Trouble in Beersmith matching their OG to recipe OG

[olotti]

I've been transferring the info for some recipes on this site into Beersmith and the Beersmith OG is always higher than the OG in the recipes. How could this be? Is it based on water volumes that I may be putting in wrong?

 

[CA_Mouse]

Give us one of the recipes and we can plug it in to our version. Remember that your system is going to be different than everyone else's, so you may have a more efficient system setup up than the original recipe's.

 

[GrogNerd]

might be difference in efficiency.

not sure what HBT recipes are based on, but you would use the Scale Recipe function to match your efficiency and adjust the amounts, if needed.

 

[olotti]

might be difference in efficiency.

not sure what HBT recipes are based on, but you would use the Scale Recipe function to match your efficiency and adjust the amounts, if needed.

I'm sure it prob is an efficiency difference but I'm still not real sure what my true efficiency is., I leave the efficiency in my equipment setup at the default 72%. My mash efficiency in the 3 recipes I've typed in Beersmith have been 77-80% but my total efficiency is usually between 68-71% Take for instance the fresh squeezed clone here. OG on the recipe is 1.063 Beersmith says 1.070 FG in recipe is 1.010 Beersmith has it as 1.015, when I brewed this I measured OG of1.062 and FG of 1.010.

 

[olotti]

Give us one of the recipes and we can plug it in to our version. Remember that your system is going to be different than everyone else's, so you may have a more efficient system setup up than the original recipe's.

This was the latest one I did doing the 5.5 Gal batch.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/fresh-squeezed-ipa-deschutes-inspired-470557/

 

[GrogNerd]

and your pre-boil gravity & volumes are matching the recipe there? 1.056 & 7 gallons?

 

[olotti]

and your pre-boil gravity & volumes are matching the recipe there? 1.056 & 7 gallons?

Yes. I got 7 Gal at 1.055. The only thing with this batch was that I boiled off a little to much, I wanted 6 Gal to put 5.5 into ferment but I ended with 5.75 Gal and put 5.25 into the fermenter. Even so I only missed the OG by 1 pt 1.063 vs my 1.062.

 

[GrogNerd]

ok, here's what I have in my equipment profile (left) and, in the recipe, on the mash details tab (right)

anything in yours that looks completely off by comparison?

because I'm matching the recipe numbers

 

[GrogNerd]

ok, here's what I have in my equipment profile (left) and, in the recipe, on the mash details tab (right)

anything in yours that looks completely off by comparison?

because I'm matching the recipe numbers

View attachment 209757

 

[olotti]

ok, here's what I have in my equipment profile (left) and, in the recipe, on the mash details tab (right)

anything in yours that looks completely off by comparison?

because I'm matching the recipe numbers

View attachment 209757

The mash details are exact. I have differences in my setup than yours though.

Boil volume you-7.25 me 7.0
Boil off you-.75 me-1.25
Loss to trub I put zero in now but it prob should be atleas .25
Batch volume = same

I use a 10 gal cooler with a false bottome.

I have mash tun vol = 10 Gal you have 12
I have mash weight = 10lbs you have 12

Those are the only differences I noticed and my boil off is so high because I've been having problems trying to nail the exact boil off amount. One batch it's 1.25 the next its 1 Gal the next it's 1.5Gal so it's thrown off my batch volume numbers the last 3 batches but I shoot for 5.5 into fermenter. I only have 4 AG batches under my belt and it's all new equipment but it seems the only real problem I 'm having batch to batch is getting the right post boil amount. I recently upped to 7-7.25 Gal to get 6 post boil, lose maybe .5 to trub leaving 5.5 into fermenter, that's the plan anyway.

 

[GrogNerd]

if you're putting 80 or so % in the box circled in this picture, Beersmith will say 1.070

72% in mine makes that OG 1.063

 

[olotti]

Yeah I got it now I had to fix the efficiency setting in my equip. the weird thing is that my est mash eff is 72% but the actual was 80%. Their preboil gravity is 1.049 mine is 1.055 but there was no pb gravity in the original recipe so idk if that is close or not. Either way maybe I just had a good day and everything else worked out ok. Bottled it almost 2 weeks ago tried a couple at 1 week and its an awesome beer, brew it if its something you may like. Thanks for the help, ill get this stuff one of these days. lol

 

[GrogNerd]

yeah, didn't seem like anything wrong with your brewing, just your software.

just makes you feel better when it all matches

 

[brewfun]

On the fermentation tab, there's a field called "Measured Efficiency." When accurate numbers are recorded, this is the number you should update to your equipment profile Brewhouse Efficiency number.

When you put the measured efficiency number into the equipment profile, the numbers should match your experience and therefore the original recipe.

Brewhouse Efficiency as BeerSmith uses the term, is the total percentage of grain sugar that makes in into the fermenter. The real term for this is "Brewhouse Yield," but the program uses BHE, instead.

So, if you could extract everything from the grain AND you never had any trub loss, you'd have 100% BHE. As either of those numbers go up, the BHE number must go down to get the same gravity number. If you add trub loss, but keep the BHE the same, BeerSmith adjusts the mash efficiency upwards because it assumes the potential gravity will be the same, therefore you must be getting more out of the grain (and you're an awesome brewer!). Pretty quickly the mash efficiency will read over 100% and we know that's not correct.