Ingredient variations / beer engines

[dx4100]

Hi All

Need some advice about how to handle ingredient variations with beer engines.

Taking Chocolate malt for example.

One shop sells it stating it has a EBC of 1100 and another shop sells it stating it has a EBC of 700. They only tend to state the EBC (well the one place I am buying from does) but having a quick look into this in BeerEngine (I am guessing others are similar) you can add more information including potential SG , moisture, yield, protein etc etc...

Also a lot of recipes just name the type of malt etc to use and nothing in regards any of this information. I guess this is where you put your calc to work.

I am about to do AG number 3 and now wanting to pay more attention to this stuff. For the other brews I just took copies of similar grains (copied a chocolate one with a different value) and adjusted the EBC value and left the rest of the values. Then I just got the calc to alter the grain amounts to match the required beer profile I wanted (EBC etc) But worried this isn't going to be all that right....

Its also the same for hops it seems. With the packet just giving you an alpha reading usually and no beta reading.

Can anybody clear up what I need to be doing in respect of this and getting the correct grain / hop amounts.

Thanks.

 

[RITiger1060]

I also find this frustrating when local home brew shop (LHBS) just gives a generic description of the type of malt especially darker malts. I've discovered if you can determine the origin of the maltster you should be able to determine the color rating. Maltster have this on their website. It seems every maltster has a similar but slightly different color scale for the same malt.

I only look at the alpha acid, but also select hops with low cohumulone oil levels. Lower the cohumulone level, less harsh the bitterness. Cohumulone level is rarely, if ever posted on the label. You'll need to look up the known oil level ranges.

I copied this form another home brewing website, but feel it gives the best explanation regarding Beta acid.

"Beta acid, like alpha, almost immediately dissolves into solution when added to boiling wort. However, unlike alpha acid, it does not isomerize and passes into the finished product unchanged. In this form they do not contribute to beer's bitterness, but do lend aroma.

During storage and aging (and in fermentation) the beer is exposed, to some degree, to oxygen. Under these circumstances iso-alpha acid degrades and loses bitterness. When beta acid oxidizes it transforms into a bitter-tasting compound. On-balance the beer looses bitterness.

There is little research into how this transformation affects the flavor stability of beer. What I have read is that hop varieties with at least twice as much alpha as beta acids generally keep their bitterness over time. I know of no software or formula that takes the ratio and stability into account when calculating IBUs."