making you own recepies

[Damfoose]

Really stupid question
I have beersmith and am trying to come up with some recipies for the type of beer I like but I seem to be failing on getting any form of alcohol content into it the alcohol content im getting is less than 1% !!!!!!!! Sample recepie is as follows

Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 92.11 %
0.50 lb Amber Malt (43.3 EBC) Grain 6.58 %
0.10 lb Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 1.32 %
30.00 gm Pilgrim [11.50 %] (90 min) Hops 30.2 IBU
30.00 gm First Gold [7.50 %] (20 min) Hops 13.4 IBU
20.00 gm Fuggles [4.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.026 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.007 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 2.45 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 43.5 IBU Calories: 90 cal/l
Est Color: 14.0 EBC Color: Color

Where am I going wrong or is beersmith telling porkies

[Aleman]

More grain Neil Or Less Volume

[wetdog]

a stab in the murk... have you checked your brew length? its not something stupid like 23 gallons instead of litres is it?

[bconnery]

You definitely need to check your boil and batch volume to fix the estimated alcohol values.
Your figures have:
Est Original Gravity: 1.026 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.007 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 2.45 %
So I'm thinking that the batch size is bigger than you plan, your efficiency is set quite low, or you don't have enough malt, or that's what you want...

The actual values are based on the figures you enter in the actual figures fields. Beersmith just defaults them low, as seen below.
Once you have made the brew, enter in what you actually got...

Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %

[Parva]

7Lbs I wouldn't think is anywhere near enough for a 23l brew length. I use 5Kg M.O. (11.1Lbs) for my 23l brews and consistently end up with an SG of 1.054 even with my inefficiencies.

[hoppingMad]

At 75 % efficiency you have enough malt there for a decent 23 litre 1.044 batch. Check the decimal point placement on your Maris Otter weight. Other than that all I can think of is your efficiency setting is too low. Try stepping it up to 70 odd percent.

[confused]

grain bill seems a bit light to me. Boiling 30l, fermenting 23 I make your SG about 1036 at 75%, finishing at 1009 meaning about 3.5% - session beer territory

My IBU readings are much higher than yours too, which suggests you are using a longer brew length? They are closer to yours if I double the brew length which gives SG of 1018, ABV of 1.7%

The recipe makes more sense if your grain values should be in Kg, it is odd that you are giving grain in imperial and hops in metric units?

[Neal]

look at the 'Measured OG' field - it says 1010, hence 0.6% alc. When you actually brew, stick the real value from your hydrometer in there and you'll get the alcohol estimate. As the others say, you're looking at a sub 3% brew there anyway, so more grain or less water for a stronger brew.

[Damfoose]

7Lbs I wouldn't think is anywhere near enough for a 23l brew length. I use 5Kg M.O. (11.1Lbs) for my 23l brews and consistently end up with an SG of 1.054 even with my inefficiencies.

Yep thats the problem lb's instead of kilos changed it in beersmith and tha gravity looks pretty much what I was after may have to up the hops a little though as I would like a little more hopyness
ho hum my mistake thanks for all the pointers folks much appreciated I shall get my head around this program.