Problem with sparge water (BeerSmith)

Hey guys. I'm new to this forum and this is my first post.

I'm having some trouble with the BeerSmith calculation of the total sparge water. I added my equipment, made my own mash profile, and I'm pretty sure I made all the proper calculations and didn't miss anything.

I'm attaching a printscreen for a better analysis:



I changed for metric units becouse I'm from Brazil.

As you can see, BeerSmith is telling me to add 17,73L of water in the first mash step, and then use 17,64L of sparge water.
The Est Pre-Boil Vol = 27,31L. And here is the weird part.

17,73 + 17,64 = 35,37

35,37 - 27,31 = 8,06

Is BeerSmith assuming that I will somehow lose 8L of water from nowhere, just during the mash?

The deadspace is already included in the first 17,73L, and I'm almost sure I will NOT lose this quantity of 8L of water.

Where is it my mistake?

Thanks!

the grain will absorb the extra water.
6.06l grain apsorbtion + 2l mashtun dead space = 8.06 extra water needed

That's true. I didn't notice this grain absorption. Thanks!

But I still don't believe that the Pre Boil Vol will be 27,31. I think it will be more, with a lower Pre Boil Gravity.

chavesd said:

That's true. I didn't notice this grain absorption. Thanks!

But I still don't believe that the Pre Boil Vol will be 27,31. I think it will be more, with a lower Pre Boil Gravity.

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The math isn't correct and I think you need to go back to your equipment profile and verify the inputs for losses like dead space for tun and kettle and the check boxes to calculate because something is off

it might have a lot to do with your estimated mash efficiency being around 79%

If you have much lower efficiency, then yeah your preboil OG will be much lower with that volume.

duboman said:

The math isn't correct and I think you need to go back to your equipment profile and verify the inputs for losses like dead space for tun and kettle and the check boxes to calculate because something is off

Click to expand...

Well, as I said, I think everything is correct on my equipment setup:



The thing is that I'm not convinced that the grain will absorb 6,06L of water.

I'll do my best with the metric conversions............

Absorption should be .45L/.45kg (US would be .12gallons/lb)
Mash in should be 1.42L/.45kg (US would be 1.5qts/lb)

So you can take your mash in strike volume, deduct absorption and that would equal your collected first runnings (Minus any mash tun dead space you have accounted for)

After you calculate first runnings then the amount of volume you need to sparge would be the amount of water you need to meet your required pre-boil volume (There is no further abosrption as the grain is already saturated.)

What I would do is run water through your mash tun to verify dead space, after draining measure any volume of water left in the tun without tipping it to drain and enter that volume in your profile.

Next time you brew take careful volume measurements of your strike volume and first runnings to verify what you get in absorption per kg and then if necessary tweak that measurement in Beersmith. Also take careful measurements of any further losses and volumes you are not certain of so you can tweak those in the software.

IME it takes a couple of brew sessions to get everything dialed in so the software works smoothly. All calculations are based upon your equipment profile so if anything is off there all recipe calculations will be off as well.

This may be a dumb question, but could his issue be that he is using a comma instead of a decimal point in Beersmith?

jdauria said:

This may be a dumb question, but could his issue be that he is using a comma instead of a decimal point in Beersmith?

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I saw that as well but he's using metric and it might default that way as I've read other posts with screen shots and they all show commas instead of decimals-odd and worth asking

This may be a dumb question, but could his issue be that he is using a comma instead of a decimal point in Beersmith?

Click to expand...

The comma is displayed as part of the number formatting for the Region/Location selected in the Windows Operating system.

If you would like commas displayed also, simply change your Region/Location in the control panel to a Region/Location that supports commas as decimals (pretty much anywhere but the US/Canada?).

The US uses commas for digit grouping and periods as decimal points 123,456,789.00.

Other parts of the world use periods for digit grouping and commas as decimal points 123.456.789,00.

I haven't researched the history of this.

Grain absorbtion is approx. 0.47L per pound. So 6.05kg = 13.31 pounds x .47 = 6.15L of water absorbed.