Thalon
Well-Known Member
Long time no see, everybody! Thanks for still being here all you long-timers. Haven't brewed since late last summer until today, so I'm a little rusty here.
Today's recipe was an ESB that I bought as a kit at Midwest Brewing Supplies. I punched the recipe into BrewSmith (awesome program btw) and used its numbers for volume and temperature of the mash in, mash out and sparge. BrewSmith told me to put in 12.2 qt of 175* water to mash in and reach 154*, and I hit that spot-on. (I also had BrewSmith adjust for energy absorbed by the mash tun, and it worked out great.) Then it told me to add 4.9 qt of 198* water to step it up to 168* for the mash out. If anything, I added water that was slightly over 200*, yet it still only stepped it up to 159* actual.
How could BrewSmith have been so accurate with the mash in and be so far off with the mash out? I only got 68% efficiency because I couldn't get it to 168* for the mash out, even after adding nearly a gallon of boiling water in addition (got up to 164*). Is there something I did wrong, or could have done differently?
Mash tun: Coleman Xtreme 36 qt cooler with stainless steel braid (I only ever batch sparge)
Grain bill for this ESB:
9lb domestic 2-row
8oz Caramel 40L
2oz Chocolate
2oz Roasted Barley
Today's recipe was an ESB that I bought as a kit at Midwest Brewing Supplies. I punched the recipe into BrewSmith (awesome program btw) and used its numbers for volume and temperature of the mash in, mash out and sparge. BrewSmith told me to put in 12.2 qt of 175* water to mash in and reach 154*, and I hit that spot-on. (I also had BrewSmith adjust for energy absorbed by the mash tun, and it worked out great.) Then it told me to add 4.9 qt of 198* water to step it up to 168* for the mash out. If anything, I added water that was slightly over 200*, yet it still only stepped it up to 159* actual.
How could BrewSmith have been so accurate with the mash in and be so far off with the mash out? I only got 68% efficiency because I couldn't get it to 168* for the mash out, even after adding nearly a gallon of boiling water in addition (got up to 164*). Is there something I did wrong, or could have done differently?
Mash tun: Coleman Xtreme 36 qt cooler with stainless steel braid (I only ever batch sparge)
Grain bill for this ESB:
9lb domestic 2-row
8oz Caramel 40L
2oz Chocolate
2oz Roasted Barley