Brewsmith tutorial?

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lostspring

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Does anyone know if there is a tutorial for brewsmith? I am trying to setup and don't seem to be "getting it". I have put a couple recipes in and am getting some strange results.
 
I don't think there is a tutorial... I sorta learned it by trial and error and it didn't seem too difficult. What sort of problems are you having?
 
I am not sure of the order to enter things. I am sure that some entries must interact with others.
On my first entry ,I will be batch sparging, it has my initial water at 17.26qts which is right, then my second at .97gal and my third at 3.63gals. That just doesn't seem right. Boil amount should be 7.0 gal.
Thanks for any help.
 
Try going into your mash profile and set the "% of the mash tun volume" to 90%. You have to tweak that number to get your sparge volumes where you want them to be... I'm using a single infusion, full body, batch sparge setting on mine...
 
I had the same question but im not sure how you got to the 90% addition. Looking at my recipe below I wanted a pre-boil volume of 6.78 gal. But calculating the amount of water BS wanted to Mash with (16.25 qt + 10.40 qt= 26.65/4= 6.66 gals)...What am I doing wrong? What about grain absorbing water?


Type: All Grain
Date: 6/12/2009
Batch Size: 5.25 gal

Boil Size: 6.78 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Rich Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.92 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 15.38 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3.85 %
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (60 min) Hops 31.9 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (15 min) Hops 15.8 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 6.4 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (1 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
0.26 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.05 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.21 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 55.5 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 5.8 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body Total Grain Weight: 13.00 lb
Sparge Water: 1.93 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Light Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 16.25 qt of water at 165.3 F 150.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 10.40 qt of water at 202.4 F 168.0 F



Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
 
I'm not sure about the exact numbers, but they don't have to be exact. The 6.66 gallons will account for grain absorption of approximately .1 gallon per pound, so your grain bill will absorb approximately 1.2 gallons out of that total volume. I think your brewsheet instructions from BeerSmith will tell you to add water to achieve the 6.xx gallon pre-boil volume. You are going to lose about a gallon during the boil process, if not a little more. Your hops are also going to absorb a small quantity of water too...
 
I agree with the grain absorption and hop absorbtion.

Heres the thing. I I mash with 6.66 gal and grain absorbs 1.2 thats 5.46 pre-boil. Now if I want 5.25 gal post boil and I boil off 1 gal per hour...I need to top off with water. Why not just up the sparge amount with that water amount.
 
There must be something different in our setups... I am using the single infusion (two step) full body batch sparge. I have a grain bill that has 14 pounds of grain. My mash/sparge water total volume is 8.4 gallons. I'm not sure what may be happening in your configuration...
 
- In recipe view, towards the top of the page uncheck the box that says set boil volume based on equipment.

- Type in your batch size and your desired pre-boil volumes in the appropriate boxes.

- In the mash section choose single infusion, medium body, batch sparge. Then click on details. At the bottom of the page under "Batch Sparge Options" check the boxes that say "Batch sparge using batches that fill" and "Sparge using equal size batches". Put 90% for percentage of the mash tun volume.

Then look at your tool bar at the top of the page and click on preview brew sheet. It should now show you sparging with 4. 5 gallons divided into equal batches based on the capacity of your equipment.

Hope this helps.
 
I just reset and I am still getting initial water of 17.26qts, Round 1 sparge of
.97gal and Round 2 sparge of 3.63gal.
I've got to be missing something somewhere.
Thanks for any help that you might give.
 
I figured out what I was doing wrong...

The Mash in and out at set in Qts but the Sparge is set in Gal. and I was treating it as Qt. :mad:

thanks apparatus!
 
OK I got it to give me two equal sparge amounts after the strike water amount, Round 1 and Round 2. What I did was to change the % amount to 70%. I am not sure what else this might change yet but sofar it looks good.
 
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