Beersmith - sparge water way out

[Sadu]

Hi all, I have done 4x all grain batches with beersmith. In all cases the suggested mash + sparge water has been very close, fermenter volume always within 1 litre of target which is good enough for me.

Did another 2 batches yesterday - 24 litres RIS and a 42 litre ESB. Target 78% efficiency for both. First time attempting anything high gravity.

The ESB came out perfect with regard to fermenter volume, OG was slightly up, which is cool.

The RIS got 79% efficiency, but I ended up at 1.087 instead of 1.100 with 29 litres instead of 24. This is not ideal in a 30 litre fermenter, and means I don't get the beer I want.

Trying to figure out what went wrong with the water calculations. Beersmith said to use 27 litres of strike + 14 litres of sparge on a 10.5kg grain bill. I have never done anything of this gravity before so I pretty much just did what Beersmith said to do.

On another note, the RIS is truly a monster of a beer. Lifting that huge grain bill by myself was messy work. I mashed overnight and the wort wicked it's way up and out of the mash kettle via the grain bag, through all my insulating towels and blankets. Everything is all stouty now. I did a massive pitch since I'm sick to death of beers finishing high, this thing is burping away angrily and spewing itself out through the airlock. I love everything about it so far.

 

[Sammy86]

What I have realized as someone on this forum pointed out is that you have to tell BS what you want and it will give you the necessary information back.

If you know what your water #'s are it makes it a lot easier...for example I like to use 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain...I know that with grain bill of 10#'s with absorption and dead space I need 15 quarts (3.75 gallons) and I will get 2.5 gallons of first runnings. I then need another 3.7 gallons of wort to get to my desire 6.2 preboil wort. I then get my sparge water up and ready and move on from there.

Hope this helps you out...if I have confused you in anyway I apologize

 

[55x11]

Hi all, I have done 4x all grain batches with beersmith. In all cases the suggested mash + sparge water has been very close, fermenter volume always within 1 litre of target which is good enough for me.

Did another 2 batches yesterday - 24 litres RIS and a 42 litre ESB. Target 78% efficiency for both. First time attempting anything high gravity.

The ESB came out perfect with regard to fermenter volume, OG was slightly up, which is cool.

The RIS got 79% efficiency, but I ended up at 1.087 instead of 1.100 with 29 litres instead of 24. This is not ideal in a 30 litre fermenter, and means I don't get the beer I want.

Trying to figure out what went wrong with the water calculations. Beersmith said to use 27 litres of strike + 14 litres of sparge on a 10.5kg grain bill. I have never done anything of this gravity before so I pretty much just did what Beersmith said to do.

On another note, the RIS is truly a monster of a beer. Lifting that huge grain bill by myself was messy work. I mashed overnight and the wort wicked it's way up and out of the mash kettle via the grain bag, through all my insulating towels and blankets. Everything is all stouty now. I did a massive pitch since I'm sick to death of beers finishing high, this thing is burping away angrily and spewing itself out through the airlock. I love everything about it so far.

You are sparging with 27+14=41 liters to end up with 24, but you end up with 29. So either grain adsorption coefficient is way off, or your boil off is way off. My guess is boil off.

Did you measure how much wort you collected before boil?

 

[brewfun]

I ended up at 1.087 instead of 1.100 with 29 litres instead of 24.

Did the preboil volume and gravity work out? If so, then your boiloff was less than you expected, which can happen with higher gravity beers. It takes a bit more energy to evaporate the same amount of water. Homebrew burners are usually easily up to the task, so it's no big deal, most of the time.

A 1.087 RIS is still a respectable beer, though.

 

[Sadu]

Did the preboil volume and gravity work out? If so, then your boiloff was less than you expected, which can happen with higher gravity beers. It takes a bit more energy to evaporate the same amount of water. Homebrew burners are usually easily up to the task, so it's no big deal, most of the time.

A 1.087 RIS is still a respectable beer, though.

I think this is where I went wrong. I haven't been taking pre-boil volumes at all, so far things have just worked out and it hasn't been necessary. I guess a stick with some markings on it wouldn't be so hard to make, and any leftover sparge water can go into starters easily enough.