BeerSmith brewing steps accuracy

[YoBroBrewery]

Hello all,

I am a new home brewer who recently completed my first brew cycle successfully using a recipe that had ingredients and steps that I purchased from a local home brewing store in my area. I would like to soon try and build my own recipe using the BeerSmith software that I came across when scouring the HomeBrewTalks website. I was curious to know how good are the steps that the BeerSmith software provides everything that I used so far on the software has been terrific but I don’t have any experience yet actually going through with brewing a recipe that I created using it.
All feedback and tips are welcome! Thanks.

 

[VikeMan]

I don't use BeerSmith. But in the interest of helping this thread along, what do you mean by "steps?" I'd suggest listing them, if you'd like specific feedback.

 

[Oginme]

Hello all,

I am a new home brewer who recently completed my first brew cycle successfully using a recipe that had ingredients and steps that I purchased from a local home brewing store in my area. I would like to soon try and build my own recipe using the BeerSmith software that I came across when scouring the HomeBrewTalks website. I was curious to know how good are the steps that the BeerSmith software provides everything that I used so far on the software has been terrific but I don’t have any experience yet actually going through with brewing a recipe that I created using it.
All feedback and tips are welcome! Thanks.

As with any brewing software, the 'steps' and outcome are only as good as the assumptions made to construct the profiles (for BeerSmith the equipment profile and mash profile) when customizing them to reflect the typical values you get with your system. The stock profiles which come with the program are intended to be used as templates for the user to adjust.

There are many posts on the BeerSmith forum and videos on YouTube on how to create a custom the equipment profile. The more care you use in taking accurate readings, the better the software will be able to predict your outcome. Expect to take a few brews to 'dial-in' your numbers and don't fret the resulting numbers at first, it will still be beer.

 

[Elric]

Boil off rate is one of the biggest variables that you need to provide a number for in a recipe, it can't just be handed to you. For best accuracy right from the get go, I suggest you take your system fill it with the size of the brew you want (i.e. if you want 5 gallon batches fill kettle with 5 gallons) and boil it for an hour. then measure how much water you have. The amount missing is your boil off rate. each setup is unique in how much water will boil off, and even a single system may have vastly different boil off rates depending on the amount of water being used. For example, if I am using a 10 gallon kettle on my stove to….. A 7 gallon quantity of wort will only ever get to the gentlest of boils, and I may only lose .5 gallons in an hour. I’ll be able to get a 4.5 gallon quantity up to a proper rolling boil and may have .75 gallon/hour boil off. If I try to do only a 2 gallon boil, it is so shallow in the kettle that if I don't watch the temp closely it could do a very vigorous boil and go up to or over 1 gallon/ hour. Getting this number right is one of the key measurements you'll need in accurately hitting your gravity numbers No matter what software you use.

 

[Control Freak]

If your trying to design a beer recipe look up the BJCP Guidelines online and start there. That will give you a great foundation.

 

[PCABrewing]

Hello all,

I am a new home brewer who recently completed my first brew cycle successfully using a recipe that had ingredients and steps that I purchased from a local home brewing store in my area. I would like to soon try and build my own recipe using the BeerSmith software that I came across when scouring the HomeBrewTalks website.

I use Beersmith for design and the brewing steps that it creates. I started using it when I was still doing extract and found that it really made the subsequent transition to all-grain pretty simple.
I have found the results to be as I expected and easy to follow.
Don't get too into the weeds at first. Select one of the included samples and look through it then maybe save one you like the looks of under a new name and try tweaking it to your liking.
The biggest thing is getting familiar with the software. Don't be intimidated by it, just play with it until you're comfortable.
Some of the most useful items are the "Style Guide Comparison" and the profiles for Equipment, Mash, Carbonation and Aging.
As I said, just play with it first, it makes life a lot easier come brew day.

 

[Bobby_M]

Be diligent when you transcribe the recipe into the software. That's really the first step. The next step is to normalize your recipe to the actual alpha acids of the hops you buy. They won't be the same as the hops in the recipe. You may need to make adjustments to the amounts of the additions to maintain the same IBU contribution of each addition. Make sure you have an equipment profile that reflects what you're actually doing. For example, if your kettle is only 3 gallons, make sure your profile says that and that your boil volume is 2.5 gallons and not 5.

From there, the closest thing to "instructions" that you can output from Beersmith is the "brew day sheet".