BeerSmith - General help and comments.

[431neb]

Thanks all. I went ahead on the assumption I was right (Never assume, never assume...). I was lucky this time.

There is a bit to learn isn't there. I enjoy it mostly but like this....

Where oh where is the automatic addition of salts option after you add water. I can't find that anywhere. Saw it mentioned somewhere but can't find the post.

sometimes I seem to stare at the ******* for what seems like hours looking for the right sub-menu for that little "thing" I saw ages ago....


Thanks again.

 

[Byran]

Ok open a recipe that you have made, then at the top select TOOLS.
Then Select Water profile on the left.
Then Add your home water profile.
Then when you select a profile from somewhere on the list it will l calculate the additions of salts needed based on the volume you choose.

 

[Byran]

After that you just need to add a Water profile as part of your ingredients and the salts are calculated and added for you.

 

[djar007]

Cool. Thanks very much. I tried it with my water Profile but didn't see it add the salts. I will go back and take a look.

 

[Byran]

Put your one in as the base profile then select the water from each category for your volume on the same water page, save the result.
Then, when you add them in your recipe they come up automatically, it prompts you first before adding the additions. From my experience with water modifications it seems to be fairly accurate. Dont worry about the american random city water just use the london types, irish, german and main water for style profiles.

 

[Khellendros13]

Anyone else have an issue with Beersmith 2 not adjusting the FG based on mash temp?

I change the mash temp and no change to the estimated FG...the option for this in Advanced is enabled.

 

[431neb]

More dumb questions…. I do a lot of bog standard ales on my 2V system ("system" is a bit too much - its two empty kegs after all) that aren't much more than one type of grain (Golden Promise or JW trad Ale and the like) in a a single infusion mash with a rough mashout and a 60 minute boil with whatever hops I have lying around. I'm usually looking to fill a 19 litre keg or two, so I do the odd double.

Anyway I was curious to know what brewhouse efficiencies people are hitting as I have been making more than a few "sucker punch" beers that are wiping me and my buddies out after a few pints. I suspect that as my methods have improved along the way that my efficiency has increased and as a consequence I need to adjust a few settings . Very unscientific but can anyone comment of their brewhouse efficiency as measured in BeerSmith? I know different equipment etc makes these numbers a little less valuable as a comparison but I am still curious.

Thanks.

 

[SmallFry]

I get a pretty consistent 75% efficiency on my system, tending down towards 70% or less as the gravity I'm trying to extract increases.

Just keep brewing, and making records, and feedback the average of your efficiency calculations back into your equipment profile in BeerSmith, and over time it will become a self-tuning system.

 

[Bribie G]

That's more or less what I do with BrewMate. Say I'm doing a brew that I've set the planned efficiency at 74% in the software. When the brew has been done and in the cube, I take a refractometer sample and see how it shapes up. Say the OG at 74% should be 1050 but I actually ended up with 1053 then I just keep clicking up the efficiency "spin box" one percent at a time till the OG box reads 1053.

Without loading up an example, let's just say that now gives me an eff. of 76. So next time I do a fairly similar strength brew I leave it at 76 and again check. As SmallFry says, in the end the eff as set in BrewMate fairly accurately predicts the outcome on my system, all else being equal.

 

[Dan Pratt]

Anyone else have an issue with Beersmith 2 not adjusting the FG based on mash temp?

I change the mash temp and no change to the estimated FG...the option for this in Advanced is enabled.

Go into tools on the top and select options at the bottom of that drop down. Then select advanced settings on the side and there is a tick box to get FG calculated from your mash temp.