Beersmith instructions for partial mash bpa

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zgo

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I've been having fun with Beersmith the past week or so trying to get together my first partial mash. It also happens to be my first self-designed recipe and first time using Beersmith. It'll be a BPA.

I've read the message boards, gleaned what I think will work, and put together something that Beersmith says will be a rather balanced beer (please correct me if I'm wrong).

2 lbs Caravienne
2 lbs Belg. Pils
.25 lb Aromatic
.25 lb Biscuit

4 lbs Pale LME
.75 oz Columbus (60 min)
.5 oz Celeia (20 min)
.5 oz Celeia (5 min)

Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes

Now, here are my questions:
1) When I look at the brewsheet view of the recipe--the one with the instructions for water amounts and temperatures for mashing in and sparing--I get 1.97 qt at 184.9 F for mashing in, and then sparging with 2.75 gallons at 168 F.
It is just me or do those water amounts look incredibly unbalanced? 184.9 F seems incredibly high, and how am I supposed to soak 4.5 pounds of grains in half a gallon? Is there something wrong with my recipe, or is Beersmith screwing with me? This doesn't at all sound like the amounts of water for partial mashes I've read about.

2) Under the Classic Recipe view, under Beer Profile, there's the "estimated" OG, FG, and ABV (OG 1.052, FG 1.013, ABV 5.1) and then the "measured" OG, FG, and ABV, (OG 1.046, FG 1.010, ABV 4.7).
As you can see the second set is negligibly yet markedly lower than the first set of figures. So my questions on this point are: a) Why "measured" since I haven't done anything yet; and b) Why is there this difference between the set of figures?

Any help?

Forgive the hyper organized questioning. It's my first time doing a number of things, and I just want to make sure I get this right. I thought Beersmith would make things easier...
 
I can answer as far as #2 goes. The "estimated" figures are what the software believes your recipe will create.

The "measured" numbers are what you are supposed to input on brewday (for OG) and after fermentation (for FG, ABV). You can do data entry in those boxes, but not the "estimated" boxes under the "recipe design" tab after you double click on the recipe in the "brew log" or wherever you have it listed.

I attached a sample and cirlced where you can do your own input.

Cheers!

Capture.jpg
 
Check to make sure your equipment profile is set up correctly. The mash tun, or grain, temp might be set to a cold temp which would would require the higher temp.

Sent from my iPod touch using HB Talk
 
First, your recipe is not something you'd probably like. That's a LOT of crystal malt. But still if you want it really sweet like that, that's ok, but add some more base malt. You have 2.5 pounds of specialty grains and only 2 pounds of base malt. I'd lower the caravienne for sure, but if you don't want to you could increase the base malt.

I don't have the newest version of beersmith, but you can set up your mash profile I'm sure. Use 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain as the default, and a mash temp of 150-152 would be good. The reason that shows so high is that you aren't using enough water in the mash.

For the sparge, you could use up to .5 gallon per pound of grain, but you could also use less so that you sparge up to your boil volume.
 
Thanks for your help everyone.

I've filled out the mash and equipment profiles, and the water temperature and amounts look a lot better: 6.25 quarts at 163.7 F to steep at 152 F, and sparge with 1.8 gallons at 168 F. From what little I know, those are much more normal and should leave me with a decent 2.7 gallon boil.

I took your advice on the grains into account, Yooper, and made the following adjustments:

3 lbs Belg. Pils
1 lbs Caravienne
.5 lbs Caramunich
.25 lb Aromatic
.25 lb Biscuit

How does that sound? More balanced? Still too much specialty malt? I suppose I added that much caravienne because I don't want it to be too light in color. But since I'm not entering in any contests and just want good tasting beer...
 
Thanks for your help everyone.

I've filled out the mash and equipment profiles, and the water temperature and amounts look a lot better: 6.25 quarts at 163.7 F to steep at 152 F, and sparge with 1.8 gallons at 168 F. From what little I know, those are much more normal and should leave me with a decent 2.7 gallon boil.

I took your advice on the grains into account, Yooper, and made the following adjustments:

3 lbs Belg. Pils
1 lbs Caravienne
.5 lbs Caramunich
.25 lb Aromatic
.25 lb Biscuit

How does that sound? More balanced? Still too much specialty malt? I suppose I added that much caravienne because I don't want it to be too light in color. But since I'm not entering in any contests and just want good tasting beer...

Caramunich is also a crystal malt. (Cara- before anything means it's a crystal malt). I'd use less, but I dislike sweetness in many beers so if it sounds good to you then you could certainly use that much.
 
Don't over complicate the malt bill. Pick one crystal malt and use less than a pound. I would use Pilsner LME as well. Your hops schedule is also out of style for 16B, Belgian Pale Ale. It should be 30 IBU max to stay in the range. A Belgian is all about the yeasty flavors so you don't want to cover it up with a bunch of bittering. Now if you're going for a Belgian IPA, that's a different story.
 
Ah... I love good criticism.

Alright guys, you've got me down to this:
.25 Aromatic
.25 Biscuit
.5 Caravienne
3.5 Belg. Pils

4 Pils LME

I chose the hops based on Ommegang's BPA. Yet even there, I decided not to have an additional amount of Celeia and not to dry hop with Cascade like they do. Beersmith indicates my IBUs are pretty much smack in the middle for this style, so I'm going to stick with what I've got.

Here's the predicted profile:
OG: 1.052 (style: 1.048-1.054)
IBUs: 26.7 (20-30)
Color: 6.2 (8-14)
ABV: 5.1 (4.8-5.5)

As you can see, the color is a bit light--which is probably what got me using the Pale LME and the excessive caravienne. If Pils MLE ends up giving me a better tasting beer, then so be it, but are they're any ideas on darkening it up a bit?
 
Ah... I love good criticism.

Alright guys, you've got me down to this:
.25 Aromatic
.25 Biscuit
.5 Caravienne
3.5 Belg. Pils

4 Pils LME

I chose the hops based on Ommegang's BPA. Yet even there, I decided not to have an additional amount of Celeia and not to dry hop with Cascade like they do. Beersmith indicates my IBUs are pretty much smack in the middle for this style, so I'm going to stick with what I've got.

Here's the predicted profile:
OG: 1.052 (style: 1.048-1.054)
IBUs: 26.7 (20-30)
Color: 6.2 (8-14)
ABV: 5.1 (4.8-5.5)

As you can see, the color is a bit light--which is probably what got me using the Pale LME and the excessive caravienne. If Pils MLE ends up giving me a better tasting beer, then so be it, but are they're any ideas on darkening it up a bit?

I think your color is fine. The extract will darken a tad, and a Belgian pale is pretty light. I don't think you'll have any issue at all with the color.
 

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