Setup Equipment in BeerSmith

Hey all,

I have, what I think is probably a pretty unique setup and was wondering how to set it up in BeerSmith so my numbers will come out accurate with as little editing as possible required by each batch.

What I have for a HLT is just a basic bottling bucket, which is probably not all that unique, but my MLT is also a bottling bucket with a normal primary with holes drilled in the bottom allowing the water to filter through it. Basically creating a false bottom. Less than ideal I know, but I'm not ready to throw down $100+ for a cooler, FB/braid, etc. for a setup when I haven't even done a AG brew yet.

I am relatively new and the BeerSmith program seems to be fairly complicated, until you get all of your equipment setup, then is seems pretty straight forward.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I don't think your setup is that unusual as it's the setup described in The Joy of Homebrewing. To setup beersmith I would go to the equipment section and select the closest setup to what you have. Then enter in your approximations for the volume, weight and material for your mash tun. The specific heat should be present for "plastic" which I believe should be fine for you at 0.3calories/gram as I believe this is only for calculating what your strike temperature should be and has nothing to do with the fact that a cooler will have insulation which your setup does not.

On the other hand, if you would like more temperature stability over the mash you could always wrap you mash tun with aluminum insulation which is used by many around here. You can buy it rather cheaply at Lowes or HD for about $20 if it interests you.

mbaker33 said:

Less than ideal I know, but I'm not ready to throw down $100+ for a cooler, FB/braid, etc. for a setup when I haven't even done a AG brew yet.

Click to expand...

A 5g igloo cooler and braid should cost you about $40. The coolers are only 19.99.

Thanks for the input guys. I have been looking at the prebuilt igloo cooler MLT setups this morning and noticed that they aren't as much as I had originally thought. I may just end up going with one of those.

The question I have is, some have lots of small round holes in the False Bottom, and some have small cuts 2 or 3 inches long in the false bottom. What are the pro's and con's of these? Has anyone used both and has a preference?

Thanks.