Inconsistent "Est Pre-Boil Vol" between recipes

Hello everyone  - I am trying to troubleshoot/understand a phenomenon I am experiencing with the Beersmith software. When using the exact same equipment profile, and the same mash profile, I sometimes get "Est Pre-Boil Vol" calculations. Based on my equipment's losses and my boil off rate, I need 6.72 gallons pre-boil in order to get 5.5 gallons into the fermenter. My equipment profile lists a boil volume of 6.72 gallons. However, some recipes list a lower "Est Pre-Boil Vol" value in the mash profile (essentially underestimating my sparge volume). While other recipes list the 6.72 calculate. I understand how to compensate for the underestimated volume, but I am curious to why there's a discrepancy. I would think the "Est Pre-Boil Vol" calculation should be consistent. Any ideas? Again, the equipment profile is the same and unchanged between recipes.

I feel the Beersmith software is pretty well put together, so I am guessing I am missing something, I just don't know what. Thanks in advance for any feedback. Cheers!

Maybe you could post 2 of the recipe files up. I am not sure what could cause it, but can take a look.

Good call, this should help.
Saison Mash Profile:


DIPA Mash Profile:


Equipment Profile:


Saison Recipe: http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/216218/josette-saison-
DIPA Recipe: http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/216217/dipa-collaboration-v2

No, I meant the Beersmith .bsmx recipe files which would include your profile to see exactly what is going on. That looks like Mac OS, hopefully .bsmx is cross-compatible.


The difference between those 2 recipes Est Pre boil vol is 6.72 and 6.47 based on the photos shown. Is this the difference we are trying to rectify?

PieMan is using Linux, and the .docx files are compatible. Follow the links at the bottom of his last post to BeerSmith's recipe page, sign in to BeerSmith, and click the download link (blue text in the upper left of the window).

Yes, I am wondering why there is a discrepancy (6.47 for the Saison vs. 6.72 for the DIPA) for the "Est Pre-Boil Vol" calculation.

As durrettd mentioned, I am using Linux (Ubuntu). The recipes should be downloadable on the Beersmith Cloud, but I've also uploaded them here in .bsmx format.

One thing I found interesting about the discrepancy in est pre-boil volume is that 6.47 value listed in the Saison recipe is a 4% reduction from the 6.72 boil volume listed under the Equipment profile, and the cooling shrinkage is set to 4%. In other words, bringing 6.47 gallons of wort to a boil would increase the volume to 6.72 gallons due to the heat expansion. Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but I thought it was interesting. Either way, I would expect the est pre boil volumes to be consistent given a consistent equipment profile (boil off rate, batch volume, etc.).

When I looked at the recipe files you posted, I noticed that the boil off for the Saison is only 0.75 gal where as the boil off for the DIPA is 1 gal.  Given the difference in the estimated preboil volume is 0.25 gal, I would think that this would account for the difference.

Huh, I see that now. Well I feel like an idiot. That setting must have been changed between batches. I guess I assumed that because the equipment setting now says 1 gallon per hour, that the setting "propagated" to any of the recipes with that equipment profile, but instead, it seems that the recipe retains whatever the equipment setting were when the recipe was created (which makes sense). My bad, thanks all for the help.

Pie_Man said:

I guess I assumed that because the equipment setting now says 1 gallon per hour, that the setting "propagated" to any of the recipes with that equipment profile, but instead, it seems that the recipe retains whatever the equipment setting were when the recipe was created (which makes sense).

Click to expand...

that's actually a good point to make about profiles..........once a profile is applied to a recipe it is a unique profile within that recipe for what happened that day.