Beersmith batch sparge question

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Old_E

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I cannot get Beersmith to do what I want. I cannot find the answer in searches either.

I am simply trying to do a single infusion mash with a single batch sparge. I put medium body/ single infusion/ batch sparge or no mash out, but it never seems to give me a simple mash in and single sparge. I have gone into the "details" section and put in drain tun, equal amounts etc... and every combo I can think of. Any suggestions? I know this is do-able... I just can't get it done.

Thanks in advance.
 
Fool around with your tun volume, it all seems to depend on the size of your batch. I like to double batch sparge, so I have to tinker with it, sometimes it is 100% of the Tun volume, others it is 50%, and sometimes I have to dick around with 33%, and 80%, so if you want to do a single sparge, then start with 100% I think the default is like 90% or something, if 100% doesn't work try 50 etc...

Just manipulate the numbers, and you can get it to work.
 
Ok thanks. 100% seemed to solve the problem, but... For 11 pounds of grain it has me adding 10.66 gal of water to end up with 6.5 gal boil vol. This seems like way too much.
 
Ok thanks. 100% seemed to solve the problem, but... For 11 pounds of grain it has me adding 10.66 gal of water to end up with 6.5 gal boil vol. This seems like way too much.

10.6 gallons, or 10.6 quarts?

Make sure you have your equipment set up properly also,if you know your Tun weight, dead space, exact volume, all of that stuff will make a difference in accuracy of temps and volumes of liquor.
 
Gallons. That was the first thing I checked.

The weight of my cooler?
Won't dead space change with each recipe?

Thanks for all the help!
 
If you click on equipment in the tools menu, then on the upper right hand corner you will see, a "new equipment" button, which will allow you to customize your equipment.

As far as dead space goes, I'm talking about how much wort is left behind in your MLT, not the amount of headspace in the cooler.

so are you to infuse with 10.6 g, or does your brewsheet tell you to prepare 10.6 gallons?

Try changing your volume to 50% to see if that gives you a different amount of water to infuse with, it may give you two sparges though.

If you want, give me your recipe, the size of your pot, and MLT, I'll plug your numbers into mine, and see whathappens.
 
If you click on equipment in the tools menu, then on the upper right hand corner you will see, a "new equipment" button, which will allow you to customize your equipment.

As far as dead space goes, I'm talking about how much wort is left behind in your MLT, not the amount of headspace in the cooler.

so are you to infuse with 10.6 g, or does your brewsheet tell you to prepare 10.6 gallons?

Try changing your volume to 50% to see if that gives you a different amount of water to infuse with, it may give you two sparges though.

If you want, give me your recipe, the size of your pot, and MLT, I'll plug your numbers into mine, and see whathappens.

Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it.

I have customized all the equipment... to the best of my ability.

Now I get the deadspace part.... not that that is easy to calculate. Hell I'm not sure how to do that. maybe a guess at 1pt to 1qt..

the 10.6 is the Total amount or the Prepare amount.

I will try the 50%... it probably will give my 2 sparges, but I can deal with that. I would rather have the proper amount... far more important.

I hate to have you go through all that, so let me try first, when I get home. If all else fails, I may ask you to try it.
 
Now I get the deadspace part.... not that that is easy to calculate. Hell I'm not sure how to do that. maybe a guess at 1pt to 1qt..

the 10.6 is the Total amount or the Prepare amount.

1. Fill your MLT with a couple gallons of water, and let it run out until it stops, close your valve, and pour whatever is left into a measuring cup to see what you have left, that will give you a fairly accurate dead space to enter into your settings.

2. If 10.6gal is the total amount, then you might be okay, I have a 15 gallon pot, and my boil-off rate is pretty high, so for a 6 gallon batch (I always do 6 gallons due to losses, I end up with about 5.25-5.5) and ~13lbs of grain I use about 10-11 gallons of water, I have to have about 8-8.5gal in the pot. Remember, your are concentrating your wort by boiling it down, so you will have less after a 60 minute boil, and if you are boiling for 90 minutes, then you will have even less. So the 10.6 gallons isn't outrageous.

3. One last thing to considerand look at, how many qt/lb are you mashing at?
I use 1.25-1.33, but some people will mash thicker or thinner with 1 qt/lb, or as much as 2+ qts/lb, so be sure to take a look at how many qts/lb your default is set at if you haven't already.
 
1. Fill your MLT with a couple gallons of water, and let it run out until it stops, close your valve, and pour whatever is left into a measuring cup to see what you have left, that will give you a fairly accurate dead space to enter into your settings.

2. If 10.6gal is the total amount, then you might be okay, I have a 15 gallon pot, and my boil-off rate is pretty high, so for a 6 gallon batch (I always do 6 gallons due to losses, I end up with about 5.25-5.5) and ~13lbs of grain I use about 10-11 gallons of water, I have to have about 8-8.5gal in the pot. Remember, your are concentrating your wort by boiling it down, so you will have less after a 60 minute boil, and if you are boiling for 90 minutes, then you will have even less. So the 10.6 gallons isn't outrageous.

3. One last thing to considerand look at, how many qt/lb are you mashing at?
I use 1.25-1.33, but some people will mash thicker or thinner with 1 qt/lb, or as much as 2+ qts/lb, so be sure to take a look at how many qts/lb your default is set at if you haven't already.

1. That's easy enough. I will do that tomorrow.
2. I have it set so that I start with 6.5 gal. and it should boil down to 5.25. 6 is probably a smarter way to go. Anyway, I feel like I have used only about 8.5 gallons in previous batches with more grain. I have a 15 gal pot too, but I measured the boil off rate at about 1.5 gal/hr.
3. I have it set to 1.25 qt per pound, I think. Could have it at 1.5 qt per pound, but I don't think so. i will check it all to make sure something hasn't been reset.

I will check over everything and whatever it spits out, I will go with. If I find any thing was out of whack I will check back in. Faith!!!

Again, thank you.
 
Ok. I think this solved it. Not knowing what deadspace meant, I had it at about 3 gallons. This brought the water down to about 8.5 gal total. I think everything is looking good... for the moment.

I appreciate all the help!!!!
 
Awesome, good luck on your next brew, funny enough I previously used BeerSmith on my wife's computer, and I recently returned to school, so I installed my second copy of BeerSmith onto my new laptop for school, and I completley forgot to add my custom equipment settings! no wonder my last few batches have had wonky numbers, i shoud be thanking you, who knows how long I would have gone assuming I had my equipment setup properly.

Thank You for asking a question I could offer help on, in turn providing the help I needed myself!

Cheers!

Tyson
 
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