I'm wondering how accurate the BeerSmith2 recipe program is once you modify your boil system and size. Anyone have any experience or opinions/outcomes from it?
Once you have a solid understanding of your brewing system it is great! I love the program, money well spent.
I would go back to Beersmith I if I could...more intuitive and easier to cut and paste into BA (export) Having said that...it works just fine with some tweeks to your equip profiles, etc.
I don't really understand what's being modified behind the scenes when you change between extract/partial mash/etc. If I created a "recipe" with 5lb of DME (all other things being equal), to my recollection the OG changes pretty drastically depending on whether I'm selecting extract or PM. Maybe it's a lack of understanding or user error, but the program should not make any adjustments to DME additions because there really shouldn't be any difference in efficiency. That said, I've learned to work around the issue and will continue to rely on Beer Smith for all of my recipe formulations.
Interesting stuff. I think I'm gonna try it. It probably would have given me better understanding with the DIPA recipe I was doing.
I use BSII, but not to it's full effect. It's easy to log recipes on it, but adapting the program to the specifics of my brewing operation has been frustrating. Part of the problem is I don't know my system as well as I should, part of the problem is that my system has some non-traditional elements, and part of the problem is it's not always clear exactly what info BSII is using to do a calculation, making it hard to know what to adjust.
BS II is fine - I've had stability issues with it crashing while entering in ingredients and I dislike how it only calculates mash efficiency, but it's definitely a good app. I mainly use it for scaling recipes and calculating water volumes. Plan on having boiling water and ice cubes at the ready the first time you mash using their suggested temps for your equipment. It takes a fair amount of dialing in.
Unless I'm not following your comment correctly, I must mention that It calculates mash efficiency on the mash tab and brew house efficiency on the recipe tab. To the OP: It's a great resource and if you've used BS1, I'll say that despite the learning curve period on BS2 where I kept swearing I prefered BS2, I finally prefer BS2 to BS1. Just make sure you modify it to your systems, have a way to accurately measure your preboil / post boil gravity's and volumes', and you'll really be able to dial in everything.
