Beer Smith Settings for SS Brewtech Mash Tun

[bd2xu]

My SS Brewtech 10 gallon mash tun just arrived and planning on doing a couple batches this weekend in it. I was wondering if anyone is using this mash tun along with Beer Smith and if so, what setting do you use in the equipment profile?

 

[dmcman73]

I built my own mashtun that sort of similar to the SS Brewtech one, being bottom draining. The important pieces here are to set the Lauter Tun Deadspace to 0 gallon's (because the TUN is bottom draining, there is no dead space) and set the Mash Tun Specific Heat to 0.12 Cal/gram-deg C (since the TUN is made of Stainless steel. The other pieces you'll need to set will be how many gallons your mashtun is (10 gallons) and also input the weight of it (weigh it on a scale).

 

[bd2xu]

Cool thanks. I tested though and there is 6 cups of water below the false bottom that won't be in contact w the grain so I'm using .375 gallons for the tun dead space. This way I'll have the right grain to water ratio. But yeah I get it, will be 100% drained. Main issue I'm having is I set the weight to 35 pounds (mash tun) and for a 155 mash using 4.5 gallons it says the strike water should be 179 which is nuts. The weight setting assumes you're heating somewhere else and transferring to the MT I think but it doesn't take into account pre heating. So I put the weight at 0 and it said 167, sounds right. That assumes you are heating in the MT which I can't do with this MT but I will preheat by running the sparge arm at 167 through the MT for a few mins before transferring over.

 

[enkamania]

Do you have "Adjust Temp for Equip" checked? If so, uncheck and see what that does

 

[laredo7mm]

Cool thanks. I tested though and there is 6 cups of water below the false bottom that won't be in contact w the grain so I'm using .375 gallons for the tun dead space. This way I'll have the right grain to water ratio. But yeah I get it, will be 100% drained. Main issue I'm having is I set the weight to 35 pounds (mash tun) and for a 155 mash using 4.5 gallons it says the strike water should be 179 which is nuts. The weight setting assumes you're heating somewhere else and transferring to the MT I think but it doesn't take into account pre heating. So I put the weight at 0 and it said 167, sounds right. That assumes you are heating in the MT which I can't do with this MT but I will preheat by running the sparge arm at 167 through the MT for a few mins before transferring over.

Even with those 6 cups not being in direct contact with the grain, I would think that the sugars and enzymes will still get in there. Your water to grain ratio will be off and you will be 6 cups over on volumes.

Also, you can enter the temperate of your mash tun in the mash tab of beersmith. If you have 35 pounds of mash tun at 167 degrees, and you enter the weight as zero, you will probably over shoot your mash temp. 35 pounds of steel is a pretty decent thermal mass. It is almost as much as your 4.5 gallons (37.7 pounds) of strike water.

I don't use the adjust temp for equipment option, but I mash in a cooler. Its weight compared to the water and grain is pretty small. I did play with that option and if you enter the mash tun temp as equal to your strike temp with the option disabled, and then enable it, your strike temp doesn't change. So either I am wrong about the stainless thermal mass affecting things or beersmith only changes the strike temp with that option enabled when the mash tun temp entered is different than your strike temp.

 

[bd2xu]

Well I ended up preheating by transferring the 4.5 gallons of strike water over, held for 10 mins, transferred back to HLT then back again. Strike water was 168 and I hit 156 in the mash, was shooting for 155 so good. Overall the volumes worked out, I was a even a tad under in by boil kettle.