I am using a 65 qt YETI cooler as my mash tun....I too am using beersmith and have been getting low efficiency from my mash. Ive been trying to play around with beersmith so i can improve my efficiency... With that being said, I am trying to make a Barleywine recipe and my recipe calls out for 7.24 gallons of volume needed for this recipe. How am i supposed to be inputting in the information into beersmith because i put that i have 7 gallons of tun deadspace and it wants me to mash in with almost 13 gallons. If i uncheck the box to Adjust Mash Volume for deadspace, it then changes to almost 6 gallons to mash in with. However, it gives me 2 batch sparge steps. This has been my weakest point in beer smith, trying to get this step down so i can increase my efficiency. Help is greatly appreciated!
Cheers
Not sure why you posted a question about efficiency in a five year old thread about mash profiles. Might get more response if you asked in one of the current threads about mash efficiency, or started a new thread with your questions. When you start new threads, you should always make the title as descriptive as possible in order to maximize your chances of getting the answers you are looking for.
Beersmith won't help you fix your efficiency. It's a great program (I use it) for designing recipes and doing calculations, but to improve your efficiency, you have to improve your process. Improving your calculations won't affect your efficiency. There are two things that determine your efficiency:
- How much of the available starch in the grain that you convert to sugar in the mash. This is your Conversion Efficiency.
- How much of the sugar you created in the mash actually makes it into the boil kettle. This is your Lauter Efficiency.
Mash Efficiency = Conversion Efficiency * Lauter Efficiency
If your efficiency is low at least one of the above, but probably both, are lower than they could and should be. What you do with your process to fix the two different contributors is different, so you need to know which of the efficiencies is low in order to know where to look in your process. I give more details
here,
here, and
here.
Why do you think you have 7 gal of deadspace in your mash tun? For the mash water calculations, deadspace is the volume under a false bottom in the mash tun. Since this volume won't contain grain during the mash, you need to add this much extra water to the mash so that the grain will have enough water above the false bottom for a proper mash thickness (water to grain ratio). If your mash tun does not have a false bottom, then the deadspace is 0.
There is another deadspace defined for a mash tun, and that is the volume of liquid that is left in the bottom of the MLT after it is drained. This deadspace does not affect the mash water calculations, but it does affect your lauter efficiency. The higher the undrainable volume, the lower your lauter efficiency will be, so you want to minimize this volume to maximize your efficiency.
If you have more specific questions, don't hesitate to ask them.
Brew on