BRIESS DRIED MALT EXTRACT

[brewmechanic]

I recently added the Briess line of malts to my "fermentables" list. Go to "file", "add- ons" and select the fermentables plug in. All of the Briess DME's had a default gravity potential of 1.035 SG (35 PPPG) It should be 1.045 SG (45 PPPG) I did not catch this error until after I brewed what I thought was going to be a small Blonde Ale. The expected O.G. was 1.046. It came in at 1.062. Now the bittering ratios will be off, probably have to dump the batch. Be sure to check the gravity potential of all grains and extracts when developing a recipe. Learned this one the hard way.

 

[BeerSmith]

The number 1.035 is actually correct. 1.045 would basically be pure table sugar which makes no sense as it would be nearly 100% fermentable and your beer would have no body.

I would recommend you take a look at your measured volumes and equipment profile to make sure those are not off as I don't believe the potential of the extract is actually the problem.

 

[brewmechanic]

I looked at the Briess liquid malt extracts in BS3, and their gravity potential is listed at around 1.036, which is correct. LME can not have the same or more gravity potential per pound as DME because water is part of LME, thus lowering it's gravity potential. You are correct, table sugar is 100% fermentable. DME is only about 75% fermentable, but they will both add about the same gravity points per pound. I believe my numbers are correct.

 

[BeerSmith]

Diving in a bit deeper it looks like the Briess ones were on the low side. Most of the dry extract add-ons I pull show around 1.044 and even the base dry extracts in BeerSmith are in that same 1.044-1.045 range.

I thought the Briess add-on came from Briess, but I don't recall when they were originally posted. I will make sure they get corrected as soon as possible.

I do apologize - I do try to screen these things, but with many thousands of ingredients I don't always catch every error.

 

[BeerSmith]

I just updated the Briess addon for BeerSmith2, BeerSmith3 and the web based version. Please uninstall and install again to pick up the new add-on.

 

[brewmechanic]

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply and for updating the database. That will save a lot of brew day "what did I do wrong?"

 

[BeerSmith]

I would not toss the beer - you would be surprised how many batches I thought I really messed up and they still made great beer!

 

[WeltZumerr12]

I looked at the Briess liquid malt extracts in BS3, and their gravity potential is listed at around 1.036, which is correct. LME can not have the same or more gravity potential per pound as DME because water is part of LME, https://sharpedgeshop.com/ thus lowering it's gravity potential. You are correct, table sugar is 100% fermentable. DME is only about 75% fermentable, but they will both add about the same gravity points per pound. I believe my numbers are correct.

Understanding the fermentability and gravity contribution of different ingredients is crucial for achieving the desired beer characteristics.