Beersmith- Adjust Temp for equipment?

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mangine77

mangine77

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Well, I just stumbled onto this little checkbox and this could be a reason for my issues!

I actually hope I'm this dumb and I've now solved my problem.

I've been missing my OG's by quite a lot and my beers have been drying out and finishing really low.

I haven't been checking the little box that says adjust temperature for equipment and when I just did for example, it bumped the mash temp. for the last beer I did by 5 degrees!!

Any beersmith folks that can explain this and how it could have been effecting my beers finishing low and missing OG numbers???? Thanks.
 
Are your mash temps low? Unless you're pre-heating your tun with hot water, I'd tick that box. Also, make sure your equipment profile accurately matches your gear.
 
Can someone else comment on this? So if I pre-heat the tun, I shouldn't click the box??? I'm brewing tomorrow and I don't know if I'm supposed to click this box or not. It's a difference of around 5 degrees so I know it matters.

I usually pre-heat the tun with hot water. Any beersmith folks that can help with this?
 
I know you want to hear from somebody else :D but this feature assumes you've measured grain/tun temperature (generally just the ambient temperature of wherever you've got them stored) and set it accordingly in the mash profile. Under these circumstances, ticking the box will take this starting temperature into account when calculating the water temps. Again, you do need to make sure the equipment profile is spot on, so the program knows what kind of MLT you've got.

I generally leave my MLT and grain outside near my rig while I heat the strike water. Once it's getting close to 150° or so, I read the temp of the MLT and enter it into my mash profile, and continue heating water to the prescribed temp. A few minutes after mashing in, the temp nearly always stabilizes right on the money...sometimes I've got to add a bit of hot or cold water, but it's always very close.

Now that I've got a pump, I've considered just recirculating the strike water through the MLT while heating it, bringing the temperature of everything up together.

In your situation, if you are preheating the MLT to your target temp, do not tick the "adjust temp for equipment" box.

Check out the forum at the Beersmith website, you'll find a lot of good info there. Often, questions are answered directly by the author.
 
If you are preheating the tun then don't check the box. Otherwise get your equipment profile set up correctly, check the box and tweak the settings until you end up hitting the mash temp every time.
 
BlindLemonLars said:
I know you want to hear from somebody else :D but this feature assumes you've measured grain/tun temperature (generally just the ambient temperature of wherever you've got them stored) and set it accordingly in the mash profile. Under these circumstances, ticking the box will take this starting temperature into account when calculating the water temps. Again, you do need to make sure the equipment profile is spot on, so the program knows what kind of MLT you've got.

I generally leave my MLT and grain outside near my rig while I heat the strike water. Once it's getting close to 150° or so, I read the temp of the MLT and enter it into my mash profile, and continue heating water to the prescribed temp. A few minutes after mashing in, the temp nearly always stabilizes right on the money...sometimes I've got to add a bit of hot or cold water, but it's always very close.

Now that I've got a pump, I've considered just recirculating the strike water through the MLT while heating it, bringing the temperature of everything up together.

In your situation, if you are preheating the MLT to your target temp, do not tick the "adjust temp for equipment" box.

Check out the forum at the Beersmith website, you'll find a lot of good info there. Often, questions are answered directly by the author.
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding again. Just to clarify. If I don't heat the MLT (10 Gallon Rubbermaid Cooler) and I just enter room temperature (or whatever temp my kitchen is at) in for the MLT in Beersmith, I would click the temp adjust box and go with that temp???

This seems easier to me then preheating the MLT.
 
mangine77 said:
Just to clarify. If I don't heat the MLT (10 Gallon Rubbermaid Cooler) and I just enter room temperature (or whatever temp my kitchen is at) in for the MLT in Beersmith, I would click the temp adjust box and go with that temp???

This seems easier to me then preheating the MLT.
Click to expand...

That's correct. In the mash profile, click the details button and you'll see places to enter both MLT and grain temperature.

You might find the process needs tweaking by a degree or two, just keep notes so you can zero in on what works well with your particular gear. I used to keep a notebook, now I just make notes right in the program.
 
I used to check the box and found that my temps were a little high. Now I have it unchecked and add water to the mash tun 12-15 degrees warmer than what the program wants for strike....let it cool and stabilize at strike temp....dump in grains...stir.....and right on the money!! Many others do it that way with good luck. I've just found it more consistant with that procedure. :mug: give it a shot
 

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