millerrl143 said:
Can you enlighten me as to how I would use the numbers that were on the malt I chose, or does entering other variables figure that out for you?
The best thing about extract is that someone has done the work for you. The worst thing about extract is that someone has done the work for you.
As you move to all grain, the mash step is where all of the malt specs become important. You can google "reading malt analysis sheet" to get a more detailed explanation than I'm going to give, here. I'm going to stay focused on how the spec sheet relates to BeerSmith.
Mealy / Half / Glassy: not relevant to BeerSmith.
In base malts, this is a stand in measurement of modification in the malting process where high mealiness is desired. It really means how the malt comes out of the kilning process, so really has more meaning for specialty malts. For instance, a crystal malt will have a higher amount of glassiness due to the hardened sugar. Base malt with less than 95% mealiness is usually rejected but is still perfectly suitable to become specialty malt. Low mealiness and high glassy percentages are expected in crystal malts in the darker range.
Plump/Through: Not relevant to BeerSmith
In malting, Modified Plump and Modified Thin are kernel size determinations. Generally, it represents how well a malt will work in a mill and potential efficiency.
Moisture: Goes in the Moisture Field
This is the percentage of malt weight that is water, of course. It's a statistic in BeerSmith that isn't actually used to calculate anything. It really doesn't have to be, either, but there are a few homebrewers that use it, anyway. You'll see some toasted malts with higher moisture levels than base grains. Generally a level <5% indicates a longer storage life.
Extract FG/CG and difference: Potential and Difference Fields
Here's the subject that leaves most brewers dizzy. There are four values, each meant to help determine extract efficiency. This malt profile shows two "dry" values but some maltsters also show an "as-is" fine and coarse vales which include the moisture content. The "as-is" value is more useful to brewers, IMHO.
FG: Fine grind, dry, which represents the absolute maximum amount of soluble solids in the grain and is the standard most often used in BeerSmith grains. BeerSmith will cross calculate Potential and Yield based on which one you enter.
Difference: This is the percentage difference between the two grinds. BeerSmith appears to ignore this in its calculations.
Protein: Protein Field.
Although this is not used in BeerSmith, higher protein levels can indicate the need for a protien rest of rice hulls.
S/T: Not relevant to BeerSmith
This ratio can be used to determine whether a malt needs a protein rest or other treatment to prevent slow runoff. A value <30 indicates undermodified malt or exceptionally high glucan levels, which just become gummy and reduce water flow and extract efficiency.
Alpha Amylase: Not relevant to BeerSmith
Good to know it's there, though.
Diastatic Power: Diastatic Power field in BeerSmith.
This is only true if the value is in degrees Lintner. Various malsters will present this in values other than Lintner. Make sure you convert it, correctly. BeerSmith doesn't use this value, yet. It may be coming in future updates since the range of non-diastatic ingredients brewers want to use is growing.
Color: Color.
For all intents and purposes, SRM and Lovibond are the same scale as far as grain is concerned.