I use the LT deadspace setting and check the "adjust mash volume for deadspace" in order to get the proper H20 to Grain ratios for my mash. Why shouldn't I do that again?
It is best to not use the trub loss field at all, and notate in your recipes how much of the batch size was for losses. Some even say to set the lauter dead space to 0, since making MLT changes cause the same issues with BeerSmith.
I think setting trub losses to 0 is a good idea. Above, I think I said that other people even recommend setting lauter loss to 0, but they must have OCD, or expect major lauter changes. In another post, I may have edited out where I had a copy/paste error that may have had me including it with trub loss. I haven't fully investigated what setting lauter space to 0 would entail. I posted somewhere, maybe not here, that setting lauter losses to 0 doesn't gain you that much in convenience if your equipment changes. Not using the trub loss field, however, has some major convenience advantages.
It is related to how all the losses into the fermenter are rolled up into one efficiency number. It can be difficult to arrive at a new efficiency number that gets all your other numbers in BeerSmith, that were not actually affected by the equipment/trub change, back to where they were previously.
I think the guys who do the '0 lauter dead space' method increase their batch size to include the lauter loss, and adjust their efficiency down, along with some other compensatory stuff. Sounds like a pain to me, especially since the lauter dead space doesn't change that often.
BK transfer losses, however, change all the time, at least for me- Pellet or leaf, hoppy or not hoppy, extra trubby grain bill or not. Plus, I constantly tinker with my dip tube setup, but it is always just a straight volume change. If you have to change those in the equipment profile for every recipe, along with hand calcing the new 'to the fermenter' efficiency, it becomes a pain. Especially when all the information you need to account for the changes is just a volume increase to the batch size which you would already know anyway because it's the same number you would put in the 'trub chiller loss' field if you did it the other way.
I confess I don't understand all of your post, but I don't understand this specifically:
The root of the problem is that BeerSmith uses 'to the fermenter' for brewhouse efficiency, instead of the more common (and useful) 'in the kettle' BH eff.
The issue I have with the 'to the fermenter' eff number, is that it has too much crap rolled into it, and makes using the trub loss field on a per recipe basis entirely too cumbersome. It also does not accurately calculate some other numbers, though the error is small for normal situations, and there is no need to go into that here.
The main issue goes something like this:
If you adjust the 'trub loss' field to account for either a permanent gear change, or one specific to an extra loss in a recipe like extra trub, leaf vs. pellet hops, very hoppy beer, whatever; you will also have to adjust the BeerSmith efficiency number because that number includes losses to the fermenter. If you don't, all BeerSmith will do is add water to your mash, and increase your mash efficiency (a number you don't control), to make the OG still come out right (your OG in BeerSmith will not change). This is because you told it you are losing wort (sugars), but aren't experiencing a decrease in the sugars delivered to the fermenter. It is like you told it your trub loss is pure water. That is all it has to go on, so it proceeds to make the numbers work.
When you go to brew, you are in for a surprise, because even though BeerSmith magically increased your mash eff to 132% to make the numbers work, you won't be getting that.
Before I start changing up a bunch of settings in my equipment profile, is there anything else you can point me too to read about this, or can you elaborate? Thanks in advance.
Before you change anything, make copies of everything, and check your current actual mash efficiency numbers. that is what you will use for your new 'total efficiency' number- or is it 'brewhouse eff'. I think it is something differnent on each page, gotta love BeerSmith. Then you just add your old trub loss to the batch size, using the scaling tool to keep the numbers the same.
On brewday, check your SG and vol numbers in the kettle to verify that stage, and for the next brewday adjust your (now) 'in the kettle' brewhouse eff numbers if you were off. If you end up short on volume to the fermenter due to transfer losses, just up the batch size for that recipe. No having to redo efficiency, or even worry about that side of the house as long as the kettle numbers were good. The only inconvenience to this method, is having to keep track in the 'notes' field, what values you use for trub loss, hop absorption, etc. It would be nice if BeerSmith's trub field could be used for this with this method, but it is hardcoded to work the other way.
You can try to read the 'How to' written by some Aussies that explains the differnece and how to convert BeerSmith into using 'in the kettle' efficiency vs. 'in the fermenter' efficiency. I think it explains it correctly, but I am not entirely certain, since it is horribly formatted. It also tries to explain both ways in one document, but then mixes them together and reuses terms where the terms mean different things. The main thread also has an explanation of it.
http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php/topic,5140.msg21415.html#msg21415
You can also see a smarta$$ response I made where I lay out the different user experience for each style.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/small-batches-342569/#post4369165