Extract Beer Kits, Following kit instructions, IBU's low?

I have an extract kit with grain steeping recipe.  It calls for 2.5 gallons of water to steep the grains, then add extract.

Where in the equipment profile do I add these numbers?

I've also played with top up water assuming this would be my estimation of how much water will be needed to top off the fermenter to 5 gallons.  I manually add in the 2.5 gallons of water and volume for extract to boil volume (no auto calc), then do the math for the "Top Up Water"

I ask because I am having a hard time getting kit recipes to at least hit the low side of IBU ranges on the BS style guide.

I can't believe that every person who would follow these recipes as written (with a partial boil), have a problem hitting the IBU's for a particular extract kit style, so I must be doing something wrong.  Every kit I input always says the IBU's are low if I set boil volume  to extract, plus the number of gallons called for partial boil.

Imported recipes from vendors pretty much set the boil in equipment profile to 5 gallons (same for iBrewmaster), but this don't seem accurate consider most kits call for `2.5 gallons of water for boil.

If I am making an extract kit from scratch with a 2.5 gallon boil, my recipe is going to call for a lot more hops than these kits provide at boil volume (assuming I am inputing data correctly).

Just confused I guess as to how I would translate the directions into the equipment profile.  Back to the original question, where do I add in these values provided in the kit instructions in the equipment profile?

Real world, I'm sure it doesn't matter.  I'm just trying to figure out how to get these kits with instructions as written, to properly match guide styles in BS (for IBU's) for learning.

Thanks,

gunrock

have you set up your equipment profile yet?
if not watch the video Brad posted.
once you have set up you equipment you modify your boil size (i don't remember exactly where but Brad covers it in the video).

the real concern will be if you decide to do differing boil sizes using the same equipment.
for that you will need to label your equipment differently for each boil profile (ex. call one profile 3.11 gallon boil, another 3.75 gallon boil).

hope that helped enough. the extract kits w/grains that i buy are made locally and are pretty much right on the money.

Good morning, maybe if I give you an example of what I am talking about, you could guide me towards how an equipment profile should look like in this example.

Style: American Pale Ale
Type: Extract with specialty grains
OG: 1.051 - 1.054
FG: 1.012 - 1.015
Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grains & Adjuncts
3.30 lbs Briess Golden Light LME 60 minutes (4 SRM)
3.00 lbs Light Dry Extract 60 minutes (8 SRM)
0.50 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (steep)
0.50 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (steep)
0.50 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2 SRM) (steep)

Hops
1.00 oz Cascade (A 6.2%, B 6.2%) 60 minutes
0.5 oz Cascade 30 minutes
0.5 oz Cascade 15 minutes
1.00 oz Cascade 5 minutes
1.00 oz Cascade Dry hop

Yeasts
1.00 pkg Safale US-05

Grain Steeping
30 min @ 158.0°F rinse with 2.00 qt water @ 100.0°F

Following kit instructions, I would add 2 gallons of water, steep for 30 minutes, rinse grains with 2 quarts of water, add extract, boil 60 minutes, dump into fermenter and top off to the 5 gallon mark.

I have a 30 qt. Aluminum turkey fryer, but would only being doing a partial boil, following the steps in this kit, word for word.

Assuming "Loss to Trub and Chiller" set to 0, what other fields/how would I set up a custom equipment profile to match these extract kit instructions?

Should I just let BS auto calculate the boil volume, then simply take my 2 gallons, 2 quarts of water, subtract from the 5 gallon batch and add the difference to "top up water"?  When BS does its calculations for boil volume, which includes losses, I assume it's calculating the additional volume of the LME and DME that you may add, all calculated at boil temperature?

I've been researching a ton, playing around with scenarios in BS, watched Brad's videos and have learned a lot, but this is the one thing I'm not sure on.  This is the case with all extract kit's I have tried inputing into Beersmith; definetely how I am setting up these custom equipment profiles.  I noticed when you import the recipes, they just generically set the equipment profile boil to 5 gallons to make the IBU's on target for the style-which isn't entirely accurate since I am doing a partial boil and don't utilize the hops as fully as with a full boil.  In the end if it's a good beer, who cares, but when you are trying to learn, it creates a level of uncertainty. 

Thanks for the help!

gunrock

There are many different methods to calculate IBU. It seems they all disagree. Getting the kit instructions to match BS would require your setup for BS to match what was used for the kit's design.
To avoid headaches, I would follow the kit.

Ed

Yup, I know--really at this point, per those instructions in my example, I am curious what the equipment profile would look like to make sure I am setting up my equipment profiles correctly--this would also clarify partial boil equipment setup for me as well.

thanks,

most kits i have bought somewhere mention the total boil volume.
as far as i can tell BS2 does not take into account LME/DME for volume calculations.
also do not forget that you are using 2 gallons to steep and 0.5 gallons to sparge/rinse.
some of this water will stay in the grains.
for this listed recipe i would list my top up water as 3 or 3.13 gallons.

i personally always have a boil of 3-3.5 gallons (i have a 20qt pot) and after i set up my profile all my kits seemed to fall in range for IBYUs...but some went a little 'too dark' for their category.

sadly, i do not remember well enough how to set up profiles otherwise i would let you know exaclty how to set it up properly.

if i get a chance ot check it after i get back form my motorcycle ride i will post back.

Hello,

I think I have it figured out.

To set up an equipment profile for an extract kit (following instructions word for word), I would uncheck "calculate boil", then add in my 2.5 gallons of water (using the above kit instructions), PLUS the volume that the DME and LME would add, then subtract the 5 gallon batch minus boil volume to get an approximation of the "Top Up Water"

Using the below method, to calculate LME/DME extract volume additions, I used the values in this link.

http://www.madisonbeerreview.com/2010/11/five-gallons-at-time-malt-extract-vs.html

This gets the recipe in the proper style ranges.  If I do straight water and no extract calculation in the boil volume level, then it's below IBU range for the style.--Of course this does not take into account, boil off...not sure it would make much of difference in these cases though.

Is this exact science? Nope, but I'd imagine if you want to follow the kit instructions, it would get me pretty close for a good idea of where the recipe falls in the style range?

Regarding partial boil extract recipes of my own design, if I want to dial in my equipment profile, I would keep "calculate boil volume automatically" checked, adjust the top up water so the boil volume is compatible with my equipment, then after a few brew days and measurements of boil off, etc, I can more closely dial in my profile numbers.

Of course, when it automatically calculates boil volume, how do I know how much of that is water vs extract? How do you know how much water to dump into your boil pot?  Would it be correct for me to run the calculations in the link above, to estimate how much of the boil is water vs extract, to see my water addition? Or does the Boil volume not include extract?

Thanks everyone,

gunrock

Got nothing, huh?  ???