Beersmith Boil Volume not equal to Est Pre-Boil Vol

The Boil Volume calculation in my equipment profile does not equal the Est Pre-Boil Vol in the Mash tab. Est Pre-Boil Vol = 6.47 versus the Equipment's Boil Vol = 6.72. Shouldn't these two values equal one another when the recipe is set to use the equipment profile? Obviously I can sparge or mash with extra water to compensate, but I'm confused why the software is seemingly under calculating my sparge volume.

I have the same issue except my sparge amount is WAY off. The last batch I brewed called for 4.5 gallons of sparge water and only 14 qts of strike water. I have been using mash water to help figure out sparge water since the first time I went off beersmiths calculations I ended up with 7 gallons of wort when it should have been 5.5.

I figured it out.

Est Pre-Boil Vol = 6.47
Water expansion at boiling = about 4%

6.47 * 1.04 = 6.72, the value listed in the Equipment profile

So, the value listed as Est Pre-Boil volume in the Mash profile doesn't account for any water expansion, and the Boil volume listed in the Equipement profile does account for water expansion. That makes sense, can't believe I haven't noticed that before.

Rys06Tbss - If you want to share your Beersmith setting, maybe we can figure out your water volume issue.

Pie_Man said:

I figured it out.

Est Pre-Boil Vol = 6.47
Water expansion at boiling = about 4%

6.47 * 1.04 = 6.72, the value listed in the Equipment profile

So, the value listed as Est Pre-Boil volume in the Mash profile doesn't account for any water expansion, and the Boil volume listed in the Equipement profile does account for water expansion. That makes sense, can't believe I haven't noticed that before.

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Now I'm even more confused. I entered a new recipe into beersmith for an upcoming brew, and this recipe, with the same mash profile and equipment as the recipe above, states that the estimated pre-boil volume for the new brew will be 6.72. Before it was 6.47 and I rationalized this by thinking beersmith wasn't accounting for the water expansion between mash out and boiling. Anyone else experience this? At the very least, I feel the est. pre-boil volume should be consistent from batch to batch.

Estimated pre boil is based on what you say your mash equipment will yield. IE grain absorption, tun deadspace and sparge. Measured is what you actually get back. what i did was set tun loss to 0 and unchecked adjust mash volume for deadspace. At the end of my mash i tilt my tun to drain as much as i can. I use a rectangular cooler with a braided toilet tank hose so this is not a problem for me. Once i see what my total mash vol returned is I changed my absorption rate to match. I also mash with 1.5qt/lb. I also unchecked calculate mash boil volume. This way my mash volume return is very consistent. Then its just a matter of adding enough sparge water to match your boil off to hit your batch volume. I set my batch vol to 6 gal this way i have enough clean wort to hit my 5.5 gal fermenter mark and still have 5 gals for bottling after fermentation. One thing i have noticed is once i have my total vol i let my tun sit with the drain open and i will usually get about .25/.50 gals of run off after hitting what i need. my mash eff is usually around 80 to 85%. I also set my brewhouse eff to 74% which has really made my brewing very consistent. What I'm trying to say is make brewsmith match your style of brewing/gear and don't try to match what beersmith says it should be

Glynn said:

Estimated pre boil is based on what you say your mash equipment will yield. IE grain absorption, tun deadspace and sparge. Measured is what you actually get back. what i did was set tun loss to 0 and uncheck adjust mash volume for deadspace. At the end of my mash i tilt my tun to drain as much as i can. I use a rectangular cooler with a braided toilet tank hose so this is not a problem for me. Once i see what my total mash vol returned is I changed my absorption rate to match. I also mash with 1.5qt/lb. This way my mash volume return is very consistent. Then its just a matter of adding enough sparge water to match your boil off to hit your batch volume. I set my batch vol to 6 gal this way i have enough clean wort to hit my 5.5 gal fermenter mark and still have 5 gals for bottling after fermentation.

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Thanks Glynn. I am comfortable hitting the correct pre-boil volume for my equipment. My confusion is more about why beersmith software does not give a consistent est pre-boil volume. Based on my eqiupment profile, it should be 6.72 gallons; however, some recipes indicate a lower volume as noted above, and other recipes list the 6.72 figure. Both recipes have the same equipment profile. I feel as though I'm missing something in the software.

That's why i don't let beersmith calculate my volumes. If your are comfortable with the consistency of your returns and boil off then go with what you know and make the system work for you.

I'm trying to figure this out myself, I have the same problem. The recipes est. pre-boil volume is 6.17 while my equipment profile says 6.47 for the boil volume. The equipment profile is the correct volume to get me to the 5.25 I want in the fermenter.

There's probably a difference in boil off rate, loses, or some other variable within the equipment profile between the two recipes. Once the recipe is created the equipment profile is locked in, meaning changes to the equipment profile do not change calculations within an existing recipe.

That's what happened to me, I forgot I changed the boil off rate between the two recipes I was referring to.

I don't know if this may have something to do with your problem, but I noticed that if you change the details of your equipment profiles, it does not go back and change the values in recipes that were already created under that profile. However, all new recipes created with the updated equipment profile will reflect these changes. To update old recipes to reflect changes in the equipment profiles, you need to chose a different equipment setup from the drop-down, then switch it back to your equipment profile. That should update the recipe to reflect any changes you've made to your equipment.