Beersmith - building by ABV

[Monmouth00]

Hello All,

Second thread here - hoping to get some help using Beersmith.

Until very recently, I was a lurker here. I've got a dozen or so extract batches under my belt, and you guys/this site have been such a resource to me when I have been researching common questions.

Following what seems to be everyone's advice here, I downloaded the mobile version of Beersmith3 on my Kindle, and am excited to start using it. I look forward to building my own recipes.

I haven't gotten a chance to tinker with it too much, but have watched a few youtube tutorials.

My question revolves around building to a specific ABV. I generally aim to brew, no matter what style, a beer that is 6.0% ABV or higher. Even lighter beers like hefeweizens and other light ales I prefer to be strong (more bang for my buck).

In Beersmith, is there a way to aim for a specific ABV, say for a saison or a stout, and work backwards with the ingredients? Say I want to make a stout at 7.0% ABV. Can I set the ABV to 7% and will it tell me how much of each LME/DME and steeping grains I should use?

Or do I have to have a basic understanding of flavors and aromas of each, adding more until my expected ABV gets to where I want it to be? If so, how do I know my flavor profile is going to be right?

Thanks for your help!

 

[GoeHaarden]

Or do I have to have a basic understanding of flavors and aromas of each, adding more until my expected ABV gets to where I want it to be? If so, how do I know my flavor profile is going to be right?

If you're aiming for a certain ABV, then you need to focus on the OG and getting it above 1.060 will yield beers around 6% if fermented down to the teens. With Beersmith, you can input any recipe you want and then you can adjust the OG and it will adjust the ingredient amounts accordingly.

As far as knowing how much of what to add...That just takes time and experience, but a good place to start is by finding similar recipes and looking at the percentages of each ingredient. Research what each ingredient contributes and adjust the percentages to aim for the flavor you want.

 

[Parrothead1]

If you want to take a recipe and brew it with more, or less alcohol than the original, just change the amount of base malt (lme or dme)to get it where you want it, leave the amount of character (steeping)malts like cyrstal or chocolate the same. If your adding more malt, you should also add more hops to Keep the ibu/og ratio the same. also, If your going to make your own recipe, simple is usually better. A good place to start would be to use your extract and one pound or less of a Crystal malt somewhere between C10 and C 80. and one hop. If you don’t want it too bitter, adjust the hop additions to about 30 IBU’s . If you want it as bitter as a IPA, you can go to 60. I would do a 60 min hop addition and an addition at knock out. Pick a yeast based on the style or just read the description and go with what sounds good. Try an American yeast one time and an English yeast the next time. You can dry hop it if you want too. Its fun doing your own recipes. Usually too much, crystal/roasted/chocolate/black malt is what might make it undrinkable. As the other person said, Look at the amounts in other recipes before you add them to one of your own.

 

[Monmouth00]

Thanks so much for the advice!

I had more time to tinker around with the app this weekend, and started to build some recipes. I did exactly as you recommended, and took some existing recipes and increasedbase malt amounts to up the ABV. That was the plan all along, but I didn't realize you could actually edit existing recipes. I figured they couldn't have made the app that easy to use, but lo and behold, it's actually quite intuitive. Sorry, Beersmith, for underestimating you.

I'm excited to start building one from scratch. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again!

 

[kh54s10]

In furthering your knowledge of BS3, go to the help tab at the top, scroll down and find tutorial videos, watch them all. (several times).

One of the most important places to concentrate in BS3 is your equipment profile. For extract you can start with one already listed, but I would look at it and tweak it for your system. It is critical if you go to more complicated equipment rigs.

 

[Monmouth00]

In furthering your knowledge of BS3, go to the help tab at the top, scroll down and find tutorial videos, watch them all. (several times).

One of the most important places to concentrate in BS3 is your equipment profile. For extract you can start with one already listed, but I would look at it and tweak it for your system. It is critical if you go to more complicated equipment rigs.

My system is about as basic as they will come. I have an 8 gallon aluminum pot that I place on a dark star burner. I use a big mouth bubbler for a primary.

I'll definitely investigate, but does the app get that specific?

I'm using water that I get from a well on my parent's property. I know it's full of minerals, and I haven't found better water to make beer with. It's being tested next week (they're selling the farm), so I'll know what's in it. I can hopefully match it by adding to bottled water. Once I get results I'll try to add it to my water profile.

Thanks!

 

[kh54s10]

There is a lot less to concern yourself with concerning equipment with extract brewing. It is far more important in more complex all grain rigs.

A water quality test for selling a house might not give you what you need for brewing considerations. They are concerned with contaminates not mineral content. But who knows?