B
BeerMonster
Hi,
I confess Im fairly new to brewing, and particularly Brewsmith. However I wanted to learn about predicting brews, not just to follow instructions, starting with extracts and eventually grain.
So, I have this extract brew which claims to be an pale ale the style of which (SNPA) is IBU around 35 and EBC of around 20 :
1.8Kg extract unhopped, EBC 3
1.8kg extract hopped, EBC 7.5, IBU 28
15g Cascade for 15 mins
10g Cluster 15 mins
12g Chinook dry hopped.
23L batch
So off to brewsmith I go :
I partial boil so I set the boil volume to 10L (the max capacity of my pot), and the batch size to 23L - the amount of beer I want to make.
I create myeslf an Extract with EBC 7.5, hop alpha 6.6, 32g for 30 minutes. On its own this gives me IBU 28.
I add the unhopped extract. Then the hops.
But when Ive finished I see the IBU is only 21.8. And the EBC is only 6.9. Quite different from the style the recipe claims to be.
This means either
a) The recipe is wrong
or
b) I dont understand how to use Brewmaster.
Frankly I think the EBC is wrong. Even I can add 7.5 and 3, and its nowhere near 20. Would it be that simple ?
But for the IBUs so I read the help. Search the forums. Read the FAQs. None of that enlightens me, so I play around !
Finally I notice that adding the unhopped extract changes the IBU from 34.8 to 21.8 (and the EBC from 5.5 to 6.9).
So I think, maybe I should increase the hop boil time to 60 minutes. This again gives an IBU of 33.4 - pretty close but dramatically different from the recipe.
But I also notice that the boil volume specified is absolutely critical. Changing this from 10L to 14L also gives me 34.5IBU with the opriginal hop boils recommended.
And so now I realise I really need to understand if Ive added the extracts correctly, that the IBU should drop significantly when I add the unhopped extract and that Ive specified the hop equivalent for the extract correctly. And I should understand the boil volume (this is the starting total volume when I begin to boil, right ?) as well.
Because if Ive got any of this wrong, Ill end up with a pretty nasty beer ! The original recipe only states it makes 23L, not what the boil volume should be. But given its just an extract recipe I would have thought it was just the two tins of extract and perhaps the same volume of water again. But that doesnt work for the hop boil. Well, not according to Brewsmith.
Am I barking up the wrong tree here ? Please can someone enlighten me ! (dont worry, I wont be touching all grain for quite some time !).
===========
I confess Im fairly new to brewing, and particularly Brewsmith. However I wanted to learn about predicting brews, not just to follow instructions, starting with extracts and eventually grain.
So, I have this extract brew which claims to be an pale ale the style of which (SNPA) is IBU around 35 and EBC of around 20 :
1.8Kg extract unhopped, EBC 3
1.8kg extract hopped, EBC 7.5, IBU 28
15g Cascade for 15 mins
10g Cluster 15 mins
12g Chinook dry hopped.
23L batch
So off to brewsmith I go :
I partial boil so I set the boil volume to 10L (the max capacity of my pot), and the batch size to 23L - the amount of beer I want to make.
I create myeslf an Extract with EBC 7.5, hop alpha 6.6, 32g for 30 minutes. On its own this gives me IBU 28.
I add the unhopped extract. Then the hops.
But when Ive finished I see the IBU is only 21.8. And the EBC is only 6.9. Quite different from the style the recipe claims to be.
This means either
a) The recipe is wrong
or
b) I dont understand how to use Brewmaster.
Frankly I think the EBC is wrong. Even I can add 7.5 and 3, and its nowhere near 20. Would it be that simple ?
But for the IBUs so I read the help. Search the forums. Read the FAQs. None of that enlightens me, so I play around !
Finally I notice that adding the unhopped extract changes the IBU from 34.8 to 21.8 (and the EBC from 5.5 to 6.9).
So I think, maybe I should increase the hop boil time to 60 minutes. This again gives an IBU of 33.4 - pretty close but dramatically different from the recipe.
But I also notice that the boil volume specified is absolutely critical. Changing this from 10L to 14L also gives me 34.5IBU with the opriginal hop boils recommended.
And so now I realise I really need to understand if Ive added the extracts correctly, that the IBU should drop significantly when I add the unhopped extract and that Ive specified the hop equivalent for the extract correctly. And I should understand the boil volume (this is the starting total volume when I begin to boil, right ?) as well.
Because if Ive got any of this wrong, Ill end up with a pretty nasty beer ! The original recipe only states it makes 23L, not what the boil volume should be. But given its just an extract recipe I would have thought it was just the two tins of extract and perhaps the same volume of water again. But that doesnt work for the hop boil. Well, not according to Brewsmith.
Am I barking up the wrong tree here ? Please can someone enlighten me ! (dont worry, I wont be touching all grain for quite some time !).
===========