Effects of 'schedule' changes on 'analysis' or 'style'?

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billvelek
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Effects of 'schedule' changes on 'analysis' or 'style'?

Post by billvelek »

Although I am extremely impressed and pleased with BTP, I was surprised and a bit disappointed to discover that the mash schedule in BTP has absolutely no effect upon either beer style or analysis. Now, I don't know if it is 'supposed to' and just isn't working right ... or if it was never designed to do that in the first place. I discovered this by doing a somewhat extreme experiment with two test sessions; both of them have 10 pounds of 2-row malt for 5 gallons of final volume. Everything on the mash schedules are identical as far as Mash-In, vater volume, thickness, equalization times, Mash-Out time and temp, and sparging temp and water volume. The only differences were in the length and temps for the saccharification rest: one was set at 2 hours at 130F to maximize use of beta-amylase to produce what should be a thin beer with minimum dextrins and resulting high attenuation; the other was first set for 30 minutes at 156F to maximize alpha-amylase to produce a more heavy-bodied beer that's high in unfermentable dextrins (for lower relative alcohol) and I then even changed it to 15 minutes at the same temp -- which might not even be enough time for full conversion. There was absolutely no difference in any of them as far as 'Style' and 'Analysis' go. Maybe I was expecting too much, but that surprised and disappointed me because I was under the impression that all facets of the brewing process are interconnected in BTP.

First, it might not even be possible to do such things, or if possible, might be so difficult to implement that the price of this software would have to quadruple. Not being a programmer, I don't know, but if that is plausible, I want to recommend that as a feature, even if added only to a premium upgrade.

Second, I'm not saying that I was mislead; I obviously jumped to some conclusions that I should not have, although I don't know how unreasonable I was in that regard. I went back and looked at the advertising for BTP because I couldn't figure out why I presumed it would work that way. BTP's ad states: "a software package for formulating beer recipes, for designing mashing schedules and for calculating other factors when brewing beer." It does all of that, but I guess I was reading something more into "designing mashing schedules", and then after getting the program I noted how the BTP databases have so much technical information -- most of which I don't understand and BTP doesn't explain at all. For instance, if you look at the "Grain Editor", there are fields there for everything but the kitchen sink, and I don't know what most of them are; I suspected that that info was probably for determining the sugar profile according to variables in a mashing schedule, etc.

Finally, the BTP ad states: "It is also interesting to leave the schedule graph visible and switch the multi-list to the ingredient view. You will notice how slight changes to your fermentable ingredients impact the schedule." Honestly, I can't see any changes to the graph at all, and I have made both slight and major changes -- like doubling my weight of malt. It might be due to the first graph going blank before the next is displayed, but I don't think so. What should I expect to see, and is that feature working or not?

Thanks.

Bill Velek
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bzwrxbz
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Re: Effects of 'schedule' changes on 'analysis' or 'style'?

Post by bzwrxbz »

billvelek wrote:
Finally, the BTP ad states: "It is also interesting to leave the schedule graph visible and switch the multi-list to the ingredient view. You will notice how slight changes to your fermentable ingredients impact the schedule." Honestly, I can't see any changes to the graph at all, and I have made both slight and major changes -- like doubling my weight of malt. It might be due to the first graph going blank before the next is displayed, but I don't think so. What should I expect to see, and is that feature working or not?

Thanks.

Bill Velek
There is an easy way to see it change... uncheck your biggest fermentable, and you will see your temperature drop faster during your rest period.

This means that small changes will impact it as well, but maybe not viewable to the human eye.
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billvelek
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Re: Effects of 'schedule' changes on 'analysis' or 'style'?

Post by billvelek »

bzwrxbz wrote:There is an easy way to see it change... uncheck your biggest fermentable, and you will see your temperature drop faster during your rest period.
Hmmmm ... the only change I see is the equalization during the mash-in, and everything else is the same. Perhaps it's because I haven't gotten around to calibrating my mash-tun. THAT DOES IT!!! Tonight I'm going to calibrate EVERYTHING ... and then maybe I won't ask any more stupid questions. :oops: I guess I should have set up everything first to get a better grasp on the program, ... but this is a learning process for me and I didn't understand the importance of that element. My payback will be when I can help newbies with this stuff. :P Seriously, there many things that obviously interact in the BTP program, but without a sufficient User's Guide to point stuff out, these stupid questions are bound to crop up. Those of us who can donate some time to develope a better User's Guide are apparently welcome to help as per Lathe's invitation: http://www.beertools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2011. I'm going to help as much as I can ... hopefully avoiding the creation of confusion when I do. :mrgreen:

Cheers.

Bill Velek
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