Big Difference...but why?

[iparks81]

So Ive got about 8 batches under my belt..im still kindof a newbie to figuring out my own recipes and such, but i think I've come up with a decent ESB recipe.
my concern is ...Ive punched it up in a few calculators but get Crazy different results.
the Brew builder on brewmasters warehouse.com tells me that my recipe will yield a OG of 1.060 which is fine\great whatever but then Ive downloaded the trial version of beer tools and punch in the damn ingredients and it tells me that this batch will be 1.119 OG..way to high!
being that im new to formulating recipes id really like to know what i should go with.
I can post the recipe if its any help.
thx alot!

 

[Yooper]

Are you making sure that the batch size is correct? And the boil volume?

If you want to post the recipe, I can look at it and see what my best guess is (plus run it through Beersmith!)

 

[iparks81]

right on, heres the recipe...I just downloaded the beersmith trial and it came up with a 1.048 OG....another random number,

5.75 lbs Light LME
8oz honey malt
8 Oz Crystal malt 80
4 oz Melanoidin
4 oz Pale ale Malt

hops:
1.75 oz Columbia 60 min
1.00 oz first gold 40 min
1.00 oz progress 2 min

with white labs premium bitter alw WLP026

yea, if you could check out the recipe and let me know what you think..any input would be great.

being new i dont really want to shoot from the hip completly...id like to know that ive got a reasonable chance at a good beer before i go buying\boilin it all up
thx

 

[iparks81]

p.s. double checked the batch size at 5 gal and the boil volume at 2.5 Gal

 

[wildwest450]

I get 1.050 with beersmith at 80% eff. It's 1.049 at 70%, there's just a slight difference on the efficiency because of the small amount of grains.

You will get a higher number using dme as opposed to lme, I suspect you did that on brewmasters site.

 

[Yooper]

And, if you have "extract" checked, it'll be a little different than a "partial mash". Those grains, if mashed, can provide some fermentables. The honey malt, the base malt, and the melanoiden malt should be mashed. So, make sure that all of the calculators show it as a partial mash.

I think you're safe with using the OG given to you by wildwest. 1.049 seems about right.

Using dry extract instead of liquid would give you an OG of 1.058.

 

[iparks81]

alright, great.
thanks for the help. I wont worry about the High numbers that ive seen

 

[dontman]

You are doing a mash, yes? I wonder because that is a oddly small amount of grain to mash. I mean, if you have to mash then why not do a few pounds of grain to get some of your gravity.

And if you are just planning a steep then you have picked the wrong malts for that. For that the crystal malt will work but not the others.

 

[iparks81]

yeah i was planning on steeping...ive seen these grains in multiple extract\grain steeping recipes....good info to know that these grains are not good for steeping.
does the steeping not pull out all the fermentables from the grain?

let me say steeping again, I dont think I said it enough in the last paragraph hah.

 

[Pappers_]

In addition to the crystal, you could also steep some caramunich for a little more maltiness in your esb.

 

[dontman]

yeah i was planning on steeping...ive seen these grains in multiple extract\grain steeping recipes....good info to know that these grains are not good for steeping.
does the steeping not pull out all the fermentables from the grain?

let me say steeping again, I dont think I said it enough in the last paragraph hah.

This is the problem. There are no fermentables in those grains to pull out. They must be created through a mash. This is a process where through careful temperature control and enzyme concentration the starches contained in these grains convert to fermentable sugars.

Crystal malts, by contrast, have already gone through this conversion process and had their sugars "crystallized" within the kernel. Therefore all you need to do is steep the grain in some hot water to dissolve that crystal into solution.