Does beertools suck?

[cgondoli1]

I made an american brown ale with the recipe generator on beertools. It turned out more like a stout with all the chocolate malt. The calculator said it fit the style 100% but ive never tasted a brown like this? This is my first full scale AG batch and i need to know if i should use this software again.

 

[avibayer]

I have been using beer alchemy and love it. Only problem i am having is with SRM.

 

[BarleyWater]

What's the recipe?

 

[cgondoli1]

5.75 lbs. American 2-row info
.3 lbs. Weyermann CaraMunich® II info
.3 lbs. Dextrine Malt info
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 120°L info
.5 lbs. American Chocolate Malt info
.4 oz. Northern Brewer (Whole, 8.00 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
.4 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 15 min. info
Yeast : Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05 info


4 gal boil
3 gal batch

 

[cgondoli1]

When i look at other recipes the chocolate looks extremely excesive but i didnt look here until after brew day

 

[StAnthonyB]

5.75 lbs. American 2-row info
.3 lbs. Weyermann CaraMunich® II info
.3 lbs. Dextrine Malt info
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 120°L info
.5 lbs. American Chocolate Malt info
.4 oz. Northern Brewer (Whole, 8.00 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
.4 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 15 min. info
Yeast : Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05 info


4 gal boil
3 gal batch

I've been using Beertools for three months now. So far I haven't encountered any issues. My beer colours (SRM) have been spot on. The trick with any software application is to keep good records and apply those changes to the efficiencies of the software. Record keeping technique should also improve markedly. Another important thing to remember is to change one variable at a time when brewing. The first variable is to work on the mash temperature. Most folks who brew brown ales mash at 152F, or 154F for 60 minutes.

Brown ale is a HUGE category, and as such there's going to be a lot of variation. In my case I would aim toward 152F for 75 minutes as a baseline. Being an almost exclusive user of Thomas Fawcett and Baird's malts, I'd also use a grain bill consisting of their products. I can only really offer an English brown I might brew.

 

[StAnthonyB]

I worked up a shopping list from RebelBrewer.com.

This would be enough for you to make two 3 gallon batches. I did the hop additions at .25oz Cascade@60 minutes, .25oz Cascade@40 minutes, .5oz Williamette@20 minutes, and .5oz Williamette@flameout. You may want to change the hops around, but the grain bill is in keeping with the influence of the Northern English brown predecesser on the American/Texas brown homebrew tradition. As an added note, when brewing with pellet hops I fight it mighty handy to use the real-fine mesh nylon drawstring bags. I use one bag per hop addition and actually use two bags on the end of my hose coming from the mash tun spigot.




2oz. - Willamette Hops (US) = $1.78
1oz. - Cascade Hops (US) = $0.99

10# - Rahr Pale Ale Malt = $8.46
02# - Briess Victory Malt = $3.00
01# - Briess Extra Special Malt = $1.45
01# - Briess Special Roast = $1.75

Total: $17.43

 

[Edcculus]

None of the brewing software flavors will tell you whether your beer ingredients are within style. It looks at IBU, OG, SRM etc, but if compare beers, a lot of styles can share similar "stats". Its not BeerTool's fault you put too much Chocolate malt in your beer.

 

[Bobby_M]

You can't really use software to design a recipe without some experience. You can easily make a beer that fits the OG/SRM/IBU parameters of any style and be completely wrong with how it was derived. That said, the recipe doesn't look too bad.

One thing that may have happened is that you used the darker choc malt. I think it comes 200L and 350L.

The best thing you can do is grab a copy of Brewing Classic Styles and start with any style you like. All of those recipes, at least the ones I've brewed, have been excellent.

 

[KayaBrew]

I really like BTP. Watch Bobby's YouTube tutorials on how to navigate the software.

 

[cgondoli1]

Thank you everyone. Ill just chalk it up to operator error and stay away from the recipe generator until i have more experiance.. thanks stanthony for doing the price list.

 

[StAnthonyB]

Thank you everyone. Ill just chalk it up to operator error and stay away from the recipe generator until i have more experiance.. thanks stanthony for doing the price list.

I really do hope it is a help. You are too kind and you are very welcome.

 

[BreckBastion]

I've been using Beertools for a few years and I like it. What I do know is that the online generator is not that great compared to having the software on your computer. I don't like using it online. I reserve that for when I'm in real need of planning a recipe while away from home and without my laptop.

 

[rayg]

The problem is not your program or you it's
the style guidelines themselves, which are
arbitrary and originally based on commercial
names of products. If you look at the style
guidelines for "American Brown Ale" and "Stout"
at www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki you will see that
the color guidelines overlap and since dark
malts determine the color you can easily
make a "brown ale" that is identical to
a "stout". If I were you I would pick a color
level you like and tweak the ingredients to
get that SRM number. I don't know if beer
tools gives you a color bar but the free
one at hbd.org/recipator does.

Ray