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How to do hop/alpha substitutions automatically setting the same IBU

eddiewould

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Hi All,

A common scenario I find myself in is I've designed a recipe in beer smith with a bunch of hop additions (lets say for sake of argument Simcoe and Chinook), however when it comes to brew day maybe I've had to substitute hops or maybe the alphas are different.

How can I (in one easy step) substitute all the hop additions of hop x at alpha y for another hop r at alpha s?

At the moment my process is (for EACH hop addition) to look at the number of IBUs that hop addition adds (e.g. 7.4), click on the hop addition, click "substitute", choose the new hop (with new alpha value) and then adjust the amount so that the IBUs of the new hop addition matches the IBUs of the previous hop addition. This seems like too much work...


Cheers,
Eddie
 
Also as a related (but separate question):

Lets say I've designed my recipe to have a gravity of 1.050 and volume of 5 gallons pre-boil (so hop addition amounts are all based on this). For some reason I end up with 6 gallons of 1.050 wort. What's the easiest way to scale the recipe to change just the hop additions (so that I end up with the same number of IBUs)?
 
Eddie
When I first started brewing there was no brewing software for my VIC-20, so we used Homebrew Bittering Units (HBU). Simple math, ounces x AA% = HBU.
If you had 1.5 ounces of Chinook at 8.8 AA%, it would equal 13.2 HBU

1.5 x 8.8 = 13.2

To sub Cascade at 10.4 AA%, you would devide 13.2 by 10.4

13.2 / 10.4 = 1.27 ounces

Of course, being a math major during this time, we would write this out in Reverse Polar Notation, which would be . . . never mind.

Ed
 
Thanks for the reply Ed.

However that's the reason we've got software like Beersmith - to make things easier and to avoid manual calculations. So does anyone know how to do what I want *in the Beersmith UI*?


Cheers,
Eddie
 
Go to the recipe design page, click on 'Select Fields', click on HBU's to display.
I just found this myself, since I use a calculator anyway to check everything.
 
Sorry I think you're missing my point Ed; I don't want to bother with HBUs at all.

I want to be able to (in one easy step):
Substitute all occurrences of a hop in a recipe with another hop and have BeerSmith work out the correct amount of the new hop to maintain the same IBUs.
 
To answer the original question: Grain and Hop substitutions in BeerSmith are weight for weight. You have to adjust the amount for gravity/IBU as desired.

eddiewould said:
Also as a related (but separate question):

Lets say I've designed my recipe to have a gravity of 1.050 and volume of 5 gallons pre-boil (so hop addition amounts are all based on this). For some reason I end up with 6 gallons of 1.050 wort. What's the easiest way to scale the recipe to change just the hop additions (so that I end up with the same number of IBUs)?

If the pre-boil gravity is lower, and you intend to keep the same boil time, then no change to the hop weight is needed since the IBU:GU ratio will be the same. In other words, you'll get the same balance.

The scenario you outlined shows an increase in efficiency, have you tried the Scale Recipe function?

Like most things explained, this can sound more complicated than it actually is.

This works best IF you got more mash efficiency and the pre-boil gravity is the same as it would have been with the lower volume. This also assumes an accurate equipment profile.

1) In the Mash tab, track your actual preboil gravity and volume.
2) In the Fermentation tab, input the post-boil numbers. Assume that you'll end up with the same extra volume post-boil as well as the same OG. This gives you a Total Efficiency number.
3) Use the Scale Recipe tool, from the ribbon. Input the new Batch Size and the Total Efficiency number from step 2.
4) The Design tab will still show the same gravity and IBU numbers, but now ingredient amounts will have changed. (*The grain amount might be off by a small amount, but correcting that to the amounts used takes just a couple of clicks. The gravity estimate won't change by much, if any).

Now you have your new hop weights. Misc ingredients will change, too. 
 
Hi eddiewould.  I have the same issue and inquired as well.  Unfortunately BeerSmith doesn't yet do auto calcs if you want to substitute a different hop that has a higher/lower AAU  :(  I believe it's on the "Wish List" as I think it would REALLY help when you want to sub hops that you already have, or that have a different AAU.  --Keith
 
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