Creating recipes with Beersmith

I have just started using Beersmith, and it really seems like an awesome program. I'm pretty new to brewing. I'm a musician and really love the artistic side of brewing and want to create my own recipes. I drink a lot of beer and am very familiar with a wide variety of styles, and I've done a ton research on the process of brewing and the science behind it.

Here is my question: If I get the gravity, color, bitterness and such to match the parameters that Beersmith sets for the different styles of beer, and assuming I use the kinds of malts/hops/yeast they reccomend for the style, should it come out decent? Or at least something that resembles the style I was going for?

I understand there are many many variables that can influence the turnout of a beer. I have brewed 7 one gallon batches in the last month and they all taste fantastic.*

I just want to know if I can generally trust that (as long as I have a grasp of what a style should taste like) getting the numbers to match while using correct ingredients will give me a decent beer that is somewhat true to the style.

Thanks!*

Here's a tip from an old school style brewer/artist/scientist/engineer...

Write your own recipes for at least 10 or so batches to get acclimated to your system parameters before you let software take over.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people who use brewing software; it's merely another valuable tool for brewers. However, there's no replacement for the brewer him/herself. Once you've written and brewed your own recipes enough times to get the hang of your system (they're all different, and will all introduce their own variables), then you will be able to apply some oversight to any recipes produced by your software, because, let's face it, you will know more about your system than your software will.

Once you've got some data and experience with your system, you can input useful parameters into your software and it will be a handy tool/resource. You say you're a musician, so be creative by all means. That's one of the best aspects of brewing beer. Use the software as a guide if you find it useful, but create your own product and you'll be happy with it in many ways.

TiberoldschoolandeverybitasgoodBrew

Great advice, thanks a lot! Its hard to explain how I want to use the program. I dont know enough on my own to create beers from scratch with no help doing the math, BUT I want to make my own recipes. I mainly want to use it to make sure that the beer I am making, although my own, still has the characteristics of a particular style of beer. This way, I can really know the different ingredients and what exactly they do to my beer.

Creating your own recipies is great but in order to do that you really have to understand the products your using. Like why would you use flaked wheat in a non wheat beer?

I suggest starting out with very simple recipies so you can start to get an understanding of their contribution to the finished product.

Another way to create is to research other peoples recipies for a particular style, find the similarities and differences, and then build a recipe structured around that. Then, using BeerSmith, make sure you stay within style guidlines and you should be fine.

Good luck

Bull

Beersmith works very well for me and i use it heavily, but like Tiber_Brew says get to know your system first. I know that 20 IBU's on my system, for whatever reason, is more bitter than 20 IBU's some other people's systems in my homebrew club, and when I got a new mashtun i had to adjust my efficiency from 76% to 72%. Get those little quirks figured out and you'll be in heaven. I either hit the mark or make it in the ballpark nearly every single batch with beersmith. I often just sit there and write out 5 or 6 recipes just for entertainment value, I still have like 10 awesome looking brews I've never made.

markg388 said:

and when I got a new mashtun i had to adjust my efficiency from 76% to 72%. Get those little quirks figured out and you'll be in heaven.

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Word. I already know that I usually have a boiloff of 30% instead of 20, and my efficiency is sitting nice at %70. I have nailed my target OG's with exactly 1 gallon of wort going into the fermenter the last three batches

markg388 said:

I often just sit there and write out 5 or 6 recipes just for entertainment value, I still have like 10 awesome looking brews I've never made.

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Me too! Thats why I wanted to know if I should be able to trust it. I have about 7 just sitting there, and I was worried that if I made them, they would be completely off haha.

Anyways, all good information. Thanks everyone, I have my first recipe (oatmeal stout) lookin nice in the closet right now! If it turns out good, Im gonna just keep doing my thang in Beersmith.