Brewsmith: Extract Equipment Questions

[DeviantBee]

I'm not sure if this is the right place, but short of creating an account at brewsmith forums.

I'm looking to make an imperial stout recipe, so I downloaded the trial software and have started adding ingredients. However, I'm confused by the "equipment" drop down and the effects on the recipe.

Depending on whether I selected (Pot 2 gallon Extract) or a (Pot 5 gallon Mini-BIAB) has a huge impact on the Hops IBU. Unfortunately, I'm not sure which is correct, if either.

I.e.

Using the 2 gallon/Extract equipment selection. It says that 1.5oz of Chinook is 7.3 IBU.

Using the 5 Gallon/BIAB equipment. It says that 1.5 oz Chinook is 49.9 IBU.

I have made other extract kits that were brewed in 2.5 gallon pot that didn't come anywhere close to the 7.3 IBU. (IMO)

So which is it?!?

Thanks,

 

[Yooper]

When you do a full BIAB brew, you aren't adding water. Adding water "dilutes" the IBUs.

What I mean is this- say you have 2.5 gallons of 50 IBU wort. If you add 2.5 gallons of water to that wort, you have a 25 IBU beer. If you aren't adding water to your beer, you don't dilute the IBUs at all. So, if you have 5 gallons of a 50 IBU wort, and don't add water, the IBUs remain at 50. I hope that makes sense!

 

[DeviantBee]

I guess I understand that, but it doesn't make 100% sense. I've made several extract beers that were quite hoppy from kits, that were made in a 2.5-3gallon boil. I have a brewers best kit that is a double IPA and only has 6 oz of hops....

The software says that I need 12oz of hops for a 50 IBU beer.. That seems quite extreme.....

 

[grathan]

If I boiled 12oz of chinook I think my mouth would bleed. Beersmith is funky.

 

[Yooper]

Try this- make all of your extract that is LME "added to end of boil" or whatever that choice is in Beersmith. I think you can have a choice to "boil ____ minutes" or something. Make that 1 minute. And then split up the DME 1/2 and 1/2, and add that at 1 minute. That should fix the software glitch.

The calculator takes wort gravity into account when calculating IBUs. Make sure you boil volume is right (as that does impact IBUs) but don't have the extract boiled the whole time, and that should trick the software into calculating it right.


Also, correct your boil volume. It shows 1.7 gallons- that means that you simply can not get more than about 30 IBUs in a batch. That goes back to the "dilution" thing I talked about earlier. The max IBUs that you can ever get into wort before the wort is saturated with hops oils and will no longer isomerize is about 100. Even that is unlikely, so say you have 85 IBUs total in your 1 gallon (if you start with a 1.7 gallon boil, you'll be lucky to have one gallon of wort). Adding four gallons of 0 IBU water to 1 gallon of 85 IBU wort would mean a 5 gallon batch of 17 IBUs.

 

[DeviantBee]

Is this a bug or a feature? How will I know what "tweaks" that need to be made next time?

I made the suggested changes and it made a difference, but I'm not sure that the 1oz of chinook for 60 mins and 1 oz of goldings for 5mins plus the malts would add up to 48.9 IBUs. Maybe it does, but my confidence isn't where I think it should be.

Thanks for the information

 

[Yooper]

Is this a bug or a feature? How will I know what "tweaks" that need to be made next time?

I made the suggested changes and it made a difference, but I'm not sure that the 1oz of chinook for 60 mins and 1 oz of goldings for 5mins plus the malts would add up to 48.9 IBUs. Maybe it does, but my confidence isn't where I think it should be.

Thanks for the information

With an ounce of chinook for bittering, and a 3 gallon boil, it won't be 48.9 IBUs. It just can't- due to the dilution of the wort. Like I mentioned earlier, you can get a max of about 100 IBUs into any wort (and it's usually less, because you won't reach the max). So, if you have, say 85 IBUs in the 2.5 gallon wort, and add 2.5 gallons of water to it, it will half the IBUs. It's just the way it is with a partial boil. Beersmith must be allowing that the max IBUs you can get into wort is 100 IBUs, and taking note that you are adding about 2.5 gallons of water- that would be 50 IBUs +/-,

You can make some very nice beers with a partial boil and adding extract late in the boil (even at flame out)- but you can't make a high IBU beer that way.

Also, keep in mind that calculating IBUs is never really accurate. For example, one of the hoppiest commercial beers, Pliny the Elder, calculates out to something like 250+ IBUs in Beersmith. But it's been tested, and it's actually more like 85 IBUs. Oh, sure, it's hoppy and bitter, but it's not possible for that many hops oils to actually isomerize.

A good way to make recipes is to notice what "49 IBUs" on your system and with your calculating method tastes like. And not really worry about how you get to the desired result.

 

[DeviantBee]

That makes sense from a maximum allowed suspension. i.e. If you keep pouring salt into water, eventually it will stop dissolving.

Which I'm completely okay with, but I'm not sure how to compensate for my recipes. I.e. I don't want to brew a quadruple turpentine solution when it should be a 20-40 IBU.

Obviously, it's not a big deal for persona consumption, but eventually I'd like to enter a few local competitions. It's not a huge deal to brew and test then enter, but it could be a 6-8 week mistake from a software feature.

Do you believe that the 5 gallon full boil recipes are correct? If that is the case, I'll have to do less partial boils and spend more time boiling outside.

Thanks for the tips/help.

 

[Yooper]

T
Do you believe that the 5 gallon full boil recipes are correct? If that is the case, I'll have to do less partial boils and spend more time boiling outside.

Thanks for the tips/help.

Yes, the bigger the boil the greater the likelihood that the IBU calculators can be correct. Not only that, but you can make higher IBU beers simply by using a bigger boil (again, due to the dilution, not due to the wort gravity).