• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Est. vs. Measured Clarification

Beery

Apprentice
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
16
Reaction score
2
Location
Seattle
I recently brewed my first all grain batch. I downloaded https://beerandbrewing.com/weldwerks-brewing-co-juicy-bits-new-england-style-ipa/ into BeerSmith.  I noted that the Est. Original Gravity was 1.066 and the Measured OG was 1.046 and the Est ABV 6.7 and the Measured ABV 4.7.  That seems like a real big difference and I am not sure I understand. I assume it has to do with brewhouse efficiency but I wouldn't have expected that much variation I added 1lb of sugar in the late boil to ensure I was not brewing a session IPA. I ended up with an OG of 1.044 after the boil.

Can somene provide some clarity about eh Est vs. Measured in this recipe?  ???
 
I am a little confused by your comment that the measured OG was 1.046 and yet at the end you said you ended up with an OG of 1.044.  Was the 'meas OG' cited in the beginning one that was already in the recipe when you opened it?  If the number was already in the recipe as you downloaded it, then you can pretty much ignore the number with regard to the basic recipe as it may have been someone else's results or just default numbers no one bothered to reset.  Without knowing which, ignore all 'meas' inputs as they are for the brewer to enter in their own measured values to compare to the estimated values from the program.

You are correct in thinking that the Brew house efficiency is most likely different from your process.  This can come in in various places: (1) lower mash efficiency extracting fewer sugars than the recipe called for or (2) greater process losses in your system leading to greater demand for water (lowering the gravity).

Next, did you 'scale' the recipe to your personalized equipment profile or did you brew the recipe as it was downloaded?  If you did not use your own equipment profile that matched your equipment and process then that might explain quite a bit of the difference.  Your process losses are probably not the same as the original recipe builder. Your boil off rate may be much different.  Your crush and sugar extraction from the mash may be different.

The nice thing about BeerSmith is how much of it can be customized to everyone's individual process and set up.  It takes time and careful measurements of volumes and gravity through out your process to get teh correct information and then updating the equipment profile to get the software to match what your process output will achieve.

 
I did miss the part about setting my gear for kettle size. I mashed with 20qts. but should have been 15. So my sparge was smaller since I could only boil 6 gallons. Yeah the measured OG I first mentioned was from the recipe, so now I get it, ignore that because it is just the brewers notes. Does my OG of 1.044 sound reasonable for 12# 10oz of grains plus 1 ib of sugar?
Thanks, I am still learning all grain and Brewsmith.
 
Back
Top