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delucr · 12-18-2011, 01:50 AM

I've been reading this forum since I started brewing a few months ago but this is my first post.

I'm going to try my first AG brew (Northern Brewer's Surly Bender recipe) in a few weeks and I have several questions that I am still unsure about.

1) Water. I have a water softener so I have been using Ice Mountain and Absopure spring water for my extract batches. I can't find any good water chemistry data for these. I bought pH test strips to test pH but I haven't found any info on how I should correct pH once the mash has started. Should I just get 5.2 pH stabilizer and call it done or buy additives and which ones?

2) BeerSmith2 / Batch Sparging. I am trialing BeerSmith2 and the batch sparging calc is not totally clear. I have selected equal batch sizes which produces the line "Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.56 gal, 3.77gal) of 168.0 F water". Does that mean add 0.56gal after mash and then drain completely? If I select the drain mash before sparging option, then the line says, "Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 4.33gal) of 168.0 F water", which is no longer equal batch sparges. Any thoughts on what is the better method?

Any feedback is appreciated.

-Rich

**smagee** · 12-18-2011, 05:11 AM

Regarding chemistry, I would really advise against worrying about it until you have a few more batches under your belt; I've brewed hundreds of gallons at this point and never once have I adjusted my water character (perhaps to the detriment of the beer, but it's just one less thing to worry about). That said, if you really want to worry about it, I'd check out this post.

BeerSmith's latest incarnation seems to have issues with multiple batch sparges; I've been using it for a while now and while version 1.2 worked just fine for me, 2.x always gives me the "drain mash tun, , x gal" problem. I just read it as "split x in half, use two sparges of that value". In your example, I'd just go with two sparges of 2.16gal.

delucr · 12-18-2011, 08:20 PM

Smagee, thanks for the advice and great link.

-Rich

BOBrob · 12-18-2011, 08:53 PM

Batch sparge is roughly figured at 1.25 qts. per Lbs. of grain + .125 gal. for absorption. So with say 10 Lbs. grain (1.25>10=12.5qts.+.125=1.25gal.=13.75qts. strike water) you will need roughly 3.5 gallons strike water in your MLT. The sparge water will be roughly 1.5 -2 gallons for pre boil. You will loose 1/2 - 3/4 gallons during the boil, bringing you back to 4.5 gallons of wort. Strike water + absorption + sparge water to equal your desired pre boil volume. Hope this makes sense and helps . Use the seach link for the PH and water softener; you will find answers there. Cheers

**ingchr1** · 12-18-2011, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delucr

2) BeerSmith2 / Batch Sparging. I am trialing BeerSmith2 and the batch sparging calc is not totally clear. I have selected equal batch sizes which produces the line "Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.56 gal, 3.77gal) of 168.0 F water". Does that mean add 0.56gal after mash and then drain completely? If I select the drain mash before sparging option, then the line says, "Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 4.33gal) of 168.0 F water", which is no longer equal batch sparges. Any thoughts on what is the better method?

Any feedback is appreciated.

-Rich

There's something wrong with the BS2 batch sparge. This thread has some info:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f84/simple-batch-sparge-beersmith2-251495/

delucr · 12-19-2011, 01:23 AM

Ok, I checked out the BS2 thread and tried out some of the suggestions and now it says to Mash In with 18.82 qts for 12.5 lbs of grain, sounds reasonable so far given BOBrob's suggestion. Next it says to sparge with 1 step with 4.33 gallons for a pre-boil volume of 6.74 gallons. That seems off. Shouldn't the sparge return almost 100% of the input water. So given .125 qts/ lb absorption, wouldn't I be getting like 8 gallons pre-broil?

**smagee** · 12-19-2011, 01:49 AM

.125qts/lb absorption refers to the sparge absorption, I believe. Your strike water will have significantly more loss.

gr8shandini · 12-19-2011, 02:32 AM

It should be .124 gallons/lb for absorption in the mash. The grain will be fully saturated by the time you get to sparging, so you shouldn't lose any. I recommend checking out Bobby M's article on all grain as it certainly helped me understand the process:

http://www.suebob.com/brew/Bobby_Mallgrainprimer.pdf

BOBrob · 12-19-2011, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gr8shandini

It should be .124 gallons/lb for absorption in the mash. The grain will be fully saturated by the time you get to sparging, so you shouldn't lose any. I recommend checking out Bobby M's article on all grain as it certainly helped me understand the process:

http://www.suebob.com/brew/Bobby_Mallgrainprimer.pdf

Good catch on the gal./ qts. mix up! (edit was done). "Delucr"... like "Gr8shandini" says, the grain has already absorbed the strike water. So the sparge water is the amount of water you need to make a full batch , plus boil off. With the 12.5 Lbs. grain =s 15.6qts. + 1.5gal. absorption =s 21.6qts (5.4gal.) strike water. You will loose the absorption water on the first runnings, getting around 3.8gal.; so the sparge water is the amount you would need to make a 5gal. batch plus boil off. Roughly 2.2 gal. for a 60 min. boil, figuring you loose a gallon to steam. Always have more sparge water than you think you may need, cause that figure always changes when you get to that point. Hope it all makes sense now. Cheer

**biestie** · 12-19-2011, 11:28 PM

KISS (keep it simple stupid).. mash at the ratio you prefer, I use 1.5 qts/lb, but you can go lower or higher. Vorlauf, Drain completely then add the volume of water back that will give you the right preboil volume. Eventually you figure out how much water that will be but for now heat a couple gallons extra to about 180 and discard the rest.