BeerSmith - I'm doing it wrong!

Well, maybe... I am getting ready to brew a Pete's Wicked Ale Clone and have everything entered into BeerSmith. I think I have my equipment profile set up properly and I selected single infusion batch sparge. The software knows (supposedly) that I have a 4 gallon brew pot, but it is telling me to use 7.19 qts of water for mash and then 2.39 gallons for sparge, but I can't boil all of that! What am I missing? I am doing a PM with 5.75 lbs of grain. I could do this with two pots (I have a 4 gal and a 3 gal), anyone know how to set that up in BeerSmith?

Gremlyn1 said:

Well, maybe... I am getting ready to brew a Pete's Wicked Ale Clone and have everything entered into BeerSmith. I think I have my equipment profile set up properly and I selected single infusion batch sparge. The software knows (supposedly) that I have a 4 gallon brew pot, but it is telling me to use 7.19 qts of water for mash and then 2.39 gallons for sparge, but I can't boil all of that! What am I missing? I am doing a PM with 5.75 lbs of grain. I could do this with two pots (I have a 4 gal and a 3 gal), anyone know how to set that up in BeerSmith?

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Hmmm. Can you post the BSM file here, and see if I can take a look and check the settings? (click on that recipe, and then go to "file, export as...." and export it. Then, post it back here, by clicking the paperclip and attaching it. It's easier than it sounds).

What size boil do you have on the main recipe page?

Dead space, grain absorption, or other factors in your equipment that makes for a liquid loss? I'm counting a little over 7 qts for mash, and a little under 10 quarts for sparge..

It's cutting it close, but I wonder if the loss is being calculated to give you those volumes.

Don't seem to be able to export, assuming that's because I'm on the trial version.

Gremlyn1 said:

Don't seem to be able to export, assuming that's because I'm on the trial version.

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Ok. Check the very front page, back on the recipe, where you can put in the "batch size" and the "boil size". make sure you have the correct boil size there. That should fix it.

Looks like my boil is indeed set to 3.25 gal, so then their numbers should be right to get me there then?

I don't know. Click on "preview brewsheet" and see what it says. That will have step by step instructions, including volume.

Hmm, yeah looks like it might just be attributing a lot of it to losses. Guess there is only one way to find out

I use BTP and that sounds about right. My last PM batch I had 2.03 gallons of strike water(8.12 qts), I had first runnings of a little less then one gallon.

Mash in, wait one hour, get your first runnings, and then sparge. I used 2.6 gallons split between two sparges.

Your grain will soak up a whole lot of that strike water.

Check out Bobby_M's "BTP How to" videos here....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f84/btp-mac-mash-set-up-117415/

+1 for Grain absorption
Total water according to OP is 4.187 gal.
you'll likely lose close to 1 gal to the grains.

It seems I need to figure out and account for dead space in the MLT. I didn't enter anything in there, though I was thinking after my maiden voage yestersay that the spigot doesn't sit level with the bottom. I'll have to figure out how much volume that is to account for it next time. This time around I just tilted the MLT forward to get a little extra out of it. It wasn't the recipe in the original post, it was a 2.5 gal test batch of a different brew, but my volumes worked out well.

The dead space is in reference to the amount of unused space at the top. So a typical 10g rubbermaid cooler is something like 10.7 gallons. If you ended up with grains and strike water at the 10g mark, you would have .7 gallons of dead space. The more deadspace, the less efficient the cooler is at retaining the heat as you will "lose" heat into the dead space.

If you calibrate your MLT in BTP it will take the temp loss into consideration. It seems to be pretty accurate as long as you follow the steps.

Edit: I'm not sure what kind of manifold you are using, but if you can get a slight bend just inside the spigot, you can collect almost all of the wort without tipping. I have about a cup left in the bottom of mine when I am done.

Ah, that's the dead space eh, so it'll change every brew depending on the amount of grain?

I'm using a braid, and was thinking I might put a small tube bent down and then have the braid on it.

Whiskey said:

The dead space is in reference to the amount of unused space at the top. So a typical 10g rubbermaid cooler is something like 10.7 gallons. If you ended up with grains and strike water at the 10g mark, you would have .7 gallons of dead space. The more deadspace, the less efficient the cooler is at retaining the heat as you will "lose" heat into the dead space.

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You sure? I thought the dead space referred to the liquid you will not recover. It's dead space because there will be wort you cant get out of it, aka loss.

chumprock said:

You sure? I thought the dead space referred to the liquid you will not recover. It's dead space because there will be wort you cant get out of it, aka loss.

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That's what I thought it meant as well... the space underneath the false bottom the leaves a little wort behind.

I appear to be mistaken. From the Beertool Wiki.

Dead Space
This is the volume that cannot be drained from the vessel. While in the vessel, the deadspace volume is used in the calculations - including thickness.

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My setup only leaves behind a cup or less...