Beer Smith & No Sparge recipe conversion help

[TrickyDick]

Using BeerSmith 2 ( I just grabbed trial of 3.1) not sure version matters at all.

Have a previous pale ale recipe I made and I wanted to convert it to a NO SPARGE to save time and do back to back brews tomorrow.
I can't seem to figure out how to do it. The mash profile part of Beer Smith I've never been a huge fan of.

Any help or pointers would be appreciated.
Considering creating a entirely new recipe if I can't figure it out.

Basic Pale ale w/ Falconers Flight and Cream Ale with possible Centennial - not sure what I've got on hand that'll work well. Might do a ESB instead though, but Summer begs for a cream ale.

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

Also any tips on the design from regular sparge vs no sparge to compensate for lower efficiency?
I have not brewed enough on my "new" setup to have an accurate % efficiency. Old setup with same mill was 78%
Thinking bump efficiency to 60 or 65% for a No Sparge?
TD

 

[camonick]

No sparge? Are you doing BIAB?

 

[IslandLizard]

I hear you on the lack of intuitiveness and clarity of the program.

That said, the only way I see is by checking the box for "BIAB and full Boil Mash" in your mash profile.
You'll need to uncheck the "batch sparge" box to free up the BIAB setting.

 

[IslandLizard]

How much time do you think you'll save by not sparging? You still need to bring the whole volume to a boil.
I batch sparge twice, equal volumes, and it's pretty fast (except when using lots of wheat or rye). By the time my first runnings are just starting to boil, my 2nd runnings are being added. The same for the 3rd runnings.

I often do 2 batches when I brew, 5 gallon each. But not necessarily back to back as such, there could be a few hour break in between. The biggest savings in time is there's only one setup and cleaning.

Having a 2nd heat source (and spare kettle) can make a significant difference too.

When I do them back to back I mill grain for the 2nd batch while mashing or boiling the first. Then start the mash of the 2nd while the boil is about half way through.

 

[Oginme]

Open up your recipe. Go to the 'mash' tab. Click on the check mark icon next to your mash profile. Click on the box next to 'BIAB mash with full boil'. Click on 'OK' and you are now doing a full volume BIAB. If you need to top off water to get the volume of the grains and water to fit into the kettle, I would recommend adding it as 'top off water to kettle' in your equipment profile (you can also do this on the 'vols' tab in the recipe) and then using that water to pour through the grains after you lift them from the kettle and are draining.

 

[TrickyDick]

No sparge? Are you doing BIAB?

Not doing BIAB. eHerms 3v/2e. Just want to save time is all.

edit- to reply I'm not sure how much time I will save, but hoping to gain 1 hr for each beer I want to brew. I usually fly sparge. The recirculation step and stirring the mash and all takes time and batch sparge you need to double all that if doing two batches, so for me it doesn't so result in me saving any time.

 

[TrickyDick]

Open up your recipe. Go to the 'mash' tab. Click on the check mark icon next to your mash profile. Click on the box next to 'BIAB mash with full boil'. Click on 'OK' and you are now doing a full volume BIAB. If you need to top off water to get the volume of the grains and water to fit into the kettle, I would recommend adding it as 'top off water to kettle' in your equipment profile (you can also do this on the 'vols' tab in the recipe) and then using that water to pour through the grains after you lift them from the kettle and are draining.

Great. I will fiddle with the recipe. How does this alter your efficiency though and the OG? I do not have a BIAB setup by the way,

 

[IslandLizard]

How does this alter your efficiency though and the OG?

You're left with somewhat more, relatively high gravity wort trapped in your grist and mash tun dead space. Make sure that mash tun dead space is small or drain it thoroughly. Otherwise, you will take a big hit.
Maybe count on 5% less mash efficiency?

 

[Oginme]

You need to change the efficiency yourself. Unless you have sound data, you can do what IslandLizard suggested above or just brew it and input your numbers into BeerSmith to get your actual efficiency to update your profiles for next time. Much depends upon your system and how you operate it. Given no change in the quality your grain crush, you will get a decrease in the extraction efficiency of the sugars.

 

[IslandLizard]

Given no change in the quality your grain crush, you will get a decrease in the extraction efficiency of the sugars.

That's not true, with his HERMS he enjoys the same super mash efficiency. But by omitting the sparge, he doesn't rinse out the grain bed, trapping relatively high, preboil gravity wort, instead of 1.010-1.012 wort after fly sparging. That's the only difference.

Capturing all the deadspace wort is essential here, or the losses will be much worse.

 

[Oginme]

That's not true, with his HERMS he enjoys the same super mash efficiency. But by omitting the sparge, he doesn't rinse out the grain bed, trapping relatively high, preboil gravity wort, instead of 1.010-1.012 wort after fly sparging. That's the only difference.

Capturing all the deadspace wort is essential here, or the losses will be much worse.

Which is a decrease in extraction...

 

[IslandLizard]

Which is a decrease in extraction...

Doh! Yeah...

 

[TrickyDick]

My false bottom mash tun holds 3.5 gallons of liquid (that's below the level of the false bottom). I could probably wait until I'm sucking air, and stop my runoff then begin the boil. While its coming to a boil, I could then compress the mash bed from above somehow and collect some more liquid below and strain though a fine nylon bag. Maybe even do a mini-sparge with the HLT water.. I just don't want to spend an extra hour doing batch sparge/recirculate/runoff/repeat x2 or x3 (may as well do fly sparge at that point). Whatever volume I end up with I can adjust BATCH size to compensate for whatever OG my combined runnings result in. Since I usually aim for 11G wort into the fermenter I have a lot of flexibility. Don't care if I end up with anywhere between 6-10 gallons....

TD

 

[corax]

I just modified one of the Single Infusion Batch Sparge profiles to match the conditions as closely as possible. You could also start from one of the "Temperature Mash, 1 Step" profiles. Delete any unneeded steps, and enter the correct values for "Water to Add" and "Water to Grain Ratio". It's not perfect, but it's close. I don't understand why it's not a modeled profile, quite a few people do it.

I get about 70% system efficiency. I was getting 85% or higher when I batch-sparged. I don't worry about lost volume in the mash tun, which comes to about 1.5 quarts in my 10 gallon cylindrical cooler. But for the first couple batches give yourself at least +/- 5% wiggle room.

I'm not doing it to save time (although it does save a lot of time), I'm doing it to improve quality. Does it really? I think so, but of course oneself is the easiest person to fool. But it definitely doesn't hurt quality, and I'm not going to lose any sleep over an extra pound or two of grain.

 

[TrickyDick]

I've never done it before, but trying to squeeze two brews into one saturday calls for some time savers ideas. No sparge also means I can use the HLT water as the strike water for second batch since water collection in my RO setup takes time. Probably do a no Mash Out on batch one also. I'll try starting at 70% efficiency. Do you BIAB on yours and squeeze the bag at the end?