Why the discrepancy in beersmith?

[LuNchBoX1371]

So I downloaded a free trial of beer smith and I had already done a beer yesterday and was loading it in; when I loaded it in the gravity came up 1.093 and when I entered it in to beertoad, and measured it, it came out right on point?

 

[LLBeanJ]

You don't have everything set up correctly in BS (efficiency, batch size, accounting for losses during the process, etc). Once your settings are dialed in, BS is very accurate.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Equipment profile, subtle difference in grain metrics, etc...

Like the bean said, you gotta dial it in right cause this one goes to 11.

 

[fimpster]

Curious; what is right on point? What is BeerToad calculating?

You could always post the grain bill here and someone will put in in their BeerSmith to double check.

 

[LuNchBoX1371]

Well is was 1 lb. marris otter, 1lb. Munich, .37 lbs. crystal 80 and caraplis and 1 lb. amber dme, 1 lb. light dme, and 3lbs. light dme; if anyone wants to put it in. And right on for brewtoad was 1.088 and for beersmith 1.093 but if its the equipment profile ill screw with that.

 

[ACbrewer]

based on the difference it looks to me like there is a 5.5 v 5 gallon ferment issue. or maybe about 5.25. That is part of the equipment profile of beer smith

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Well is was 1 lb. marris otter, 1lb. Munich, .37 lbs. crystal 80 and caraplis and 1 lb. amber dme, 1 lb. light dme, and 3lbs. light dme; if anyone wants to put it in. And right on for brewtoad was 1.088 and for beersmith 1.093 but if its the equipment profile ill screw with that.

Not familiar with brewtoad but, first thing I would do is compare the potential yield values between the two softwares for each grain/extract type. I suspect they are showing different values. Beersmith being higher on something than Brewtoad.

 

[LuNchBoX1371]

Ok cool thank you both for the answer, both great. Ill make sure I look at the equipment and the extract efficiency for both of the values thank you.

 

[Calder]

What volume?

The biggest difference is probably the mash efficiency used in the program. You can change it in Beersmith to align with your normal results.

 

[LuNchBoX1371]

Well for that recipe it was a 2.5 gallon batch. Im doin extract so idk how that differs.

 

[Calder]

Well for that recipe it was a 2.5 gallon batch. Im doin extract so idk how that differs.

Your recipe has Maris Otter and Munich, both require mashing to get much out of them, so I assumed you were doing a partial mash.

5 lbs of DME will give you an OG of 1.090 in 2.5 gallons before accounting for anything from the grain.

The crystal will give you another .002, and it is a crap-shoot as to what you will get from the other grains (if anything).

 

[davesrose]

As some others have said, the estimated gravity readings are only as good as your profile. Based on what little info that's been given on your actual recipe, I can't tell if this would be an unusual extract/steeping grain recipe or partial mash. Extract brewing tends to yield pretty consistent gravity if you're keeping your volumes on target. Most brewing software applies a conversion when you start to get into mashing (which can have quite a wide range of efficiency ranges based on your setup and/or temperature control). They can also show quite a discrepancy with IBUs as well: which have different scales and measures based on hop type and brewing method.

 

[LuNchBoX1371]

Your recipe has Maris Otter and Munich, both require mashing to get much out of them, so I assumed you were doing a partial mash.

5 lbs of DME will give you an OG of 1.090 in 2.5 gallons before accounting for anything from the grain.

The crystal will give you another .002, and it is a crap-shoot as to what you will get from the other grains (if anything).

Yea I saw that the marris otter and munich needed to be mashed after I purchased the grain lol.

As some others have said, the estimated gravity readings are only as good as your profile. Based on what little info that's been given on your actual recipe, I can't tell if this would be an unusual extract/steeping grain recipe or partial mash. Extract brewing tends to yield pretty consistent gravity if you're keeping your volumes on target. Most brewing software applies a conversion when you start to get into mashing (which can have quite a wide range of efficiency ranges based on your setup and/or temperature control). They can also show quite a discrepancy with IBUs as well: which have different scales and measures based on hop type and brewing method.

Yea ill check my system and fine tune it.