Any software reach water temps correctly?

[Beezer94]

I'm now on brew 15-17 and I still fail at getting my temperatures exact without adding hot or cold water.

Yes I preheat my 10gal cooler mash tun, and if I don't I know it drops 7degrees with initial mash water.

BeerSmith fails me 99.99% of the time, so I have gotten use to adding water that is hotter than it calculates. For instance I had a thick protein rest of 0.75qt/lb at 122F (which I hit a little high so had to add 1qt cold water). BeerSmith said I need like 1.25qt/lb of boiling water to reach 154 rest temp. So i set it to 1.4qt/lb and it said 201-202F. So knowing BeerSmith is always wrong, I used the 1.4qt/lb and had it boiling at 210.5 (my altitudes boil temp). It took it from 122.7F to 149.3F. 5 degrees below my target. I added 1 gallon of boiling water, which took 10 minutes of the 60 minute mash time just to get going, got it to 153, So i then boiled 2 more quarts, added and finally got 155.4F, 15minutes into the main rest (I went a little high since it started so low).

Well now that means I need more water for Mash Out to even dream of getting near 168F, so now my Sparge went from 3 gallons to less than 0.5 gallon.

I know BeerSmith is never correct for me so I started with more water, at a higher temperature and still way off. Unfortunately some times it's high, most of the time it's low. Is there any software out there that works?

 

[Edcculus]

I'm at a point where I hit my mash temp dead on every time with Beersmith.

Make sure you have all of the parameters right first. Also, make sure you put in the grain temp every time. I undershot my sacch rest a few times last winter becasue my grain temp was a good bit lower than the default in the program.

The best way to preheat the mash tun (at least in my setup) is to heat my strike water to ~10F above what Beersmith tells me for strike temp. Then, just monitor the water temp, and dough in when it hits your strike temp.

 

[Rick500]

BeerSmith has always hit temps dead on for me.

I do heat up my strike water to 180F and let it heat up the mash tun, then wait until it drops down to what BeerSmith suggests, and dough in.

 

[RandomSF]

I agree that Beersmith is spot on for me.

When you say that it fails most of the time, it is a consistent amount you are off, or does it vary from batch to batch? If the former, tweak the settings until reality matches what Beersmith predicts. If the latter, maybe there is some other factor in your process that varies.

 

[GRHunter]

BeerSmith is amazing how accurate it is for me. Make sure that you are selecting the proper settings as indicated in my screen capture.

 

[eddie]

+1 for Beersmith being spot on.

 

[Beezer94]

BeerSmith is amazing how accurate it is for me. Make sure that you are selecting the proper settings as indicated in my screen capture.

Mine is the same except 9lbs as the mash tun weight, but has same plastic and plastic thermal info.


It's always off for me. Mostly it's low, so I try to compensate for that 100% of the time, but sometimes it is high. My grains are always at the same temperature in my house 365 days a year.

If I do a single infusion, I know heating the water to 7F higher than BeerSmith calls for will get me dead on everytime. But from the initial infusion, any remaining steps I have zero luck. Sometimes it's +/- 2F which is fine and easily to adjust, but it's often 5+ off.

 

[dutch-brew]

Beersmith used to get me spot-on everytime with the set-up i used to use.. now with my new kettle i transfer with a hose into my MLT and end up 15-20 low.. so i aim higher.

Alot of it is getting to know your equipment. So keep track of temps and volumes, make sure you hit 'em and you'll know how to adjust. Beersmith is right on, but won't know some of your variables.

BobbyM has a video with a thread to show you. That way you can aim a tad high and jsut wait to let it drop to the dough in temp (like beersmith gives you, it is right on)..

Keep trying, practice makes perfect

I found the thread by BobbyM, i thought it also had pics adn stuff on there too though..
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/how-mash-tun-infusion-temperatures-work-173973/

 

[Malticulous]

I use the rackers calculator. I heat it to five degrees hotter than it says. When it's two degrees lower than it calculated dough in. I use a Coleman 52 cooler.

 

[ajf]

For strike water calculations with a pre-heated MLT, I think the Beersmith, Promash, or Green Bay Rackers all give comparable results which I have found are very accurate.
For infusion additions, the software needs to be aware of the thermal mass, weight, and capacity of the MLT to make accurate calculations. Beersmith has all this information. Promash and Green Bay Rackers do not. I don't know if Beersmith actually calculates the effects of infusion additions when provided with all the necessary information, because I find it far too complicated to use. I do know that if you don't provide all the information, it cannot provide accurate predictions.

-a.

 

[SamuraiSquirrel]

Beer smith is spot on for me. How well do you know your thermometers? I was having thermometer issues awhile back and found it to be the cause of my temperature problem.

I had three thermometers I was using. They all read the same (+/- 1 degree) when placed in room temp water. However when placed in hot water 160's there was a large differential (up to 7 degrees between them). The probes or tip of the thermometers were all in the same exact spot. I never solved this mystery. I just threw out the one that F'ed me on one of my brew days.

 

[TheMan]

I had three thermometers I was using. They all read the same (+/- 1 degree) when placed in room temp water. However when placed in hot water 160's there was a large differential (up to 7 degrees between them). The probes or tip of the thermometers were all in the same exact spot. I never solved this mystery. I just threw out the one that F'ed me on one of my brew days.

Exactly what I was going to say...check your thermometers. Their accuracy could be the issue, not beersmith. Beersmith is spot on for me every time.

and also +1 to the addition of 10 degree warmer strike water and letting it cool to dough in temps, this improved my dough in immensely.