beer smith mash profile question

[lgxg]

i am new to using homebrew software. i just bought beersmith mobile for my android tablet. I got my equipment setup with the trub losses, etc based on notes from my last few brewing sessions, but I am having trouble getting the mash profile setup based on my process and equipment.

here is what I use for my mash and sparge as far as equipment goes:

converted keg with midwest supplies sanke keg false bottom
results in 1 gallon dead space
hybrid natural gas/electric system - direct fire mash tun keg to bring strike water to temp, electric RIMS tube to maintain mash temp
converted keg HLT

my process is as follows:

based on grain bill weight, fill mash tun with total water of 1.4 quarts/lb of grain (not accounting for any dead space)

direct fire mash tun to until water is 157 degrees, add grain, stir to remove dough balls. based on experience, this gets the total grain bed down to about 153-154.

let mash sit for about 10 minutes, begin recirculating through RIMS tube to maintain mash temp at 153, continue for mash time, 60 minutes.

completely drain mash tun to boil kettle, drain 170 degree water from HLT to mash tun

stir HLT water plus grain to sparge, recirculate to reset grain bed, drain mash tun to boil kettle until preboil volume is reached.


i have been using the brew365 calculator with the following variables. since using this last batch i figured out that my i leave a gallon of wort in my hoses, pump and area below the BK pickup.


it seems that in my process the first variable is the water/grain ratio of 1.4qt per lb (this is what works for my pump and smaller diameter mash tun dip tube). the second variable is the preboil volume. i also only want to heat as much water as necessary in the HLT and I don't have enough room in the keg based mashtun to be able to do no sparge with a 11 gallon recipe.

it seems that a variable that I'm unsure how to use is the ratio of the first mash tun draining. in this batch, I collected 7.25 gallons wort from the first runnings... would this mean that I should set the "using batches that fill %" to 7.25/13.3 (total wort in BK)?

as I mentioned, I'm new to using beer smith. i can't figure out which variables to change to reflect my process and what is working based on the calculator and tweaks I've made based on experience. I would love to use this new fancy software to actually reflect my processes.

maybe i'm doing the entire thing wrong, but it's been working... does anyone have experience setting up batch sparge mash profiles that may use a similar process or understand the variables better than the humble OP? before the single tier stand and pumps, I used gravity to drain the HLT and did fly sparging.

thanks so much for the help-

Louis

 

[lgxg]

i wrote this as I was trying to get my thoughts together last night (while drinking a homebrew) and may not have been explicit in what I'm asking for.

in beer smith - how do you set up the mash profile for batch sparging that relies on the water variable being the water/lb in the first infusion to do the water calculations for first infusion and the batch sparge so you get your desired boil volume (which of course is a result of boil off, trub loss, fermenter loss, etc).

second, how do you use beer smith to reflect that you're direct heating a mash tun so I can be lazy and just dial in my strike temp that way? i have found that if I use the brew365 recocmendation above, it stays way too hot since the whole 30lb keg has been heated while heating strike water. i'd rather undershoot by a few degrees so I can use my RIMS tube to add a degree or two than overshoot and have to stir for 30 minutes. this question is less important, through experimentation I think i've figured out the sweet spot for my system, but it would be cool to have beer smith set up perfectly for my system.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I use the desktop version, so not familiar with Android version, but I would assume they're basically the same. To help you with the first part of your question, I'd need to have BS in front of me, but I'm not home right now. If you don't get an answer from somebody else before I get home, I'll take a look at BS then and see if I can offer you some assistance.

Regarding the second part of your question: Are you saying that the strike temp that brew365 gives is not accurate (too high) due to the fact that your direct-fired mash tun is the same temp as your heated strike water? If so, BS has a field for this. Open the mash profile for the recipe and double click on the first mash step. In the dialog box for the mash step, there is a field for Mash Tun Temp. Input the strike water temp shown below it into this field. Note that the temp that BS gives for strike water is affected by the mash tun temp and vice versa. So if you input a temp of say, 160 for the tun temp, instead of the default of 68 (I think), the strike temp will actually decrease since it doesn't have to compensate for a colder mash tun. As a result, the mash tun temp you just entered will not quite match the updated strike water temp, though it will be close. At this point, just change the tun temp again to match the new strike water temp and they should now be same-same. This will take the mash tun temp out of the strike water temp calculation, which is what you want.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Okay, after a bit of playing around, I managed to get BS to come very close to your screenshot of Brew365...

Configure your equipment and mash profiles per the attached screenshots. In the mash profile, notice there is a field for Tun Temperature. This is what I was referring to in my earlier post. Set this temp to equal the infusion temp for the first (and in this case, only) mash step.

While in the mash profile, double-click the first (and only) mash step and you'll get the window shown in the last screenshot. This is where you can set 1.4 qts/lb for your water/grain ratio, your rest temp and rest length. Don't modify the Water to Add field. BS will set that field based on what you enter in the Water/Grain Ratio field.

The last thing to do is go into the Options for BS, click on Advanced, and change the Grain Absorption field to 1.04. This will be the equivalent to .13 g/lb that you have set up in Brew365.

 

[lgxg]

WOW! Thank you so much. That dialed everything the mash volume perfectly. This is so cool how I was able to apply those new profiles with a different recipe and the water adjusted.

I have to play around a little more with the temperature piece. Do you know the math behind that? It must be a function of time, mash tun temp, and the grain temp.

 

[LLBeanJ]

Glad to help.

I have no idea what the math is behind the temp calcs. I'm sure it must be a function of the things you mentioned, as well as the mash tun material, weight, and volume, and who knows what else.

I love BeerSmith. It's an awesome and powerful program once you get all your variables and parameters set.

 

[malboa]

New BIABer, New BSer. Thought I could adjust the water/grain ratio per others' comments. When I tried, it reverted back, no change in water volumes.

Do I need to scale the recipe differently or adjust the mash profile?

MY brewday session seemed like a disaster as my OG was off (1.070 vs est. 1.090) and I had to remove water to allow the grain bill (13.6lb) to fit in the kettle (7.5 Gallons) without overflowing.

Also, annoying that if I am not logged into this site I cant get an option to log in and lose my previously written post.. (this is my 3rd time drafting this one)

 

[LLBeanJ]

Not sure what's going on with the forum issues.

As far as BS, since you are BAIB, do you have the checkbox enabled in the mash profile for BIAB? If so, I believe that will override the water/grain ratios. For BIAB, I would suggest that instead of messing with water/grain ratios since they're not really important, if you need/want to sparge, input your sparge amount in the Top Off Water for Kettle field in the recipe's Vols page. This would be in conjunction with having the BIAB mash checkbox enabled.