Beersmith Tips Cheats and Questions

[Leann ull]

A place to give your tips and tricks and answer any questions about using Beersmith.

[Leann ull]

I also have Beersmith mobile which allows me do brewdays without the need of the laptop do the timings and show recipes at meets

[Leann ull]

I don't use the inventory function even though it has the potential to tell me exactly what I have or the cost of each beer I make.
I gather at some point they are going to cross ref inventory against recipes to allow you have a go at something new based on your stock

[Leann ull]

Be very careful that the ingredient data you have chosen on ingredients is correct, eg alpha acids is correct on your hops based on what's written on packing and not what default value for that hop is in Beersmith or colour is correct on crystal or other dark malts.

[Leann ull]

Lets start at the Start Equipment Wizard

Simple stuff here how much do you leave at the bottom of the boiler and FV
I tend to overcompensate on these as I really like to leave an inch of liquid above the trub line and FV line
If you want to be hyper accurate do a full brew an measure, 2 ltr lost to FV and 3 for boiler for me

[Leann ull]

So Next and we are asked how much do we boil off. On a 30-35 litres batch this can be anywhere between 3 and 5 litres depending on the severity of the boil, mines 5L.
Next is boil time again default is 60 I use 90 for lagers and Pilsners

[molc]

To get beersmith to work for you, you need to get your profile setup to model how your setup works. The best was to do this is to measure everything on brewday. Also, to measure liquids accurately, make sure you first calibrate all vessels correctly. Don't trust the stick on liquid measures as they tend to be inaccurate. Instead, get a measuring jug and carefully measure in 1 Litre at a time, marking it off on your vessal. Also, do this after you have installed all components or when you make changes, as they all take up space inside that will displace your water.
Once you've done this, do a brewday and measure all volumes at each stage, then update your profile to match. After 3 or 4 brews, you should have beersmith matching what happens and the numbers will converge.
After that, enjoy - suddenly Beersmith will come alive and you can tweak recipes to your hearts content.

[Leann ull]

ok Last page and a bit trickier now
Brewhouse efficiency, and this is where some folks get a bad case of phallus envy.
Brewhouse efficiency is not a reflection of a quality beer and I see lots of brewers punching in their ingredients fooling themselves with 80-85 % values and then missing their targets or making monster beers by accident with 65% values.
For typical set up its can be in the 70-75 range Braumeister and Herms 80-85.
The more brews you do the more data you have to plug in and after 3-5 brews you will know what your efficiency is and what % you should be comfortable with.
Be aware however big abv beers and your efficiency will drop so if say you normally do 5% at 75% you should consider 65-70% for an 8-10% beer. 
Do weigh your mash tun and put in correct volume, I filled mine with water to the level I was happy with and just measured that.
Drain your mash tun and there will be a small volume of liquid left depending on where your drain is, pour this volume into a measuring jug. This is you Lauter tun deadspace value.
Put a check in the Adjust Mash Volume for Deadspace.

And so thats it thats you equipment profile and you are good to go!

[Leann ull]

Molc you are disturbing my rhythm 

+1 on some of those measures on the FV though. A 5L jug is worths its weight in gold, I have a lovely pair of jugs (3 and 5L).

I am wondering for the nubes is there a particular area or aspect you would like us all to address.

Throw up the topic or area that confuses you most and we can all go through them one by one?

[imark]

Consider the temperature of the volume your marking if you want to be precise. There is a 4% increase over 100C

[Motorbikeman]

So if I lower  Brew house efficiency,  to say 69%  ,  it will have the effect of lowering or (normalizing)  the Alcohol content ? 

[Leann ull]

Yes exactly you extract less fermentables from the grain and so have a lower og to start

[nigel_c]

I have a lovely pair of jugs (3 and 5L).

Lets keep it clean lads. 

[Leann ull]

Can't believe Dempsey missed that one he's usually my "bad cop" within the hour

[nigel_c]

Ah leave him alone. He's getting on a bit.