Beersmith and Original Gravity Estimates

[JDL]

I probably do not understand something here and I am hoping someone can help me.

I do not want to make this over complicated so I will use the most basic recipe with even numbers.

10 lbs of US 2 Row (possible 37 points per lb/per gallon)
5 Gallon Batch
No Sparge Full Volume Brew
60 Minute Boil

So in my world here are the numbers I come up with.

7.5 gallons of water into the Mash tun
100% extract = 370 points/7.5 = 1.049

If I put that into Beersmith there is what I get.

I understand what is going on here, the batch size is 5 gallons and they are taking that number and doing 370 points/5 gallons = 1.074.

My question is the est-preboil gravity of 1.064, they have it listed as est-preboil volume 6.5. There physically is not enough sugar in the grain to hit that number as the most you can come up with is 1.056 with the prevail volume of 6.5 if you hit 100% conversion and lauter effeciency.

So the end question I have is if my information above is correct...

1) Am I missing something?
2) How do I correct this in beer smith to start giving more real numbers?


Thanks in advance,
Jeff

 

[bpgreen]

You've got brewhouse efficiency set to 100%. I would change that to something lower. Some people get >80%, but I think something like 75% is probably a reasonable starting point. Depending on your actual results, you can adjust to fit your efficiency.

 

[Oginme]

You also need to personalize your equipment profile with the BH efficiency, lauter tun losses, boil off rate, and loss to chilling and trub which best represents your system and process.

 

[JDL]

This is just a setup/recipe to use as an example to help me understand the numbers that I do not.

At 100% it is saying you can get 1.064 pre-boil original gravity with that recipe, the issue is that 100% of the sugar is the following formula: 37*10/6.5 = 57 so that means 100% should be 1.057. I have been noticing this in my own recipe that it seems off.

Obviously regardless of equipment or setup you cannot get 1.064 if the max sugar available is only 1.057.

I am sure there is something I am missing though because Beersmith is used universally so just trying to understand the system so I can make my recipes closer to reality that I am getting in numbers as I try to refine my recipes.

 

[andrewbrews]

I probably do not understand something here and I am hoping someone can help me.

I do not want to make this over complicated so I will use the most basic recipe with even numbers.

10 lbs of US 2 Row (possible 37 points per lb/per gallon)
5 Gallon Batch
No Sparge Full Volume Brew
60 Minute Boil

So in my world here are the numbers I come up with.

7.5 gallons of water into the Mash tun
100% extract = 370 points/7.5 = 1.049

If I put that into Beersmith there is what I get.

View attachment 570821

I understand what is going on here, the batch size is 5 gallons and they are taking that number and doing 370 points/5 gallons = 1.074.

My question is the est-preboil gravity of 1.064, they have it listed as est-preboil volume 6.5. There physically is not enough sugar in the grain to hit that number as the most you can come up with is 1.056 with the prevail volume of 6.5 if you hit 100% conversion and lauter effeciency.

So the end question I have is if my information above is correct...

1) Am I missing something?
2) How do I correct this in beer smith to start giving more real numbers?


Thanks in advance,onluknow
Jeff

I think this something that is somehow getting brewhouse efficiency mixed up with mash efficiency. You only have 82% mash efficiency. I know you calculated it based on grain but beersmith is going to take dead space and grain absorption into account. Something seems weird that your're at 100% for BH but only 82 for mash.

 

[day_trippr]

The "Brewhouse Efficiency" shown in the OP's screen grab is a user setting as noted by bpgreen...

Cheers!

 

[FunkedOut]

1) Am I missing something?
2) How do I correct this in beer smith to start giving more real numbers?

1) Brewhouse Efficiency can not be greater than Mash Efficiency. By definition.
2) Fix number 1 above and try again.

Calculators: garbage in garbage out. I’m sure you could work the math out to see how those results were calculated if you’re curious or for academia’s sake.
but it’s meaningless as it’s not possible, if you’re after modeling an actual brew.

 

[ESBrewer]

Yes there is probably something wrong with your inputs (volumes/losses/malt details). I don't know the desktop version of BeerSmith that well (it seems to be different from my Android v2) but you could have manually set brewhouse efficiency to be 100% and that may be conflicting with some other inputs that you have set elsewhere? As people have pointed out, there is a conflict between your mash efficiency and brewhouse efficiency. The program is not always so easy to use but it is partly due to the fact that it needs to be flexible enough to cater all the different needs of the users. I think there are some inputs that can be calculated automatically based on other inputs or then they can be fixed by the user - something that may lead to unexpected results. If you can't solve it you should probably send screenshots of every input that you have set.