BeerSmith - Steep/Whirlpool. How Accurate?

[noslenwerd]

Hi there.. two part question.

1. How accurate is the hop addition calculation at steep/whirlpool? I entered in an ounce of citra, for 30 minutes, and it is telling me 30ibus from that? Is that correct?

2. Can you modify the temperature at which you add the "steep" hops... I was going to do one at a half an hour right at flame out, and another at 160 degrees for a half an hour. If BrewSmith does not have a formula for it, what would your guess be to the amount of IBUs added?

Thanks!

 

[aangel]

Alpha acids don't isomerize below 170-175 degrees and thus there will not be any bitterness from your second addition. As for your first - it depends on the temperature and time.

Beersmith's steep/whirlpool calculations don't seem to factor in temperature and instead assume "flame-out" temperatures.

 

[noslenwerd]

Alpha acids don't isomerize below 170-175 degrees and thus there will not be any bitterness from your second addition. As for your first - it depends on the temperature and time.

Beersmith's steep/whirlpool calculations don't seem to factor in temperature and instead assume "flame-out" temperatures.

Thanks for that...

I never really did heavy additions for after flameout, and if I understand correctly that won't have a HUGE impact on perceived bitterness - even though it says 30 ibus added - correct?

 

[jmark]

I've got the same questions... basically I get ZERO IBUs for a flame-out addition, but get lots of IBUs from whirlpool/steeping additions. I don't think BS takes into account the fact that I've got a whirlpool going in calculating the flameout IBU contribution. Not sure where the IBUs come from on the whirlpool addition either as that's typically done under 170 degrees for me. So color me as confused as the OP.

 

[brewfun]

Thanks for that...

I never really did heavy additions for after flameout, and if I understand correctly that won't have a HUGE impact on perceived bitterness - even though it says 30 ibus added - correct?

Depends on what you started with. If it's all of your IBU, then you'll perceive them. If you already have 50 or so, then nope.

 

[brewfun]

I've got the same questions... basically I get ZERO IBUs for a flame-out addition, but get lots of IBUs from whirlpool/steeping additions. I don't think BS takes into account the fact that I've got a whirlpool going in calculating the flameout IBU contribution. Not sure where the IBUs come from on the whirlpool addition either as that's typically done under 170 degrees for me. So color me as confused as the OP.

BeerSmith treats boil & WP separately. Shift your 0 min to Steep/WP and change the time to how long they'll soak.

Unlike the boil, there is no defined time for the entire WP process in BeerSmith other than the time you add to the hop addition. So, there isn't any way for BeerSmith to know what to calculate.

 

[jmark]

So basically backwards then... For whirlpool/steeping at lower temps, treat them as 0 min additions in BS (i.e. no IBU contribution) and any additions at high temps, say above the oft-mentioned 170-180 range, treat as whirlpool additions do you get an IBU contribution. Need to figure out how long it takes to get down to 170 I guess to calculate the length of time for those BS steeping additions .

 

[BeerMaverick]

You can manually adjust the hop utilization factors in BS. Go into Tools/Options/Bitterness and the default is currently set to 50% utilization (half of the bittering contribution that you would get from a boil addition). According to the note on that page any addition within the 194F-212F range will be at about 50% utilization. I usually assume 10-20% utilization for lower temps like 170F, but some people say you get 0% below 170F. I wish there were more input tabs that had different factors you could enter for different temps, but the only field available is for the general case of "steep/whirlpool", which again is defaulted at 50%.

 

[jmark]

Apparently the new version of BS coming in the summer will have formulae included for whirlpool utilization. Brad Smith had indicated that the research wasn't available when 2.0 came out, but with 2.3 the calculations will be present.