Beersmith 3 batch size vs post boil size and gravity

[schristian619]

I've been using beersmith for many years with my previous equipment and found it pretty accurate for my needs. I just got a new 20g Spike Brewing system to replace my older 10g electric system and am having trouble with the equipment profile in Beersmith.
For my first run on this system and for this profile, I did the following:
12g batch (roughly 2 gallons lost to dry hopping and gravity checks etc - so 10g finished product)
4% loss to cooling per Beersmith recommendations
1.5g kettle loss to rub, chiller, etc (the 20g spike system leaves 1g in the kettle for me - which is fine as I want clear wort in the fermentor anyway)
so that puts my post boil volume at 14g
2 gallon boil off gives a pre-boil volume of 16g

All seems well until I try to measure post boil gravity. The batch gravity is based on a 12g batch, but my final volume in the kettle is 14g. So while my efficiency was actually a little higher than predicted at 80% vs 75%, my starting gravity was low due to the discrepancies in volume. Essentially, Beersmiths target SG was as if I boiled off another 2 gallons and had a final kettle volume of 12g.
I'm thinking I need to set my batch size to match my post boil volume, rather than my fermenter volume. Does that make sense? So for 10g of finished product, I have 12g into the fermenter, but design it as a 14g batch in Beersmith. Is there a better, more accurate way of doing this? The issue this would create is that it would give me pre-boil volume tarts that are way too high. I can't seem to find a post boil volume vs batch size in the software. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[Oginme]

The program defines the brew house efficiency as the amount of sugars which make it to the fermenter. It calculates the gravity by taking the Brew house efficiency times the total gravity potential in your mash divided by the batch size. Your end of boil gravity should be exactly the same as the gravity into your fermenter (if you are not adding any top off water or sugars at the end of the boil). If you have calculated the brew house efficiency based upon your end of boil volume, then you are going to end up with low gravity at the end of the boil because you did not account for the loss to trub in transferring over to the fermenter.

The program does give you a post boil volume (hot) on the 'vols' tab within your recipe. You can also follow your volumes back from the fermenter to the calculation of strike water.

 

[schristian619]

Ok, I understand that and think I figured out what my issue may have been. I'll run a water test and determine exactly what I lose to my chiller and hoses and between that and potential variance in the amount that gets boiled off I should get a better idea of the system. It's possible that my loss was greater than anticipated to the chiller, making my post boil volume greater than calculated (ie less boil off). If I boiled off .3 gallons less than planned, the numbers work out. Certainly possible. Thanks

 

[VikeMan]

I'll run a water test and determine exactly what I lose to my chiller and hoses and between that and potential variance in the amount that gets boiled off I should get a better idea of the system.

Measurement is always a good thing. I've seen people kind of guess/tweak until they seemingly have parameters dialed in, but they're really just stacking errors that happen to offset. Then they brew a larger/smaller batch, or a very big (or small) beer, and suddenly it's no longer dialed in.

 

[kevin58]

Ok, I understand that and think I figured out what my issue may have been. I'll run a water test and determine exactly what I lose to my chiller and hoses and between that and potential variance in the amount that gets boiled off I should get a better idea of the system. It's possible that my loss was greater than anticipated to the chiller, making my post boil volume greater than calculated (ie less boil off). If I boiled off .3 gallons less than planned, the numbers work out. Certainly possible. Thanks

Not only is that a good idea it is essential if you want to make good use of the program. If you simply chose the Spike equipment profile supplied then you are working with someone else's measurements. The supplied equipment profiles should only be used as a starting point with which you can customize your own profile.

One of the better Beersmith Equipment Profile tutorials comes from Brian at Short Circuited Brewers. It covers all losses including pumps and hoses.

Another tutorial that I found useful comes from Marshall Schott at Brulosophy. Marshall also has some Mash Profile tutorials on is channel which are worth looking at.

 

[VikeMan]

I have looked at the BeerSmith equipment profiles, and although it's pretty cool having all that preset stuff available, I can also see it confusing people and am not surprised that some folks might need a tutorial to figure it all out. In my own software, I included all the essential parameters in one place, with "popups" explaining what each one means and how to measure it/set it (if applicable).