2.5 gallon batch BeerSmith equipment profile

[jnlipas]

Hi all,

Today I tried to make my first all grain batch (Ed Wort's Haus Pale Ale) and it ended up not turning out how I imagined due to a disregard on my part for setting up an actual equipment profile in BeerSmith. I downloaded a recipe for the Haus Pale Ale from BeerSmith's website:

(http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/5993/edworts-haus-pale-ale)

and just set my equipment profile to Pot and Cooler (5 Gal/19 L) - All Grain with a batch size of 5 gallons. I picked this option because my brew kettle is 4 gallons and my mash tun is 5 gallons, so I figured this would be close enough. Once I loaded the recipe in I just scaled it down to 3 gallons and went off to the brew store to buy the equipment to do all grain as well as the grains and hops. My strike temperature was where it should have been as well as my mashing temperature, although my sparge water was a few degrees cooler than where it was supposed to be. After brewing everything I ended up with only 1.5 gallons (recipe said I should have had 2.6) and ended up with an OG around 10% ABV !

I went back through and created an actual profile in BeerSmith but this time for 2.5 gallons (I've decided to scale down from 3) following the article from Brad Smith on their website, and I was hoping that someone could look it over as well as what it spat out for the recipe scaled down to 2.5 gallons. The only thing I'm not so sure about is the deadspace: I read on either this forum or on the BeerSmith forum that to find out the deadspace, you just had to fill your mash tun with a few gallons of water then pour what was stuck under the false bottom in to a measuring cup. If anyone needs any additional information, please let me know. I'm pretty new to all grain and still have much to learn.

View attachment edworts-haus-pale-ale.bsmx

 

[Oginme]

Just a clarification: dead space is the volume which is NOT recovered when you drain out your wort. This may or may not be equal to the volume under your false bottom.

Other than that, the profile looks OK.

 

[jnlipas]

Just a clarification: dead space is the volume which is NOT recovered when you drain out your wort. This may or may not be equal to the volume under your false bottom.

Other than that, the profile looks OK.

Thanks for the reply. So how would I accurately measure the amount of dead space? As I mentioned the article I read said to fill up the mash tun with a few gallons of water and then empty it until nothing else comes out, then dump what was stuck in the bottom in to something you could measure and that was your dead space. Is there just a generic value you can use in lieu of not having an exact amount? I'm just using a 5 gallon Igloo cooler converted with a false bottom.

 

[Oginme]

I would treat it as if you were brewing. Add water to your mash tun to above your drain spout, drain out as much as you can as if you were draining wort and discard it. Pour out the remainder into a pail and measure that volume. Enter that figure as your dead space.

 

[chickypad]

Thanks for the reply. So how would I accurately measure the amount of dead space? As I mentioned the article I read said to fill up the mash tun with a few gallons of water and then empty it until nothing else comes out, then dump what was stuck in the bottom in to something you could measure and that was your dead space. Is there just a generic value you can use in lieu of not having an exact amount? I'm just using a 5 gallon Igloo cooler converted with a false bottom.

This looks correct, it's basically the same as what Oginme is saying. The only other comment I have is the .8 total losses post boil look like a lot. I do the same size batches - 3 gal post boil - and I tend to loose about .4 gal total kettle trub + fermenter. I admit I usually just dump everything in the fermenter, but when I do leave some trub in the kettle it still ends up being about the same total as there is then less fermenter loss.

 

[Yooper]

Do you really only boil off .46 gallon per hour? That seems really low to me if you're getting a full rolling boil- unless you live in a swamp. I live in a moderately dry climate, and boil off 2 gallons per hour in the winter (when it's extraordinarily dry here) and a bit over 1 gallon per hour in the summer when it's "normal".

 

[acidrain]

Do you really only boil off .46 gallon per hour? That seems really low to me if you're getting a full rolling boil- unless you live in a swamp. I live in a moderately dry climate, and boil off 2 gallons per hour in the winter (when it's extraordinarily dry here) and a bit over 1 gallon per hour in the summer when it's "normal".

Same thing I was thinking.
I would boil 2 gallons of water for 1/2 hr and measure what the loss is and then multiply by 2 to get actual.
This would explain low volume and high OG.

 

[chickypad]

It's only a 4 gal pot so seems plausible. I boil off 0.6 gal in my 5 gal pot. Although that must be tight with a 3.5 gal boil.

 

[jnlipas]

I haven't really evaluated my specific setup, I just plugged in some general numbers given by Brad Smith from this article:

http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/08/02/creating-an-equipment-profile-in-beersmith/

adjusted for my size. I did remake this tonight and although I had some mash temp problems (new thermometer decided it didn't want to be accurate anymore), I did end up with about 2.7 gallons in my fermenter and a OG reading of 1.040. Does this sound right? Obviously there will need to be some fine tuning of the BeerSmith profile, but from what I originally showed is that really ridiculously far off from what it should be?

 

[chickypad]

You'll want to take actual measurements next time and make sure all the numbers match - preboil volume, boil off rate, trub loss, etc. If they are accurate then you'll also need to adjust your efficiency as it looks like you're not getting what you estimate there if you only got 1.040 and it expects 1.052.

 

[jnlipas]

You'll want to take actual measurements next time and make sure all the numbers match - preboil volume, boil off rate, trub loss, etc. If they are accurate then you'll also need to adjust your efficiency as it looks like you're not getting what you estimate there if you only got 1.040 and it expects 1.052.

My assumption about the lower OG reading was because I did not mash at the proper temps. My Taylor thermometer was saying the mash temp was 190 degrees but when I used another thermometer it said it was 145. Eventually when I turned the thermometer on even after running it under cold water it still read 147. My understanding of the effects of a lower mash temperature is that less sugars and enzymes will be extracted from the grains therefore resulting in a lower OG reading and less alcohol when the fermentation is complete.

 

[acidrain]

147 mash would result in more fermentable sugars, and less mouth feel.