- Joined
- Aug 27, 2019
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Hi there!
I am working off an old family recipe written down on an old Brewer's Friend Brew Day sheet. This will be my first time brewing and am trying to streamline my process by loading stuff onto a computer. I am putting the ingredients into the recipe editor, with very slight variations in brand, etc - for example, Brewers Friend does not appear to have Munton's chocolate malt loaded in, so I'm just loading the closest chocolate malt I can find. I've only had to make maybe two such substitutions in a seven-ingredient grain bill weighing in at about 13lbs, and only in two ingredients weighing a total of one pound combined. Hops I'm in a similar boat, matching AA% and hop type rather than specific brands.
Despite this, the Original Gravity calculation being made by the recipe builder is low by about .009 and the Final Gravity calculation is high by about .004. I presume these are within the margins of error - IBU is similarly off by just a little bit - but what's getting me is the ABV - the estimated ABV on the recipe I have is 6.4%, the ABV according to the recipe builder is 4.8%.
If I use the "goal" setting and adjust percentages, I can get closer, but it turns the 13lb grain bill into a 15.29lb bill and I have to add things like "8.39lbs of 2-row," and even then it only gets me to 5.6% ABV.
I don't know enough about brewing, hilariously enough, to begin to troubleshoot why these numbers are so off. Any thoughts as to where I should start? Tweaking the mash guidelines seems to slightly adjust these totals, but only slightly, and I'm not sure I'm putting the mash guidelines in correctly.
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!
I am working off an old family recipe written down on an old Brewer's Friend Brew Day sheet. This will be my first time brewing and am trying to streamline my process by loading stuff onto a computer. I am putting the ingredients into the recipe editor, with very slight variations in brand, etc - for example, Brewers Friend does not appear to have Munton's chocolate malt loaded in, so I'm just loading the closest chocolate malt I can find. I've only had to make maybe two such substitutions in a seven-ingredient grain bill weighing in at about 13lbs, and only in two ingredients weighing a total of one pound combined. Hops I'm in a similar boat, matching AA% and hop type rather than specific brands.
Despite this, the Original Gravity calculation being made by the recipe builder is low by about .009 and the Final Gravity calculation is high by about .004. I presume these are within the margins of error - IBU is similarly off by just a little bit - but what's getting me is the ABV - the estimated ABV on the recipe I have is 6.4%, the ABV according to the recipe builder is 4.8%.
If I use the "goal" setting and adjust percentages, I can get closer, but it turns the 13lb grain bill into a 15.29lb bill and I have to add things like "8.39lbs of 2-row," and even then it only gets me to 5.6% ABV.
I don't know enough about brewing, hilariously enough, to begin to troubleshoot why these numbers are so off. Any thoughts as to where I should start? Tweaking the mash guidelines seems to slightly adjust these totals, but only slightly, and I'm not sure I'm putting the mash guidelines in correctly.
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!