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BeerSmith Recipe From Kit - Numbers Don't Add Up

DarkMorford

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Hi, all—

I'm planning to brew the Midwest Honey Bee Ale extract kit this weekend, and just out of curiosity I decided to put the recipe into BS and see how it compares.

I'm a newbie as far as BeerSmith goes (and brewing in general), but I'm pretty sure I got the recipe in correctly. I installed the Briess Grain add-on so I could access the LME that came with the kit, adjusted the alpha percentages on the hops to match the packaging I got, and I think I've got the honey addition set up right, since it goes in halfway through the boil. Unfortunately, not everything comes out the same between the program's estimates and the instruction sheet that came with the kit.

The wort's SG does match up; BS estimates it to be 1.046, and the data sheet expects 1.044–1.048. However, the FG is way off: the data sheet tells me it should end up in the 1.010–1.014 range, but BeerSmith thinks 1.002 is correct! BS also is predicting 17.4 IBUs, while I should expect 32.6 according to the instructions.

I doubt that Midwest would make such glaring mistakes in their instruction sheets, and likewise I'm pretty sure BeerSmith has all its formulas correct. Given that, then, the most likely scenario here is that I missed something in my data entry. Anyone know what I did wrong?

Code:
BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Midwest Supplies Honey Bee Ale (140)
Brewer: Shawn Morford
Asst Brewer: 
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (30.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.67 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.38 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal   
Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 3.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
3 lbs 4.8 oz          LME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM)      Extract       2        48.5 %        
3 lbs                 Honey [Boil for30 min](1.0 SRM)          Sugar         4        44.1 %        
8.0 oz                Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)             Grain         1        7.4 %         
1.00 oz               Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           3        16.3 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Vanguard [4.80 %] - Boil 2.0 min         Hop           5        1.2 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast         6        -             


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 6 lbs 12.8 oz
----------------------------

Sparge: Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Actually, Beersmith is spot-on here.  I made this kit over a year ago and, while it was very good, I had the "problem" that my measured FG was about 1.002 instead of the range Midwest stated.  There was an extensive conversation on the Midwest forums about this as well.  I was not the only one with this "problem."

If you think about it, it makes sense.  Half of the fermentables in this recipe are pure sugar, which is different from "normal" ales.  As a result, the FG should be very low; the higher alcohol content should push it even lower (since the gravity of ethanol is lower than 1.000).  I think the style of this "ale" is really a "braggot," but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

I contacted Midwest and informed them of this problem and they said they'd fix their instructions.  Apparently, they still have not.
 
Hi,
  I made major adjustments to BeerSmith 2 to provide more accurate FG numbers based not only on average yeast attenuation but also taking mash temperatures into account for all grain beers and sugars into account for those using a high percentage of sugars.

  The math is pretty complicated to lay out here, but basically BeerSmith 2 does take into account high sugar beers and the fact that these sugars are just about 100% fermentable when estimating the FG.

  Honestly I don't know of any other brewing program that properly accounts for either mash saccarification temperatures or sugar fermentability fully when doing the FG estimates.

Brad
 
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