Grain Bill Percentages question.

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BigEasy43

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I have a recipe that has 60% Two Row, 20% Malted Wheat and 20% Malted oats with an OG of 1.060. I enter this into Beer Smith and it's telling me I need 10lbs 10oz of Two Row, 3lbs 8.9oz of Malted wheat an 3lbs 8.9 oz of malted oats. Is that too much grain? It seems like a lot to me, but I am only 2 years into brewing and this recipe is something new. Also it asks for hops that get it to 35IBU in 60mins, but that shows 2oz which doesn't seem like a lot, but I could be wrong. There are hops for dry hopping. Any help would be great.
 
I have a recipe that has 60% Two Row, 20% Malted Wheat and 20% Malted oats with an OG of 1.060. I enter this into Beer Smith and it's telling me I need 10lbs 10oz of Two Row, 3lbs 8.9oz of Malted wheat an 3lbs 8.9 oz of malted oats. Is that too much grain? It seems like a lot to me, but I am only 2 years into brewing and this recipe is something new.

It depends on your batch size and your efficiency, so I'd make sure both are set correctly.

Also it asks for hops that get it to 35IBU in 60mins, but that shows 2oz which doesn't seem like a lot, but I could be wrong.

It depends on the alpha acid percentage for your hops (and your OG and batch size). What are they?
 
OG is 1.060 and Batch size is 5 Gallons.

For a 5 gallon batch, your mash efficiency would have to be something less than 50% to get only 1.060 out of that grain bill.
 
As I said still learning, so any help or direction would be great.
 
As I said still learning, so any help or direction would be great.

I guess I'll repeat:
It depends on your batch size and your efficiency, so I'd make sure both are set correctly.
 
Checked both again and batch size is at 5 Gallons and efficiency is set to 60%.
 
Then I would check each of the grains individually. What does it say about their "points per pound per gallon" or "PPG" or "potential yield?" (I don't know what terminology Beersmith uses.)
 
Another thought suddenly occurred. Is that OG of 1.060 pre-boil or post-boil? If pre-boil, it could be about right (depending on your boiloff).

ETA: Do you have (or does Beersmith think you have) a large kettle dead space or any other kind of post boil, pre-fermenter loss? What is your Post-Boil Volume in Beersmith for this recipe?
 
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That reading is post boil. Dead space is only .13Gal, post boil volume is 5.73gal.
 
That reading is post boil. Dead space is only .13Gal, post boil volume is 5.73gal.

Ok, a big chunk of the discrepancy is that the post boil volume is .73 gallons bigger than the batch size into the fermenter.
So, there must be a parameter(s) set somewhere in Beersmith somewhere to account for the difference between 5.73 gallons post-boil and only 5 gallons into the fermenter.

Also, did you look at the PPG/potential yield for each of the three grains?
 
I have a trub loss of .50 Gals and Cooling shrinkage of .23 Gals. 2 Row - 1.028 - 60%, Malted Oats - 1.009 - 20% and Malted Wheat 1.040 - 86%.
 
I have a trub loss of .50 Gals and Cooling shrinkage of .23 Gals.

Do you actually lose half a gallon to trub (or in any way at all) when you transfer to the fermenter?

2 Row - 1.028 - 60%, Malted Oats - 1.009 - 20% and Malted Wheat 1.040 - 86%.

That 2-Row data is highly suspect. The Malted Oats data is even more suspect. Both are too low. I'd expect the 2-Row to be more like 1.037 - 80% and the Malted Oats more like 1.033 - 71%. I don't know how/where BeerSmith treats malt moisture content in/before/after those numbers, but it should be ballpark correct. Can you re-download all the Beersmith malt data?

ETA: You didn't happen to "import" the recipe file from somewhere else, did you? Again, I don't know BeerSmith, but I'm wondering if those malt yield values might be specific to the recipe, i.e. modified by the recipe author (and not in the main database).
 
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So what I did was download the latest version of BeerSmith to start totally fresh. Numbers came out what I thought they should be for grain amounts. 2 Row - 7.5lbs, Oats and Wheat 2.5lbs each. So numbers are much better. Thanks for the suggestion about re downloading the data. Just took it a step further and downloaded the software.
 
One thing you need to do when working with Beersmith is to create a custom equipment profile. If you haven't done so you will never get accurate results. The profiles provided with the software were submitted by users. They work on a given system for particular user who submitted them but your system set up will be a little different and your process, or how you use that system will be different as well. They are there only to provide a baseline so that you can create your own profile.
 
So what I did was download the latest version of BeerSmith to start totally fresh. Numbers came out what I thought they should be for grain amounts. 2 Row - 7.5lbs, Oats and Wheat 2.5lbs each. So numbers are much better. Thanks for the suggestion about re downloading the data. Just took it a step further and downloaded the software.
Something is still odd about the amount of grain needed to hit your targets. Based on your posts, below are your targets and system wort losses. Please let me know if one of the numbers below is incorrect and I can quickly change...

Mashtun deadspace loss = .13 gallons
Rack loss from kettle to fermenter = .5 gallons
Rack loss from fermenter to bottling bucket (not noted) assumed to be .25 gallons
Rack loss from bottling bucket to bottles (not noted) assumed to be .063 gallons
Target OG of 1.060
Mash, not brewhouse, efficiency of 60%

This means for a 5 gallon batch in the fermenter you would need a post boil chilled volume of 5.5 gallons and you would end up with 4.687 gallons in the bottles

Based on these inputs you would need a much higher mash efficiency of around 77.5%. Below is a snapshot of my programs execution worksheet and grain bill plan with your recipe that has been updated to align with your system (the chilled wort volume differs due to my program accounting for a hydrometer volume loss at bottling) To hit your target OG with 12.5 pounds of grain and a post boil chilled wort volume of 5.5 gallons, you would need a 77.5% mash efficiency (based on FGAI)? Has the efficiency been changed since downloading the latest version? Just asking to help ensure you have a successful brewday.

Also, if you provide the hops, ounces, alpha acid percent and minutes boiled or dry hopped, I can let you know if the IBUs are accurate.

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