Beer Analysis (Alc%, Cals, RDF, ETC)
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I haven't yet, the people at Brulosophy use http://www.oregonbrewlab.com/
dsniegocki
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I just looked at those tests... color, I can estimate pretty well. pH, I can measure with my meter I use for my mash. ABV, I can measure and calculate pretty closely with my hydrometer. IBU is about the only thing that I feel that I'd need an external test to tell me if my BrewSmith estimate was accurate. Perhaps calories as well. None of the other stuff seems worth it to me, I suppose. If I were selling my beer and brewing in large batches? Sure, then maybe I'd want to have it tested regularly. I'd probably then also want to have my base water tested regularly too. But for me, my own measurements and the BrewSmith estimates are enough.
I might do it one day to one of my house recipes out of curiosity, though, now that you've brought it up
@enkamania, thx for the link
I might do it one day to one of my house recipes out of curiosity, though, now that you've brought it up
@enkamania, thx for the link
What's preventing me? Nothing. Here's the question I'd ask, though: Why?
Unless I were selling commercially, I can't figure out what value there would be in paying for the privilege. I should be close on figuring ABV and calories, the rest is only a matter of taste.
I like how my beer tastes. No need to analyze it further, as tongue and mouth method of analysis seems to work pretty well.
Time and money, I expect. One can measure ADF, RDF and ABV with a couple hundred bucks worth of glassware and an accurate balance but it will take you all day to do one beer. The time required can be reduced to seconds but the machine costs more than your car. You can do it with half the hardware investment but a distillation is then required and that takes a couple of hours.
For IBU the usual method requires an UV spectrophotometer. $5K for that unless you are lucky enough to be able to aquire a used one in good shape. SRM can be done with a Vis photometer which one can cobble up from a LED, a photo detector and an Arduino. But you have to have a means to calibrate it. But interest is moving away from single degree of freedom measurement of beer color (SRM) to 3 or more (Tri stim, augmented SRM) which requires a spectrophotometer. A $5K UV unit with have the Vis capability as well.
For IBU the usual method requires an UV spectrophotometer. $5K for that unless you are lucky enough to be able to aquire a used one in good shape. SRM can be done with a Vis photometer which one can cobble up from a LED, a photo detector and an Arduino. But you have to have a means to calibrate it. But interest is moving away from single degree of freedom measurement of beer color (SRM) to 3 or more (Tri stim, augmented SRM) which requires a spectrophotometer. A $5K UV unit with have the Vis capability as well.
I know Brulosophy had a beer analyzed that came way lower in IBU's. I might submit one of my beers just to see if the IBU calculation in BeerSmith is accurate.
How could it be? Does one know how and how long the hops he uses have been stored, if the %alpha number on the package is a good representation of the lot from which his hops package was taken or if the hops in his package are a good representation of the lot, what his actual kettle utilization is etc. I measure bitterness on all my beers and the measured number is generally only approximately what the Tinseth model calculates and I have optimized the parameters in the Tinseth model to best match my beers.
Thanks for your comments guys, I appreciate it.
I'm considering opening up a side business where I do these analyses for homebrewers with the machine that costs more than a car (albeit a used machine, so it costs more than a used car). I am more the thought that brewing is a science versus an art and enjoy this sort of thing and would love to increase my exposure to the homebrew community.
I'm trying to understand what sort of demand there would be for this service. There are already lab services that exist, but I am 'cheap' and see them as 'expensive'. I am also lazy and hate the added step of pouring a sample into a hydrometer jar and trying to get a good reading. Yeah i'll half ass it and sanitize the hydrometer and float it in the kettle or fermenter, but with foam and it bouncing and etc etc I'm never sure if it is that accurate. I am also passionate about process improvement. So the business would have to balance these things to be successful. I have shipping figured out and believe it is the lowest cost it could possibly be, but I also consider that 'expensive' so I'm not sure if this is really viable.
I'm considering opening up a side business where I do these analyses for homebrewers with the machine that costs more than a car (albeit a used machine, so it costs more than a used car). I am more the thought that brewing is a science versus an art and enjoy this sort of thing and would love to increase my exposure to the homebrew community.
I'm trying to understand what sort of demand there would be for this service. There are already lab services that exist, but I am 'cheap' and see them as 'expensive'. I am also lazy and hate the added step of pouring a sample into a hydrometer jar and trying to get a good reading. Yeah i'll half ass it and sanitize the hydrometer and float it in the kettle or fermenter, but with foam and it bouncing and etc etc I'm never sure if it is that accurate. I am also passionate about process improvement. So the business would have to balance these things to be successful. I have shipping figured out and believe it is the lowest cost it could possibly be, but I also consider that 'expensive' so I'm not sure if this is really viable.
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