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BCS Vienna recipe

Northern Brewer General
#1

I plugged in the Vienna lager recipe in BCS into Beersmith and at 75% efficiency it’s saying the recipe will yield an OG of 1.060 which is not only high for the style but also 10 points higher than the book says it should yield (says OG 1.050). The recipe is 5lbs Vienna, 3.4lbs Pilsner, 3lbs Munich, 2oz Carafa II.

Any idea what I’m missing? I couldn’t find in the book what the efficiency for these recipes. This assumes a 63% efficiency. Is it a typo? If so, what suggestions do you guys have to lower it to the target 1.050? reduce all the base malts equally till I hit my numbers or reduce one of them more than others?

#2

Could be that each one assumes a different potential extract for the grains.

#3

Vienna is configured as 1.036 and munich and pilsner is 1.037.

#4

Is that in Beersmith?

#5

I think all the recipes in bcs are set for 70% with 5.25gals. It should be in the beginning of the book somewhere

#6

I’m a little confused by your post. First, you’re saying that you’re calculating the recipe with an assumed mash efficiency of 75%, then later you say that assumed efficiency is 63%. Which are you going with? I ran those quantities with an assumed potential extract of 38 ppg on the pilsner malt, 36 ppg on the Vienna malt, 34 ppg on the Munich malt, and 30 ppg on the carafa. So with a mash efficiency of 75%, I get an OG of 1.062, and with a mash efficiency of 63%, I get an OG of 1.052. This isn’t really too far off the mark from the figures you were showing. If you wanted to scale the recipe down, it’s really simple to do. Just calculate the required reduction factor for the recipe based on a division of the desired OG by the higher OG, and multiply each quantity of malt by that figure. So if you want to reduce the OG from 1.060 to 1.050, just divide the digits to the right of the zero (50/60, or 5/6), which comes out to 0.8333, and multiply each quantity of malt by that figure. Nothing to it. The proportions of malt will remain exactly the same, all that matters is what figure you’re using to calculate your mash efficiency.

#7

Odd. Could it be they switched up the volume on you?
But I also wonder if 3lb. of Munich was a typo.
I did a Vienna back in the Fall with 6 lb Vienna, 2 lb Pilsner and 1/2 lb each of Caramunich 1, 3, and Carared, so a total grain bill of 9.5lb. OG was 1.052 for 5.25G into bucket.
11.5lb grain for a 5G batch seems a bit heavy for a batch supposed to be below 1.060.

#8

Is that in Beersmith?[/quote]

yes

#9

I was saying my figures for beersmith were based on 75%. The numbers in BCS appear to be (according to my calculations) a 63% efficiency (assuming they are using the same potential amounts). I do know how to scale down the recipe but my concern is that there is a typo on one of the amounts. As James Rausch said, im wondering if the Munich is a little high.

#10

I was saying my figures for beersmith were based on 75%. The numbers in BCS appear to be (according to my calculations) a 63% efficiency (assuming they are using the same potential amounts). I do know how to scale down the recipe but my concern is that there is a typo on one of the amounts. As James Rausch said, im wondering if the Munich is a little high.[/quote]
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but what is BCS? That must be what I’m not understanding.

#11

Brewing classic styles

#12

p.41
6 gallons at end of boil, 5.5 gal. into fermenter.

p.40
Malt yields are for 70%

#13

p.41
6 gallons at end of boil, 5.5 gal. into fermenter.

p.40
Malt yields are for 70%[/quote]

No clue how I missed that. I was even on that page expecting it to be under Mashing section. So it still seems a bit high even at 70%. Looks like dropping the Munich to 2lbs at 70% is pretty darn close. Thoughts?

#14

I see. Thanks. I happen to own a copy of that book, too, but I haven’t looked at it in quite some time.

#15

For the record, w/ my settings in Promash, grains 1.035 ppg, batch size 5.5, set 70% efficiency, I’m getting an SG of 1.051.

Setting closer to my usual efficiency, I knocked off 0.4 lbs from the pils and 0.5 from the munich and I’m right back to 1.051, just a hair off from JZ’s posted number.

#16

p.41
6 gallons at end of boil, 5.5 gal. into fermenter.

p.40
Malt yields are for 70%[/quote]

No clue how I missed that. I was even on that page expecting it to be under Mashing section. So it still seems a bit high even at 70%. Looks like dropping the Munich to 2lbs at 70% is pretty darn close. Thoughts?[/quote]
I just ran it through BeerToolsPro, and it looks about right for 70% efficiency and 6 gallons post-boil.

#17

Yep, it’s the volume problem. I was brewing lots of BCS recipes and kept struggling with gravity, etc. Then I stumbled across that page. It was really kind of hidden in the section about converting extract to AG, IIRC.

I’ve brewed that recipe and it was pretty good. I brewed a 6-gallon batch assuming 75% efficiency, and went with:

5 lb vienna
3.4 lb pilsner
3 lb Munich
0.12 lb Carafa II

#18

[quote=“El Capitan”]Yep, it’s the volume problem. I was brewing lots of BCS recipes and kept struggling with gravity, etc. Then I stumbled across that page. It was really kind of hidden in the section about converting extract to AG, IIRC.

I’ve brewed that recipe and it was pretty good. I brewed a 6-gallon batch assuming 75% efficiency, and went with:

5 lb vienna
3.4 lb pilsner
3 lb Munich
0.12 lb Carafa II[/quote]

Excellent info thanks! I always shoot for 6 gal post boil. Do you remember what your post boil gravity was?

#19

I had 8 gallons of preboil wort with a gravity of 1.038. I did a 90-min boil and ended with about 5.9 gallons postboil at a gravity of 1.053. That works out to 74.78% efficiency.

My FG on this batch was 1.011

Hope that helps! I take copious notes so let me know if you need any other info. :cheers:

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