ALL about the numbers - Thoughts?

[gunhaus]

So- the water is in the grains, and I have a little time to kill. I was thinking as i read over some new posts that there are people who obsess, sometimes dramatically, over every little number in the brew process. If they miss their predicted OG, or their FG, or any of the other assorted G's by even a point or so, they wig out and try to decipher and question every possible angle. There seems to be a real anxiety that something may be seriously off!

On the other end of the spectrum there seem to be brewers that shun the numbers as potentially evil or demonic, and act as if the mere possession of a hydrometer is a hell worthy offense, and may result in removal of ones brewing card. (I admit that the little mean anarchist in me envies the way they recklessly pour sugary liquids in a bucket, dose it with yeast and ride the whirlwind to conclusion!)

I myself like the numbers, but have never been able to muster any degree of obsession about them. I take predicted OG and FG with a grain of salt and am more worried about the end product and a fair degree of repeatability. If the end product from my set up suits my tastes that is the goal i seek, and if my numbers do not jive with the software by a few points so be it. If a tasty looking recipe comes out a little sweet or a little dry or a little off then i can tweak the system till the tastes are what i like and I use the numbers to achieve this goal. As an example i have a nice "Mocktoberfest" type ale that I brew. The original recipe called for 1.050 OG, 1.014 FG, and the software numbers matched up to that with all MY system numbers installed. It came out at 1.054 OG, and 1.010 FG, and was wonderful - still is after ten years of brewing it! I could have adjusted the bill a tad, dinked around with a different yeast etc to EXACTLY hit the number - But why? It's good as is! The numbers guide me and tell me if I am off somewhere - But if the one sitting on the cupboard mashing right now ends up at 1.052 OG, (And later finishes at say 1.012) I am gonna sleep good tonight and drink good in about three weeks!

I have also learned in the past 30 years or so to accept the fact that as with all cooking endeavors I have ZERO control over the many factors of nature. Like it or not there are going to be times things happen! Some years the barley will have a higher sugar content. A particular lot of yeast may contain an inordinate amount of muscle bound over achievers. Or maybe the touch or Silenus will combine with the seasoning from the tears of baby Jesus, and a particular batch will attenuate a little more or less than normal! These, to me, are those "special batches" you remember fondly over time! I like that!

So where do you stand with the numbers? How do you view them and use them? Does your brew day crash down if each batch does not exactly match predictions? Do you, like me, use them as a guide line to recreate as closely as possible from batch to batch, but you don't live or die a little inside aver them? Do they suck and you wish that numbers had never been drawn from the primordial ooze?

Time to stir the mash! Tag you'er it . . . .

 

[catdaddy66]

Couldn't agree more! Currently have a California common recipe that was a bit low on the pre boil gravity (1.043 vs predicted 1.046) but it matters little if my beer tastes good to me. Had an issue with a stuck sparge so it may be the reason. Oh, well... Brewing goes on!

 

[cloudybrewer]

I am starting to record more numbers on brew days. I think it will be fun to see if reality matches prediction, and to know my simple BIAB system better, wrt grain absorbtion, efficiency, and boil off. None of it is make or break, though.

 

[Dgallo]

Numbers are important for a many reason. One you want to be as efficient as possible. Calculations allow you to produce the beer you are intending with those ingredients. It also informs you if you do have an issue with your mash, equipment, crush of grain, or ph of water. Not saying you can’t make a good beer without caring about the numbers, but without keeping the numbers and using them to inform your decisions, you will have a very difficult time truly replicating a beer with minimal variation from the original.

 

[catdaddy66]

I love the numbers and record them accurately as they are valuable in many applications. I just don't let them dictate my emotions. I try to narrow down the causes for errors to improve them in the future. But I still enjoy most of my results so far!

RDWAHAHB!

 

[mongoose33]

When I started brewing I tended to focus on the numbers a lot. I think that's reasonable for new brewers; until you have finished and carbonated beer how do you tell if you're at least doing it approximately correctly?

I record most numbers (gravity, pH, water additions, all that stuff), for two reasons. First is if I hit a recipe that's terrific, I want to be able to repeat it.

Second is that I believe I learned about brewing a lot faster by recording numbers. When I began all-grain brewing, with a mash tun, lautering, sparging, and so on, I'd take gravity readings of the first runnings, second runnings, total, all that stuff. It helped me get a sense of the tempo of brewing and what I produce, and if there was a problem, it helped me narrow down the cause.

As time went on, however, while i continued to record almost everything, I became less concerned with them. I see people here who are putting everything in beersmith and trying to predict this, and that, and while I have beersmith, I found it to....well, rob me of some of the connection to the beer, if that makes sense.

If I'm off a bit on gravity, or the mash is a bit long, or the temp a bit low or high, as long as it's not egregiously so, then it's not a concern. I'll get beer, and it'll be good beer, and an anally-retetentive focus on the numbers and hitting them precisely isn't important.

I can't tell you the IBUs in my beer, for instance. I suppose I could enter all that in beersmith and get a decent estimate, but I don't care that much. All I care is whether I like the beer, and others drinking it like it--enough to come back for more.

********

Now, that doesn't mean those who are hyper-focused on the numbers are wrong. People get to decide how they want to enjoy brewing and if that is part of it, then that's part of it.

If I were brewing commercially, the answer would be different.

 

[balrog]

I use the numbers as a guide to repeat what I want to repeat and try not to repeat what I don't want to repeat. Repeatedly.

 

[BrewInspector]

I used to check the numbers along the way when brewing a beer. I knew where I would be a little higher or lower than expected and slowly began to take fewer readings to the point that I only took an OG and FG so that I could determine the ABV. (Since others would ask me what it was) Then I started to forget to take either the OG or FG on a beer. Without one the other was useless so I quit talking either.

I concentrate more on the process and volumes not worry a bit about those calculated numbers and how close I actually get to them. I will occasionally take readings on a new recipe but the results like the calculated numbers are just a reference point.

 

[Still Brewn]

Gotta love the guys that obsess over every little number... life, as it turns out, is short. When learning to brew and when learning how your system reacts to every step of the process or learning to make a new recipe, these are the only times to be worried about your numbers. I get it, some people obsess because it makes them happy. Not me. After somewhere between 75 and 100 brews I have yet to make the same brew twice. I want to try everything but life is too short to ever make that possible. I take notes but not obsessively, I write the recipes down and figure out what my numbers should come to and if I forget to take a number or write a number down big deal it not going to change anything. I am still going to have 5 gallons of happiness in a metal tube in my refrigerator waiting to be poured into a glass and enjoyed by someone.
We should be thanking those obsessive people because they are the ones perfecting the recipes the rest of us are using to spread the joy of this thing we call beer.