Tinseth vs Rager

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stevedasleeve

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I'm curious at what prompted you to use one or the other for Hops calculations? I have been using Rager, but I keep finding my bitterness is always less than I perceive in commercial beer with the same ibus. I switched to Tinseth and it feels (tastes) more consistent. Not a real problem revisiting my old recipes as I just expect the bitterness to calculate low now.

What are you using & why?
 
I use Rager. I had 3 beers in the past that had lab analysis. And while those recipes didn't have perfect notes (exact volumes of water weren't properly noted) for me to input them into BeerSmith, when I did input my best estimate on them, Rager was closest to the actual lab analysis.
 
I had 3 beers in the past that had lab analysis. . . Rager was closest to the actual lab analysis.
I had always just trusted the default (Tinseth) in Beersmith, never giving it a second thought. Reading your post made me question this, so I tried switching a couple of recent batches between Tinseth and Rager. Strangely one came out higher and one lower. Probably because one (the APA) emphasized late additions.

Was this the case with the beer you had tested or did your hop schedules produce a consistent raise or fall when switching methods?

IIPA
90 minutes__________Start Boil
60 minutes__________1.5 oz Columbus
30 minutes__________2.0 oz Cascade
15 minutes__________2.0 oz Cascade
5 minutes___________2.0 oz Cascade
0 minutes___________Flame-out
Dry________________2.0 oz Cascade
Tinseth-87 IBU_____Rager-100 IBU

APA
75 minutes__________Start Boil
40 minutes__________.25 oz Chinook
___________________.75 oz Williamette
30 minutes__________.25 oz Chinook
___________________.75 oz Williamette
20 minutes__________.25 oz Chinook
___________________.75 oz Williamette
10 minutes__________.25 oz Chinook
___________________.75 oz Williamette
0 minutes___________.25 oz Chinook
___________________.75 oz Williamette
Dry________________.25 oz Chinook
___________________.75 oz Williamette
Tinseth-45 IBU______Rager- 39 IBU
 
I used to use Rager and always felt it was off for my brew house. After listening to Tinseth on Brew Strong podcast I have switched over and I am much happier now with the beers.
 
I had always just trusted the default (Tinseth) in Beersmith, never giving it a second thought. Reading your post made me question this, so I tried switching a couple of recent batches between Tinseth and Rager. Strangely one came out higher and one lower. Probably because one (the APA) emphasized late additions.

Was this the case with the beer you had tested or did your hop schedules produce a consistent raise or fall when switching methods?

Dunno, sorry. I'd have to take a look and I don't have the time at the moment.

I used to use Rager and always felt it was off for my brew house. After listening to Tinseth on Brew Strong podcast I have switched over and I am much happier now with the beers.

Sierra Nevada recommends Tinseth per BYO article on Torpedo a while back...

You guys have me giving this a second thought. SN has their own lab, so if they're recommending it, perhaps it's worth trying it out for a bit and see what I think.
 
Rager, b/c the majority of recipes listed in magazines, etc. use that. I had Tenseth as my BeerSmith default, then changed it. Seemed to give me more consistency. It's easy enough to switch back & forth if you find one recipe uses a different formula. And that's all it is is a formula. One is no better than the other and none will match each individual brewhouse.
 
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