Beersmith help

[Cadbury]

G'day men,
I am having problems formulating a recipe in beersmith. I have put in all of my equipment data. I thought if I selected a recipe, the program would then give me the recipe at the right amounts to match my equipment. But I selected an American IPA and then clicked on the Add Grains button. I thought it would give me the selection of grains and amounts to make that selected beer. Instead, it lists numerous grains in alphabetical order. How on earth do I know what goes into making this beer, I thought that's what the program did! I have clicked on every button to try and get it to work and I'm ready to put my fist through the screen! I'm sure it is something simple. Can anybody help.
Cadbury

[Swifty]

I am by no means an expert as I've only used the trial version but no the program doesn't give you the recipe as there are so many different recipe's for the same style beer. It will give you an idea of what colour, ibu's etc should be for that style but not the ingredients. Try doing a search on here to find a recipe and then punching that into beersmith. You could always post it here to get any comments or feedback.

[drsmurto]

Beersmith is a program to help you with your brewing, it doesnt do it for you! It will tell you what your OG, colour and IBU will be, helps out with getting water to the right temperature when mashing etc etc.

Either search for a recipe or ask, more than happy to point you in the right direction recipe wise.

I have an american (rye) IPA in the fermenter now, first time using rye but i make AIPAs regularly.

Let me know what grains/hops you have and can help you come up with something.

[warra48]

BeerSmith does have some recipes in the software as you buy it, but they are rather limited in number. They're under 'Sample Recipes' in the task bar on the left of the screen.

There are more recipes on BeerSmith website which you can import, but the range is still not extensive.

That's why all the HB forums have recipe section where you can browse other's recipes, and get inspiration for making up your own.

You'll find that initially you'll want to follow someone else's recipe. However, after a short while, you'll find your feet and start designing your own. That's part of the fun of this hobby.

Note also, that you can use the 'Inventory' function. Simply open it up, and select 'Insert' in the top task bar, select 'Grain or Extract' or 'Hops' etc etc. You can then select the quantity you have, the AA% of your batch of hops etc.
Then, when you design your recipe, and you click the 'Add Grain/Extract' etc etc, you wil get a pop up window. Tick the 'Only show items in stock' box, and you will have a list of your own ingredients, without the confusion of trawling through loads of stuff you don't have at hand.

Good luck. As DrSmurto said, let us know if you have further questions.

[Cadbury]

Thanks men,
I now have a better idea of what I need to do. It seems like I put in a recipe and then the program calculates it for my equipment, rather than come up with a recipe.
I'll let you know how I go.
Thanks again.
Cadbury

[Cadbury]

G'day again,
I have just printed off a recipe from beersmith and entered the ingredients. The recipe was for a 5.5 gallon boil size. I'm after a 40 litre boil size. Once entering the ingredients, does the program then calculate what I need for this amount? How do I know whether to use 5kg or 50 kg of grain? Computers are definitely not my forte.
Thanks.
Cadbury

[drsmurto]

I would caution people using the sample recipes including with beersmith.

Most, if not all of them, are seppo in origin and contain ridiculous amounts of crystal malts. The seppo crystal isn't as sweet as the stuff we have so if you follow their recipes and use our malts you will make sugar beer.

Cadbury - the easiest way to do a conversion is to punch in the recipe exactly as written, setting your volume to the volume of the recipe.

Then click the button (its either convert of scale) and enter the new volume you want to brew and beersmith will scale everything for you.

When i make up recipes i usually start with 4-5kg of grain for a standard 20L batch and then adjust it up or down to hit my desired OG. Same goes with the hops altho i always add the aroma and flavour additions first and then tweak the 60 min bittering addition to get the IBU i want.

If you want help/critique/feedback, post your recipe here and we can help you adjust it for the malts and hops available here and advise you on substitutions etc.

[Cadbury]

thanks for the help. I don't get home until tomorrow to put a recipe in or to try what you recommended. Thanks again for keeping track of my ongoing frustrations.
Cadbury

[Cadbury]

I just put in a recipe and followed those steps and in turned out right. I didn't think I'd ever get it. When you talk about tweeking the malts to get the desired OG, what do you exactly mean? Also with the hops, is there a recommended IBU amount for a particular style of beer?

[Bum]

There are style guides built into the program that show you the "suggested" target range for IBU (and others). Click "Choose" under the name of the recipe.

I guess he just means play with the amounts until it looks like what you're after. If the OG is too high, cut some malt. Too low? Add some. I'm sure it can be more complicated than that if you want it to be but I'm guessing you don't right now.

[drsmurto]

Cadbury, post your recipe here and tell us why you are brewing it and what sort of beer yo hope it to taste like.

That way we can help out by adjusting the malt/hop balance, etc.

The only way to learn what level of IBU is right for you is to brew lots and drink lots and then brew even more!

Seriously. You can have a great collection of recipes on paper but until you actually brew and taste them they are just words.

I started off by brewing other peoples recipes and was lucky to have a very helpful LHBS who would discuss recipe development with me over a pint or 2.

After you get your head around different malts, hops, yeast, mash temps etc etc you start to get a feel for it.

Have fun!

Cheers
DrSmurto