Beer Smith/Mash In Volumn

[msppilot]

Ok, I am going to attempt my second all grain and just have a few questions. My first one did not go as planed, but I believe that was because I had too much mash water. After the batch sparge I still had liquid left in my mash tun and no room left in my boil kettle. I am hoping not to repeat my mistake and when I plug my recipe into beer smith it calls for 20.86qts of water for the mash and a 2 step batch sparge of .86 gal and 4.37 gal. This seems high to me. I will have about 14lbs of grain and a 90 minute boil. I am using 1.25 qts per pound and don't probably don't want to go any lower than that. What are others thought on this. Also, in the mash tab of beer smith it is giving me the quantity in quarts. Does anyone know how to change that to gal? The sparge steps is given in gal and i would like to keep it consistent.

 

[autonomist3k]

Your volumes seem good to me, it's only a little higher than 5 gallons for the mash.
the volumes are pretty close to what I've used recently, and my sparge was around 6 gallons on my last brew. I also use 1.25 qts/gal.
If you hit your OG, and you got the correct amount in your fermenter, then I don't think theres a problem.
But if your OG wasn't high enough, and you have too much wort, then maybe you're not boiling hard enough. With my keggle I boil off at least 1.5 gallons/hour.

And qts are easily converted to gallons, there's 4 qts in a gallon, so 20.86 is like 5.2 gallons.
I don't think you can change it to show gallons instead of quarts though.

 

[chickypad]

Your mash is 5.25 gal, the grain will absorb about 1.75, so 3.5 gal first runnings plus the total sparge is like 8.75 gal boil volume (less any dead space). Unless your boil of rate is huge it sounds like you need to fix your settings. Make sure the boil off rate, batch size, losses are all set correctly then double check what it's giving you as the estimated pre-boil volume.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Your mash is 5.25 gal, the grain will absorb about 1.75, so 3.5 gal first runnings plus the total sparge is like 8.75 gal boil volume (less any dead space). Unless your boil of rate is huge it sounds like you need to fix your settings. Make sure the boil off rate, batch size, losses are all set correctly then double check what it's giving you as the estimated pre-boil volume.

This, we also dont know how big your pot is...

You should end up around 7-7.5ish gallons to end up with 5 gallons at 90 minute boil.

 

[msppilot]

This, we also dont know how big your pot is...

You should end up around 7-7.5ish gallons to end up with 5 gallons at 90 minute boil.

I have a 10 gal pot.

 

[msppilot]

Here is what i have for my Mash profile. I am not sure if I should use the 1 Step Mash, Medium body or choose another option. I am doing a clone of an Alaskan Smoked Porter. Also, what options should I use under the Batch Sparge Options? Of course, the volumes changed since my original post. Not sure what I did to change things.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I'd click batch sparge using batches that fill and enter in 100%, click equal batch sizes and drain mash run between sparging assuming you are.

 

[thadass]

What does your equipment profile look like?

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Home Brew mobile app

 

[chickypad]

I'd click batch sparge using batches that fill and enter in 100%, click equal batch sizes and drain mash run between sparging assuming you are.

+1
what are your sparge and preboil volumes now?

 

[msppilot]

+1
what are your sparge and preboil volumes now?

Previously, before I started messing with things, by preboil volume was 5.5 gal and the mashout was around .86 gal and the sparge was 4.37 gal.

 

[msppilot]

What does your equipment profile look like?

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Home Brew mobile app

Sorry thadass i am not 100% sure what you mean but I gad a 10 gal boil pot and I made a mash tun out of an old cooler. I am not 100% sure on the capacity but it is one of the family style coolers. It probably holds around 6 or 7 gals of liquid...maybe more.

 

[chickypad]

Previously, before I started messing with things, by preboil volume was 5.5 gal and the mashout was around .86 gal and the sparge was 4.37 gal.

Something is not right in your settings, as I mentioned those initial volumes should have resulted in about an 8.75 preboil volue. Currently what are your mash volume, sparge volume, tun deadspace, estimated pre-boil volume, trub loss, and boil off currently set at? The first 3 are on the mash tab, the last 3 are on the vols tab.
Edit - also the batch size.

 

[oskhelly]

You need to set up your equipment profile in beersmith first.
Www.beersmith.com/setting-up-your-equipment-in-beersmith-2/
The video will show you the basics of what all the settings are for. You'll have to adjust for your equipment. Also your screenshot shows you have it set to a temperature mash which you can't do with a cooler mash tun. I think you can probably choose a single infusion if your using mostly US base malt but that's just what I do.

 

[stevedasleeve]

Or the simplest fix, how much did you overshoot your boil volume? Reduce your sparge by the same amount.

It took me many batches to dial it all in, but for me changing the grain absorption variable was the key fwiw.

Steve da sleeve

 

[oskhelly]

Or the simplest fix, how much did you overshoot your boil volume? Reduce your sparge by the same amount.

It took me many batches to dial it all in, but for me changing the grain absorption variable was the key fwiw.

Steve da sleeve

I think the grain absorption variable should be close if unchanged. If you adjust those variables too much you might get different pre boil volumes between batches if in one you have 8lbs of grain and another 16lbs of grain. It works for you but I think he is off by close to 2 gallons of wort.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Yea he just doesnt have his equipment profile or his mash profile(according to the pic) setup properly, i wouldnt mess with the grain absorption...its a pretty well calculated number that is generic enough to apply to everyone.

 

[msppilot]

Thanks for the help everybody. I will set up my equipment in beer smith and see how things work from there. Up to this point I have brewed extract and partial mash from recipes. This grain brewing is a new venture for me but so far I am having a blast learning about it.

 

[msppilot]

You need to set up your equipment profile in beersmith first. Www.beersmith.com/setting-up-your-equipment-in-beersmith-2/ The video will show you the basics of what all the settings are for. You'll have to adjust for your equipment. Also your screenshot shows you have it set to a temperature mash which you can't do with a cooler mash tun. I think you can probably choose a single infusion if your using mostly US base malt but that's just what I do.

The mast temp should of been at 154 degrees. Is that obtainable in a cooler? Mash temp is one thing I have not had problems with in the past. I have a 12 gal cooler that I made into a mash tun.

 

[oskhelly]

The mast temp should of been at 154 degrees. Is that obtainable in a cooler? Mash temp is one thing I have not had problems with in the past. I have a 12 gal cooler that I made into a mash tun.

I think it is but I don't use a cooler for a mash tun. My mash tun is a keg so I can direct fire to heat it. I know some people preheat their cooler mash tun with hot water. I'm sure others can give better advice on those techniques. Mashing at 154 will give you more body to the beer and slightly less attenuation then say 148.

 

[GrogNerd]

23.2 qts of strike water for 14.13 lbs of grain = 1.64 qts/lb

not overly thin, but much thinner than 1.25 qts/lb

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

The mast temp should of been at 154 degrees. Is that obtainable in a cooler? Mash temp is one thing I have not had problems with in the past. I have a 12 gal cooler that I made into a mash tun.

If you setup your mash tun properties properly it should be able to calculate the temperature you need to strike at to hit your temperature from a baseline temp of say your tun is 70 degree's.

Beersmith for me is almost always 2-5 degree's hot, after i mash in and stir a bit..but its easy enough to bring down pulling some of my (still cold) sparge water...maybe a cup or two brings it down quickly.

 

[oskhelly]

Also when I first set up the equipment profile in beer smith I thought that mash tun dead space meant the space above the grist. Lol in a 15 gallon keg that would throw the volumes way off. The dead space is the amount of water under your false bottom. If you use a stainless steel braided hose as your false bottom I would think it should be 1 qt or less depending on the length of your hose. I think the default in BS2 is 1 gallon.

 

[msppilot]

Ok, I made some adjustments and this is what I am showing now. The volumes are probably a little bit more realistic. if anything they may be a little low. Since this is all fairly new, I had to estimate items like tun dead space, est. boil off and trub loss but that will come with time.

 

[GrogNerd]

get a couple batches under your belt, dial-in your system in the software & it becomes one more thing to relax, don't worry about