Beersmith question

[JohnIA]

Hi - I'm trying to enter a recipe from BYO - going with the default grain:water ratio Beersmith calculated the amount of water and the temp I need. I plan to do a 60m mash, then drain, then do a 15m 168 degree sparge. The Beersmith mash profile I chose is 'Single Infusion, Full Body' that specifies a single fly sparge. My issue is that Beersmith is calculating a sparge volume that calculates out to 5.7g pre-boil. The recipe in BYO suggests collecting sparge until I get to 7g. I've looked all over (I think) to find that setting in beersmith and override to get to 7g. I could specify it in the notes but I would prefer to have the recipe (and therefore instructions) be accurate. Can someone suggest what setting(s) I need to change to get the pre-boil vol to 7g?

Thank you!

John

 

[GPP33]

Go to the volumes page. There’s a check box about half way down, something about calculating pre boil gravity, deselect it and change the pre boil volume to 7 gal. The sparge volume will update. All of your other numbers on that page need to be correct though.

 

[BigCrazyAl]

My vote is that you edit your equipment profile so that the program calculates what you need for your setup.

The values you need to edit include mash tun loss, kettle trub loss, boil-off rate and fermenter trub loss.

If you get it right, the program will calculate back from your desired fermenter volume to give you the correct mash/sparge volumes and kettle volume.

IMO, overriding these numbers will likely make your brew day frustrating.

 

[chickypad]

^ This. Software like beersmith is only as good as the info you put into it. You'll never hit your numbers consistently unless you figure out the actual numbers for your own system. That includes efficiency, which may differ from what the recipe is counting on. You'll have to estimate that at first but if you take good measurements over a couple batches you should be able to dial it in.

 

[Smellyglove]

Agreed. But also, do not follow recipes you find online 100%. Just use the ingredients. The process for a brew is your own, in your own setup. Just use the actual ingredients, not the process when it comes to volumes etc from someone elses recipe. F.eks a carpenter which has been set to make "something", will make the final product look like this "something", but he will use his own process to get there.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

A brewer must know their system and understand the data and process, before any software can help or be even remotely accurate. Before starting a recipe in any software, fully understand and input your specific system values. These data points include boil off, dead spaces, recoverable spaces, volumes, and more. These values can be derived through experimentation with water, and through keeping track of actual brew days results.

That being said, most recipes are posted using one brewers system values and efficiency ratings. A recipe must be edited to fit the hardware and processes of the specific brewer, in order to match the desired results.

When it comes to your desired preboil volume, a few things are in play. What does YOUR system boil off at (gallons per hour)? How long do you want to boil this recipe? What is the target post boil volume? The preboil volume will be determined by those values, not what BYO or anyone else's recipe shows.

Example: If you want to put 5 gallons into the fermenter when its all said and done, and your recipe says boil for 2 hours, and your equipment boils off 1.5 gallons per hour, then YOUR preboil volume needs to be 8 gallons. Of course there are other factors to consider when you want to be super accurate, like hot/cold correction, shrinkage, etc. but for now, start simple.

 

[JohnIA]

Go to the volumes page. There’s a check box about half way down, something about calculating pre boil gravity, deselect it and change the pre boil volume to 7 gal. The sparge volume will update. All of your other numbers on that page need to be correct though.

Awesome - thank you very much!

 

[GPP33]

Awesome - thank you very much!

No problem. But like others have said, you’ll want to set up Beer Smith to match YOUR equipment profile, so take good notes on all of your actuals.