5.5 gallon batch to boost it up a bit.

Craig311 said:

Also, my equipment profile in Beersmith is set up based on the assumptions in Brewing Classic Styles...

7 gallons pre-boil
6 gallons post-boil
5.5 into the fermentor
5 into the bottle

Click to expand...

Ah... Well ignore my previous post then. . Do check your eff though.

Actually... I just noticed my "Est Boil Gravity"(pre-boil) is dead on at 66 (what the post boil should be).

mrduna01 said:

Ah... Well ignore my previous post then. . Do check your eff though.

Click to expand...

One question (even though it doesn't account for the difference)... You said to set batch size at 6. Beersmith considers the batch size the "amount into the fermenter". Per Brewing Classic Styles, this should be 5.5.

If I change it to 6, I get an OG of 69. That's a heck of a lot closer. I'm just not sure it's accurate based on the volume of wort anticipated.

Sorry for all of the posts. I'm learning as I go here (only 2nd time with Beersmith)...

If I change the Batch size to 6 and the efficiency to 70(all else constant). Here is the comparison (first nbr Brewing Classic Styles/2nd nbr Beersmith)...

OG: 1.066 / 1.069
FG: 1.016 / 1.017
IBU: 63 / 61.9
SRM: 21 / 19.5

All close enough. However, I don't understand the reason a batch size of 6 gallons in Beersmith is necessary to get the anticipated values of 5.5 per the recipe? Both are referring to the volume going into the fermentor.

I'm pretty sure in Beersmith, the batch size is the amount left at the end of the boil, it assumes that you are transferring all of that to the fermenter. I just double checked a Scottish Ale that I used out of 'Brewing Classic Styles' and the numbers Beersmith came up with were spot on to the book using a 6 gallon batch size and 70% efficiency.

Thanks. All seems to work out fine at 6 gallons.